Kohler Engine oil leak

Have a Kohler 25 HP Command on Sears mower. 4 years old, no repairs ever. Occasionally a huge cloud of smoke after cutting for about an hour. then within a minute, smoke clears up and back to normal. Check of engine oil is good. After recent cut, engine was smoking badly. Removed air filter and could see that breather assy had dumped oil into air filter area. Filter had quite a bit of oil spotting and oil, of course, ran down onto hot parts below creating the smoke. Does this indicate a serious problem, or breather replacement?? thanks for the help guys

 

Could be a faulty breather, but I rarely see this. Check your oil and make sure it's not overfull and smelling of gas. A blown cylinder head gasket can causethis sort of behavior.

 

Hi guys, Since you're already discussing this I need to ask for advice as well. I have a Kohler CH20s with 357hours use. I must have gotten a Monday engine cause its been a bear.
Anyway, mine is now leaking oil pretty badly. I tore the mower down to pretty much just the engine but I can't find it. It isn't; valve covers, main seal, head gaskets or anything obvious like that. Do these engine have any history of crank case leaks or anything else I should look for?

Thanks

 

On the first problem, I'd suspect a head gasket leak.

On the second one with unknown leak, where roughly is it leaking from? It will be hard to guess without knowing if it's at the top, bottom, front, back, etc...

 

Thanks for the quick reply cheese. It appears to be on the pulley side toward the bottom but no trace at the main seal. After reading some of the posts on here I will check for a clogged crankcase vent. Where exactly is this? I look at the drawings but didnt see it?

 

Follow the rubber hose from the air filter housing to it.

I doubt that's the problem, but it never hurts to check. Is oil pooling on top of the pulley?

 

no it builds up at the bottom but no sign of a main seal leak?

 

Builds up at the bottom of what? On the ground?

 

on the plate engine mounts to. Sorry about that

 

Clean it up and see where it's coming from. That's the only way to know. It's a good chance it's the sump cover gasket, but that's just a guess.

 

where is the sump cover? Thanks for all your help on this cheese.

 

It's the crankcase cover, the big piece on the back of the engine that you'd remove to get inside the engine.

 

Belive it or not, I am this dumb. it seems the oil filter I had cross matched at an auto parts store would be fine until pressure built up and then it would leak. I paid the extra 300% for a kohler filter Friday, put it on yesterday and it isn't leaking.

I examined both filters before I put it on and the only difference I see is a little thicker gasket ring. I hope this is the fix. Take notice kohler owners, this can happen. I will now finish squeezing my head in a vise to complete my brilliance!

 

Hmm, any chance there are 2 gaskets on the oil filter (one stuck to the other). That happens, and can cause the leak. An aftermarket filter shouldn't leak.

 

Nope, Had that happen on a car once though. I'm gonna keep a close eye on it. I think the sump cover you mentioned is about the only other alternative.

 

I found a repair manual online and it said to check the breather so even though the engine is very clean inside (cause I use synthetic oil) I took the breather apart and found that it had two reed plates instead of one. I removed one and that stopped the oil from the PTO shaft leaking. Now I have to pull the engine to get to the rear shaft cause it is leaking now.
When I removed the original seal it was very hard. I had assumed that was what was my problem. Also I had pulled the cover off the engine and misaligned the governor gear when replacing the cover so will have to replace that assembly.