Blew a hole in my oil filter??

mkillian

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Here's a fun one for you. I recently changed the oil in my Kohler CV22S and replaced the oil filter. I put in a FRAM brand oil filter.
This is an older motor, not sure of the vintage (see my post about the SAM, still looking for one).
I had previously treated the old crankcase oil with SeaFoam. Ran the motor for about six hours, then I changed the oil and replaced the filter.
Because it's an older motor, I thought I'd treat the new oil with Restore in case the old carbon deposits were actually sealing up some of the worn areas inside the cylinders or something. I added new oil according to the manual and weighed it in order to get the volume right. I replaced about 7% of the new oil with Restore. I should have looked up the recommended dosage but the bottle didn't have any information so I just went with a reasonable number.
I mowed for about an hour: the first mowing session was about a half an hour, and then I stopped it and let it sit for a few days, then re-checked the oil level and mowed again. About a half an hour in I heard the engine start knocking, and I saw to my amazement a huge puddle of oil all over the deck, sliming up my belts. I took it back in my shop and re-tightened the filter because I couldn't figure out where the oil leak could possibly be. I refilled the oil (about a quart). Started it up and watched in horror as my new oil gushed out of a bullet-sized hole in the end of the brand new filter. It looked like a bullet had been ejected from inside the filter.

Any ideas what happened?? I'm about to try again with a new Kohler filter. I'm going to skip the Restore this time. All I can think of is that a big chunk of carbon got loosened up. Either that or a piece of shrapnel.
 

cpurvis

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IMHO, you'd be well advised to quit 'treating' your oil with anything. Today's oil doesn't need any help from additives of any sort.

Crankcase oil capacities are listed in volume ounces, not weight. A quart of oil is 32 ounces by volume but does not weigh two pounds. Use the dipstick to fill your crankcase to capacity.

Start over with oil (no extra additives) and a good oil filter. You may have gotten a counterfeit filter if you bought it off the internet.
 

mkillian

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Not sure about Restore, and I'll certainly try the next round without. I'm using SAE 30 because of the age of the mower, and it's awfully hot here in the summer. The SeaFoam, on the other hand, does seem to do an amazing job of cleaning carbon out of old engines without having to take them all apart and put them back together again. I watched a youtube vid on it by ProjectFarm, that guy seems to have a fairly scientific approach to this stuff...
Also, the local repair shop (a very busy place, they fix small engines all day long, every day, and they've been doing it for years and years) says they use tons of SeaFoam and it's great.

The oil volume is listed in the manual at between 1.7 and 1.9 quarts. I weighed a full quart and then figured out how much .7 quarts of oil weighs using math. I made sure to tare the scale to account for the weight of the plastic bottle. Not sure how else one would accurately add .7 quarts of oil. Besides, I double and triple checked with the dipstick. I only used the scale because I wanted to know how much Restore I was putting in. I find it's a little tricky to use the dipstick when adding oil because the dipstick tube gets oil on the dipstick as it is inserted, which is why I like to re-check it after it's sat around for a while.

I bought the FRAM filter at the local True Value. I probably won't use that brand again. The new filter is a Kohler. I'll let you know how it does.
 

Scrubcadet10

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If you ever watch videos doing oil filter cut opens, they made me run away from fram, the thinnest filter housing, and overall cheaply made, then again the price. I use Wix ,Napa gold(wix), or OEM. Such as kohler for kohler, Kawasaki for Kawasaki etc.

Oils have all the additives they need as cpurivs stated.
 

mkillian

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PROBLEM SOLVED

It was my fault... kind of. The FRAM filter is slightly longer than the equivalent (and proper) Kohler filter. Hustler put its motor up front, over the deck. There is a bar that pivots as the deck is raised and lowered. This bar skooshed my filter and made it crack. The bar clears the Kohler filter, so no issues. I might add, it was kind of hard to shimmy that FRAM filter into place.

I kind of wish my mower had the motor in the rear like everyone else! It would be SOOO much easier to work on it. Also this type of thing wouldn't happen. I think the mower is a bit shorter this way, so maybe it can turn tighter? I also love the hydraulic deck lift that came with it, adjust the deck height on the fly.

The oil that leaked out of the busted filter got all over the belts, as I mentioned. I did my best to clean everything up with Dawn and a brush and a garden hose. But, the drive belt (which was on its way out anyway) got eaten, and in the process, two of the guides got tweaked. Took me an hour to bend/adjust them back into position and put on a new belt. Word to the wise: keep a spare set of belts on hand at all times! This is the second set of guides that got messed up this year due to slipping belts from leaking oil. The other guide broke right off and I had to weld it.

Thanks everyone for your input! And let me know if you find a SAM for a Kohler CV22S! :)
 

Russ2251

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I find it's a little tricky to use the dipstick when adding oil because the dipstick tube gets oil on the dipstick as it is inserted...
Why not use a clean rag or paper towel to swipe clean the dip stick?
 

7394

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IMHO, you'd be well advised to quit 'treating' your oil with anything. Today's oil doesn't need any help from additives of any sort.

Crankcase oil capacities are listed in volume ounces, not weight. A quart of oil is 32 ounces by volume but does not weigh two pounds. Use the dipstick to fill your crankcase to capacity.

Start over with oil (no extra additives) and a good oil filter. You may have gotten a counterfeit filter if you bought it off the internet.

X 2 , & agree with Russ2251 use a clean rag & wipe the dipstick..
 

mkillian

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Thanks, guys. I do know about the rag thing. Maybe my dipstick tube is skinnier than most? Actually I'm getting better at reading the dipstick, I found that I have to hold it right in order to keep one side of it clean as it goes in.

I'm interested in your knowledge about oil additives. Probably a large topic meant for another thread. Do you mean to say that they put stuff in there that actually cleans carbon deposits from your engine in the same way as SeaFoam? I'll totally buy that Restore is a crock.

Can't put oil in your gas though. Where I live, you can't get ethanol-free gas, so the SeaFoam is supposed to not only clean fuel injectors, but also absorb ethanol and also water... or something. Makes your gas better I guess.

There's an aerosol version that you spray directly into your choke, which is meant to clean out the carburetor and also the tops of the pistons. There's videos of the stuff in action, it really does seem to work. What's wrong with that?

And, about Restore (or similar). Let's say you have an old engine. Don't they get grooves in the cylinders, not to mention general wear? I know the best thing is to take it all apart, hone it, and put in bigger rings, and in extreme cases, replace the pistons with bigger ones, right? But this is a huge amount of work and beyond the skills of most. A super-thick, viscous, yet also slick (like slug slime, if you've ever picked one up and found it hard to wash the slime off!) coating material might actually fill some of the grooves and give the motor some compression. Much easier to treat the oil every so often than tear apart your whole motor. The Restore looked different than oil when I poured it in. It was gooey yet slippery. As a cure for poor compression, I agree that it is a half-measure. But a half-measure is better than no measure, right?
 

cpurvis

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Thanks, guys. I do know about the rag thing. Maybe my dipstick tube is skinnier than most? Actually I'm getting better at reading the dipstick, I found that I have to hold it right in order to keep one side of it clean as it goes in.

I'm interested in your knowledge about oil additives. Probably a large topic meant for another thread. Do you mean to say that they put stuff in there that actually cleans carbon deposits from your engine in the same way as SeaFoam? I'll totally buy that Restore is a crock.
Yes, it's in there.

Can't put oil in your gas though. Where I live, you can't get ethanol-free gas, so the SeaFoam is supposed to not only clean fuel injectors, but also absorb ethanol and also water... or something. Makes your gas better I guess.
Go to pure-gas.org and search your state. I count no fewer than 20 stations in CT that sell non-ethanol gas; if you live near a border, search the adjoining state, too.

There's an aerosol version that you spray directly into your choke, which is meant to clean out the carburetor and also the tops of the pistons. There's videos of the stuff in action, it really does seem to work. What's wrong with that?
Nothing you can spray in the carburetor throat is going to 'clean out the carburetor.' It never reaches the parts of the carburetor which may actually need cleaning. FWIW, water will clean carbon off the tops of pistons.

And, about Restore (or similar). Let's say you have an old engine. Don't they get grooves in the cylinders, not to mention general wear? I know the best thing is to take it all apart, hone it, and put in bigger rings, and in extreme cases, replace the pistons with bigger ones, right? But this is a huge amount of work and beyond the skills of most. A super-thick, viscous, yet also slick (like slug slime, if you've ever picked one up and found it hard to wash the slime off!) coating material might actually fill some of the grooves and give the motor some compression. Much easier to treat the oil every so often than tear apart your whole motor. The Restore looked different than oil when I poured it in. It was gooey yet slippery. As a cure for poor compression, I agree that it is a half-measure. But a half-measure is better than no measure, right?
No. Sludge has a thick, viscous, gooey yet slippery feel, too, but is the very thing you DON'T want in your engine.

Just change the oil on a regular basis, using the proper oil for you engine. That's all it takes.
 

tom3

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Lots of discussion, and cussin', about oils these days. Some of the old engines do need the barrier lubrication minerals that have been removed from today's automotive motor oil. I've been using either factory brand lawnmower oil or a diesel spec. motor oil to be safe on my engines. For 30wt I'm using Delvac 1630, gallon jug for very reasonable money. For a 10w30 oil in the newer engines I'm using Rotella 15w40.
 
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