OIL IN VALVE COVER - KOHLER COURAGE

shillnav

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KOHLER COURAGE SV 590 ENGINE.

A guy brought me this engine to look at, on a Troy Bilt rider. It had oil dripping out of the valve cover, quite a lot, onto the muffler causing a lot of smoke. After cleaning and finding where the oil was coming from, I removed the valve cover, found the exhaust valve way out of adjustment. After adjusting, and using the old valve cover gasket which is not in good shape and will need replacing, I started the engine. It still drips a little oil from valve cover. Not nearly as bad, much smaller amount, but still drips on muffler causing a lot of smoke. I looked and this engine has no valve stem seal. I'm a little wary of the Courage line of engines. Also after exhaust valve adjustment, it's a little hard to start, thinking that the ACR is not working as it should.

I'm assuming that it is normal for a little oil to accumulate in the valve cover, with a new gasket it would probably stop the small amount now leaking out. Maybe I'm overthinking this, maybe not. If a small amount of oil accumulates in the valve cover, would it continue to accumulate? or is some pulled back in thru the intake valve and it's normal for a small amount to be in the valve cover???

Please help ! Thanks for any feedback.
 

ILENGINE

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It is normal for some oil to sit in the valve cover. All vertical shaft OHV engines do that. When you said the exhaust valve was out of adjustment, I assume clearance too wide. If the ACR wasn't working it would of been worse before adjustment, not after. The OHV gasket leaking is a common occurance on the courage, especially since MTD moved the muffler closer to the engine, and without a heat shield.
 

shillnav

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ILENGINE, am getting back out there in a matter of minutes............. After some thought, I've got to check the ACR. After I adjusted the exhaust valve, which was way too loose, I did several start and stops in a short amount of time, wondering if the battery may be weak........... Going to check the rating on it, pull the cover off and see if I can notice the bump of the valve for the ACR................. Like I said before, I'm wary of these Courage engines and don't want to open a can of worms here......................

Thanks for taking the time to respond !
 

flyboyray

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I had the same problem. I replaced the gasket and used the red gasket maker RTV but it leaked right away. Then I cleaned it up again, straightened the valve cover with a straight edge, and installed with the copper RTV (no gasket at all) and it's working great. No leaks at all. I had another problem, when under a big load like going up a hill, it would start sputtering like it was going to quit. I had replaced the fuel filter with a universal filter a week ago. I replaced it with a Kohler 32 micron (I think) and problem is completely gone...


A guy brought me this engine to look at, on a Troy Bilt rider. It had oil dripping out of the valve cover, quite a lot, onto the muffler causing a lot of smoke. After cleaning and finding where the oil was coming from, I removed the valve cover, found the exhaust valve way out of adjustment. After adjusting, and using the old valve cover gasket which is not in good shape and will need replacing, I started the engine. It still drips a little oil from valve cover. Not nearly as bad, much smaller amount, but still drips on muffler causing a lot of smoke. I looked and this engine has no valve stem seal. I'm a little wary of the Courage line of engines. Also after exhaust valve adjustment, it's a little hard to start, thinking that the ACR is not working as it should.

I'm assuming that it is normal for a little oil to accumulate in the valve cover, with a new gasket it would probably stop the small amount now leaking out. Maybe I'm overthinking this, maybe not. If a small amount of oil accumulates in the valve cover, would it continue to accumulate? or is some pulled back in thru the intake valve and it's normal for a small amount to be in the valve cover???

Please help ! Thanks for any feedback.[/QUOTE]
 

coconut man

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Pulled both valve covers, one is ok but the other was full of oil. Recently, starting the engine after idle for a week or so, smoke fills the storage room, but once the oil burns away, it is generally ok. Push rods appear to be ok, so I'm guessing the push-rod seal is shot. Put up with the smoke or repair this Kohler engine. There's a point where money spent on that fix could possibly be for naught when the mower deck becomes the problem and the value of the mower drops to the value of the parts in a yard sale.
 
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