Kohler CH20 needs better air cleaner

[dbuelke]

I refitted my JD316 with this Kohler engine 16 years ago and it performed good for the next 10, but then started using oil and performing poorer. I had it rebuilt but after a couple more seasons it was going south again. I’m rebuilding it myself now and found the valve seats were bad, so had them reground along with new rings and a complete overhaul. I think an underlying problem is dirt infiltration due to the dusty conditions I often mow in.

Is there any way to install or augment better air filtration? The Kohler Heavy Duty cleaner won’t fit under the hood and I was trying to think about some way to add a second filter. The present filter is the circular Kohler with the pre-filter. That pre-filter seems counter-productive sometimes because if it’s treated with 10w-30 as recommended, it’s a sticky mess that would appear to restrict airflow. Even using lighter oil or KN air filter spray oil, I still need to clean t filters every couple of hours.

 

[tomplum]

The elbows that adapt the HD kits may be available as a service part. 24 743 20-S is what I see from here for the kit. I suppose that it could be located outside the hood if you really felt the need to upgrade. Breather hose and mating gaskets good on the inlet?

 

[Cougsfan]

Your cleaning the filter after every couple hours of use with a two stage filter? That just seems weird. I can't imagine any filter that requires cleaning nearly that often unless you are in extreme conditions. Perhaps you are introducing dirt from cleaning the filter so often.

One trick I always did on dirt bikes to see verify the filter is working is to smear some grease on a surface after the filter and monitor it to see if the grease smear collects grit. Most of the problems I have seen from dirt getting into engines comes from leaks due to miss-fitting the filter or possibly a hole in a filter. Most properly fit filters still filter if they are dirty. Some types actually filter better when they are dirty. They don't pass dirt, but they do starve the engine for air, which is the real problem of a dirty filter. Its like running the engine with the choke on.

 

[nyone]

You can oil a filter to much and really choke the engine out. I used that KN filter oil and it takes very very little to do alot.

 

[leonz]

You need a dust bowl precleaner. Kohler may already have one but this one is 2".

It has to be mounted vertically or it will not create the cyclone speed to spin the dust out of the air stream