Kohler 23hp lifter noise

turbojerk · Oct 12, 2006

It left for the dealer yesturday afternoon on a rollback.....Hopefully to fix the problem!

I'll let everyone know how I made out.....

DieselPower · Oct 12, 2006

Hey, I think I passed your mower yesterday on the road.

Just kidding. I'm in Fairfield, about 1/8 mile across the MD/PA state line from Emittsburg, MD. I deal with Harrington and Sons alot and would give them a chance. Great people that know their stuff. The only place I will go to get parts when I need them.

Hope they get you squared away.

turbojerk · Oct 12, 2006

DieselPower said:
Hey, I think I passed your mower yesterday on the road. Just kidding. I'm in Fairfield, about 1/8 mile across the MD/PA state line from Emittsburg, MD. I deal with Harrington and Sons alot and would give them a chance. Great people that know their stuff. The only place I will go to get parts when I need them.

Hope they get you squared away.

You probably did pass my mower. I actually live in the Cashtown/McKnightstwon area...lol

Yes, Harrington and Sons have treated me VERY well so far and I have already recommended them to others. I have complete faith that they'll find the problem.....

Troy

turbojerk · Nov 4, 2006

Well, just got the tractor back today after a solid 3 weeks of being gone and sitting out in the rain and......IT'S STILL A NOISY P.O.S....I even had them fire up a new 23hp Cub tractor to compare the difference and it sounded way nicer than my P.O.S did and I told them that. They said that it was just the nature of my motor to be noisy and that to me is BS!!! They offered me an additional year of warrantee, but that isn't fixing the problem at all. I could care less about an additional year of warrantee on a P.O.S tractor...

I'm got so F'in pist about it that I just threw it back in the daum shied and slammed the doors. All they did was to replace the lifters "AGAIN" and supposedly do what the Kohler rep, said was to "pre-prime" them before installing prevent what they said was oil foaming. I'm kinda getting real tired of hearing about "oil foaming" to be honest. If it's that much of a problem with "foaming" I would think that Kohler needs to look into fixing the problem. I'm really having second thoughts about Kohler engines and their problem solving techniques.

I guess its time to start *****'in at a higher level.....I this problem doesn't get resolved this will be the LAST Kohler powered anything that I buy. It may be the last Cub as well......

Sorry about the rant....I just feel a little stuck with a brand new $4300 problem that no one wants to fix....

DieselPower · Nov 4, 2006

Sorry to hear thing's didn't go so well. I have been a Kohler man for the last couple of years. I refuse to buy anything with the new B&S hand grenades in it. I have had 3 B&S engines blow up on me in the past 5 years. Every Kohler I have is still running strong. My 21 HP does have some lifter noise and has had it since new in 2000. Still running strong with over 1,200 hours on it now.

If oil foaming is what they say is the problem I would give this a try. Stop by any International Navistar truck dealer and get a bottle of engine oil anti-foam additive. When I worked at Bare Truck Center in Westminster, MD and the 444E (7.3L Powerstroke for you Ford guy's) engine came out they had a horrible problem with erratic running problems when people used low quality engine oil. The engine oil would foam and caused all kinds of problems with the high preasure oil system which controls the fuel injectors. Adding one little bottle of the anti-foam additive to a 20 quart oil system fixed the problem. They still make the additive and I think it's only around 3 or 4 dollars. I would get a bottle, add a small amount of anti-foam to your engine oil and if the noise does not go away then it is not a foam problem.

JTKub · Nov 4, 2006

All these tear-downs to replace the lifters, it probably would have been more cost effective to just replace the engine! After several sets of lifters and still noise, it's got to be something else?!? I've not compared the two, but I've heard the kohler command series lifters/hydraulic lash adjusters are the same part that Chevy small blocks use. It's not like they are a rare or unreliable part with bazillions of them in use. At ~65hrs, my kohler command 20 is still a little tappy at idle, otherwise smooth as a swiss watch.

Joel

turbojerk · Nov 5, 2006

DieselPower said:
Sorry to hear thing's didn't go so well. I have been a Kohler man for the last couple of years. I refuse to buy anything with the new B&S hand grenades in it. I have had 3 B&S engines blow up on me in the past 5 years. Every Kohler I have is still running strong. My 21 HP does have some lifter noise and has had it since new in 2000. Still running strong with over 1,200 hours on it now.

If oil foaming is what they say is the problem I would give this a try. Stop by any International Navistar truck dealer and get a bottle of engine oil anti-foam additive. When I worked at Bare Truck Center in Westminster, MD and the 444E (7.3L Powerstroke for you Ford guy's) engine came out they had a horrible problem with erratic running problems when people used low quality engine oil. The engine oil would foam and caused all kinds of problems with the high preasure oil system which controls the fuel injectors. Adding one little bottle of the anti-foam additive to a 20 quart oil system fixed the problem. They still make the additive and I think it's only around 3 or 4 dollars. I would get a bottle, add a small amount of anti-foam to your engine oil and if the noise does not go away then it is not a foam problem.

I myself have always like the Kohler engines and that's one of the reasons that I didn't go with a Deere since they use a Kawasaki. Most of my family has Cubs and love them, but mine isn't living up to my expectations because of a crappy built motor. I actually like the tractor itself, but the sloppy motor is really killiing it for me..

The thing that really gets me is that my Dad's 300+hr 1863 Cub with the 18hp Kohler sounds like it brand new when compared to my 40hr Cub P.O.S. My Uncle has the same tractor as I do but only a year older and his sounds nice too. So you can see why this pisses me off so much....I even called the dealer the day after I brought the tractor home (0 hrs) because I noticed the problem as I was taking it off the trailer.

Trust me,....shcitt is going to hit the fan on Monday cause I've had it!! I'll be calling the Cub customer service line as well as the Kohler. Someone is either going to fix it, or I'm demanding a full refund and heading out to the Deere dealer....

turbojerk · Nov 5, 2006

JTKub said:
All these tear-downs to replace the lifters, it probably would have been more cost effective to just replace the engine! After several sets of lifters and still noise, it's got to be something else?!? I've not compared the two, but I've heard the kohler command series lifters/hydraulic lash adjusters are the same part that Chevy small blocks use. It's not like they are a rare or unreliable part with bazillions of them in use. At ~65hrs, my kohler command 20 is still a little tappy at idle, otherwise smooth as a swiss watch.

Joel

My thoughts exactly!

Yeah, they're Chevy lifters....Figures!

Bob_Bainbridge · Nov 5, 2006

turbojerk said:
Well, just got the tractor back today after a solid 3 weeks of being gone and sitting out in the rain and......IT'S STILL A NOISY P.O.S....I even had them fire up a new 23hp Cub tractor to compare the difference and it sounded way nicer than my P.O.S did and I told them that. They said that it was just the nature of my motor to be noisy and that to me is BS!!! They offered me an additional year of warrantee, but that isn't fixing the problem at all. I could care less about an additional year of warrantee on a P.O.S tractor...

I'm got so F'in pist about it that I just threw it back in the daum shied and slammed the doors. All they did was to replace the lifters "AGAIN" and supposedly do what the Kohler rep, said was to "pre-prime" them before installing prevent what they said was oil foaming. I'm kinda getting real tired of hearing about "oil foaming" to be honest. If it's that much of a problem with "foaming" I would think that Kohler needs to look into fixing the problem. I'm really having second thoughts about Kohler engines and their problem solving techniques.

I guess its time to start *****'in at a higher level.....I this problem doesn't get resolved this will be the LAST Kohler powered anything that I buy. It may be the last Cub as well......

Sorry about the rant....I just feel a little stuck with a brand new $4300 problem that no one wants to fix....

If it makes you feel any better, I have a $50,000 2000 Cadillac that has had noisy lifters since day one. I complained several times during the warranty, and they would do some kind of a de-carboning which would help a little for a few weeks. They really clatter in the morning and if the car sits for 2 weeks, while I'm on vacation, the engine will actually miss because of the collapsed lifters that bled down. Other than the noise the car runs great.

Bob B.

JTKub · Nov 5, 2006

Bob_Bainbridge said:
If it makes you feel any better, I have a $50,000 2000 Cadillac that has had noisy lifters since day one...

Heheh... dang GM parts! I hear you Bob, the atlas 4.2L inline 6cyl in our 2005 chevy trailblazer sounds like a typewritter on a cold start, but quiets after a minute or two. Slightly different DOHC hyd lash adjuster setup though. That aside, it's the smoothest engine I've ever owned.

Joel