Broken Dipstick

mom2joshcanpark

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I have a Husqvarna riding mower with a Kohler Courage engine, model SV610. My husband broke the dipstick off at the top into the crankcase and we can't get it out.

Since it is plastic we can't use anything magnetic. I did try a reacher tool, grabbed it twice but since it's so long couldn't maneuver it.

I then tried to find my misplaced telescoping camera to see where it was which I couldnt find right then. Asked my son to come help, so I drained the oil before he had come over because it was getting dark. I eventually found the telescoping camera and found the dipstick resting on a part. He says it's toward the front of the engine. So we added oil back to it but it's not moving back toward the mower.

Can we do this on our own or do I now need to take it to a shop? I did all this work on it myself (oil change, replaced belt, replaced motor mount screws) because I didn't have extra money for someone else to do it.


These are bad pix but shows where it's laying.
 

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7394

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I would recommend to keep fishing with the remote flexible grabber.

A shop may wanna pull the engine & split it open.. (read $$ )...

Those sticks get brittle over time, don't grind up your guy over this..
 
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mom2joshcanpark

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I would recommend to keep fishing with the remote flexible grabber.

A shop may wanna pull the engine & split it open.. (read $$ )...

Those sticks get brittle over time, don't up your guy over this..
Thanks, do you think if we overfill it with oil it will float out of that area?
 

bertsmobile1

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That should be a bucket engine and they are dead easy to work on as the engine stays in the mower
So get a new top oil seal and a closure gasket
Remove both belts from the engine pulley
Then remove the blower housing ( 4 bolts )
Remove the flywheel ( 1 nut )
Remove the alternator ( 4 bolts ) and sit it aside , no need to remove it from the cover
If the crankshaft is nice, clean & shilly then give it a once over with some scotch brite right down the seal , lubricated with lots of WD 40 or similar
Wrap the key way slot with some film wrap to avoid damaging the top oil seal
Remove to top cover bolts ( 10 from memory )
Lift the top cover carefully strait up to avoid damaging the seal or pulling the cams out
Do not rotate anything
remove the dip stick with long pliers
Replace everything is reverse order clean the 4 bolts at the front of the engine and apply blue locktite to them .
I do a gasket in about 2 hours so allow you & your other half a full day

Because I am an old style mechanic , I put blue hylomar on the closure plate then use that to sick the gasket to it and a thin film of axel grease ( some times called bentonite grease ) on the crank case so in future the gasket will come off in 1 piece with the closure plate so can be reused as they are a little $$$ .

The really hard part is resisting the temptation to rotate the crank or cams while the plate is off thus potentially getting the engine out of time
 

mom2joshcanpark

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That should be a bucket engine and they are dead easy to work on as the engine stays in the mower
So get a new top oil seal and a closure gasket
Remove both belts from the engine pulley
Then remove the blower housing ( 4 bolts )
Remove the flywheel ( 1 nut )
Remove the alternator ( 4 bolts ) and sit it aside , no need to remove it from the cover
If the crankshaft is nice, clean & shilly then give it a once over with some scotch brite right down the seal , lubricated with lots of WD 40 or similar
Wrap the key way slot with some film wrap to avoid damaging the top oil seal
Remove to to

That should be a bucket engine and they are dead easy to work on as the engine stays in the mower
So get a new top oil seal and a closure gasket
Remove both belts from the engine pulley
Then remove the blower housing ( 4 bolts )
Remove the flywheel ( 1 nut )
Remove the alternator ( 4 bolts ) and sit it aside , no need to remove it from the cover
If the crankshaft is nice, clean & shilly then give it a once over with some scotch brite right down the seal , lubricated with lots of WD 40 or similar
Wrap the key way slot with some film wrap to avoid damaging the top oil seal
Remove to top cover bolts ( 10 from memory )
Lift the top cover carefully strait up to avoid damaging the seal or pulling the cams out
Do not rotate anything
remove the dip stick with long pliers
Replace everything is reverse order clean the 4 bolts at the front of the engine and apply blue locktite to them .
I do a gasket in about 2 hours so allow you & your other half a full day

Because I am an old style mechanic , I put blue hylomar on the closure plate then use that to sick the gasket to it and a thin film of axel grease ( some times called bentonite grease ) on the crank case so in future the gasket will come off in 1 piece with the closure plate so can be reused as they are a little $$$ .

The really hard part is resisting the temptation to rotate the crank or cams while the plate is off thus potentially getting the engine out of time
Thanks. Our son attempted to take it apart. He works on cars but didn't want to get to far without reading up on it first. So I'll show him this. I'm going to have him replace my carburetor so maybe he can do both same day, who knows.... Regardless I guess I'm going to be out a mower for a while longer. It's already been 2 weeks. And I have 2 acres to cut.
This all started because a neighbor wouldn't fix my yard from their pigs rooting the crap out of my yard which trying to cut around them caused the engine mounts to get stripped out. I'm not very happy at all over all of this. I appreciate the advice .
 

bertsmobile1

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Kohler have their engine repair manuals on line as a free download
IF yu can not find them come back here because there are a couple of other places that have them as well .
 

7394

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