No oil pressure 2001 John Deere 445 with 22 hp Kawasaki

[bkivi]

My 2001 John Deere 445 suddenly stopped. 22 HP Kawasaki engine. When trying to start it it wouldn't turn over. Brought it to dealer for diagnostic. Once it warmed inside their shop up they were able to free up engine and get it started. But, there is no oil pressure. They quoted about $4000 to put in new short block. I took it back home and am contemplating what to do next. In reading some of the forums here I'm thinking that I can remove the engine and put it on the bench and take it apart to see what might be wrong. I Will be looking at cam gear, but being its a 2001, wouldn't it be a steel gear? thought someone here mentioned that pre 1996 were plastic and anything newer was changed to steel. Are there other gears or oil pump issues I should look at? Any pointers on what steps to take and what to look for would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ArtMech]

Abnormal price. :shocked:
For comparison: that's what I've paid for remanufacturing of the 90 hp engine (labour + tooling + genuine parts). To obtain the same engine within the U.S. it costs $3800.
Check up prices at the other dealers including Kawasaki. Or at the workshops which could fix.

 

[bkivi]

I am going to try and fix this myself. So any suggestions on why I would lose oil pressure.

 

[Eyecatcher]

Go online and see if you can find a parts breakdown for that model engine. That will show you the oil pump and oil pump drive. That will give you a pretty good idea what could have failed. Once the engine has "siezed" like that, when you open it up,look at the rod bearing surface and make sure there has been no transfer of metals to the crankshaft itself.

 

[Dutch445]

How many hours on this engine?

 

[bkivi]

There are 850 hours. Will take it apart this morning. Hope it's not too serious. After it froze up initially, it has since been able to turn over. It does start up and there is no oil pressure. Only ran it a few seconds. At suggestions on what to look for.

 

[sunnyside360]

I doubt very much if it is as simple as replacing the oil pump given the engine seized. Take a look at the crankshaft, main and rod bearings. If all is okay on the bottom, look closely at the piston/chambers and top end for damage. With 850 hrs on the engine, there should be lots of life left in it if it was maintained properly. Good luck.

 

[Gator6x4]

Try this company, they sell replacement engines and also have short blocks.Kawasaki Horizontal Shaft Engines On Sale From Tulsa Engine Warehouse. If the engine was ran without oil I think the least I would do is install a short block if I intended to keep and use the mower. Damage had to occur through out the engine. Another good engine source is; Kawasaki Small Engines Good luck.

 

[bkivi]

Well, it is half way apart right now. The oil pump gear had about 1/4 of the teeth sheared off. Have not gone into the heads yet. All seems tight and good. I'm theorizing at this point that when the plastic oil pump gear broke that some of the teeth lodged between the oil gear and cam and caused it to seize. I can manually turn the engine and all seems good. Instead of going deeper in crank and heads at this point I will just replace the gear and the couple of gaskets for crank case and water pump case. I will report back after I get it going. Don't know how I will know the exact shape of cranks bearings other than how it sounds.

 

[sunnyside360]

All seems tight and good. I'm theorizing at this point that when the plastic oil pump gear broke that some of the teeth lodged between the oil gear and cam and caused it to seize. I can manually turn the engine and all seems good. Instead of going deeper in crank and heads at this point I will just replace the gear and the couple of gaskets for crank case and water pump case.

If your theory is correct, agree you may get away with only replacing the gear, especially if the engine wasn't run with zero oil pressure. If it was run with zero oil pressure I'd check the crank and bearings for damage. Just my $0.02.