The problem with the courage is it seems like the bugs never get worked out. Fix the cracking block problem, then they have camshaft problems, Fix the camshaft problem, then it was water running into the starter and causing corrosion. Fix the starter issue, and then it was leaking valve cover gaskets. It is a ongoing wicked stepchild.

Originally Posted by alienball

I recently purchased a 5 year old Ariens Zero Turn with a 23 hp Kohler Courage engine. Runs great, other than it burns the grass if i sit too long in one spot. Seller claimed it had about 150 hrs. Should I be worried? The Kohlers don't seem to get much love on this board. Thanks

The Kohler Courage in my opinion is a good engine and there's nothing wrong with the courage if you maintain it the way it needs to be maintained. I've run three different courage motors in the last seven years in a lawn-care business (hundreds of hours) and never have had a problem with any of the three.

Originally Posted by reynoldston

When you have cracked engine cases on engines with very few hours it has nothing with as to how well a engine been maintained. This seems to be the problim on the Kohler courage engine. I really don't know what you need to do prevent this from happening. Maybe its the way it is operated, low RPMs??? maybe someone has a better idea.

What the problems are is that people don't know kohler engines. It doesn't make sense that you would have these problems with engines going bad and have other people have the same engines and have nothing going wrong.