Kohler twin oil pressure

grpascott

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Hi folks,
I have a 2010 Kohler Courage twin SV840-0012 on my BadBoy Z turn. I decide to put an oil pressure gauge on it. I reads 30 psi at startup. After warmup it drops to 20 psi at idle, and 22 psi at 3000 rpm. Is this too low or is it pretty normal? Any help appreciated.
 

StarTech

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Well the service manual doesn't spec the oil pressure other than the oil pressure switch operates at 3-5 psi and that may not warn before damage occurs.
 

grpascott

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Thanks for your reply Star. I would think they would want people to know as much as possible to insure reliability of their engine.
 

bertsmobile1

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Thanks for your reply Star. I would think they would want people to know as much as possible to insure reliability of their engine.
For the 10 millionith time
Vertical shaft engines are made to a price, not a quality
They are the cheapest engine that it is humanly possible to make so nothing will get added that costs more .
This is why quality engine makers hike Honda exited the market
They are only designed to barely last the expected life of the mower
Most of the oil filters have a bypass btween 7 to 10 psi so you can take that as being the minimum allowable oil presure

I ride old British motorcycles and running oil pressures in the 5 to 10 psi range are normal for a hot engine.
 

grpascott

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Thanks for your reply Star. I would think they would want people to know as much as possible to insure reliability of their engine.

For the 10 millionith time
Vertical shaft engines are made to a price, not a quality
They are the cheapest engine that it is humanly possible to make so nothing will get added that costs more .
This is why quality engine makers hike Honda exited the market
They are only designed to barely last the expected life of the mower
Most of the oil filters have a bypass btween 7 to 10 psi so you can take that as being the minimum allowable oil presure

I ride old British motorcycles and running oil pressures in the 5 to 10 psi range are normal for a hot engine.
Thanks for your input Bert, having worked as a avionics quality control tech for years, I guess my perspective is a bit too altruistic. I still enjoy working on my equipment, and helping others with mower mending.
 

Tiger Small Engine

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Thanks for your input Bert, having worked as an avionics quality control tech for years, I guess my perspective is a bit too altruistic. I still enjoy working on my equipment, and helping others with mower mending.
I think Honda mainly exited the push and self-propelled mower market for two main reasons.
1) Battery outdoor power equipment is the trend and Honda got out earlier than others on gas stuff
2) Low gross profit margin on this equipment, small percentage of overall sales, highly competitive market in this area
(Guess it is 4 reasons really).
 

StarTech

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Lawn care equipment are getting so secretive about their equipment even dealers are having hard times at getting the needed info.

The individual components companies that provide parts to these OEMs gives such huge discounts it is funny when what a repair shop have to pay for replacement parts. It is now costing a small fortune just repair the equipment. No wonder that China is taking over the replacement parts industry as they are able to sell at reasonable prices. Just try comparing the sale price of a walk behind mower to the replacement parts. Most cost more to repair than they cost new.

Procurement of parts is a main challenge for any repair shop now-days. A lot of the electrical repairs I do would cost an arm and a leg in other shops that don't the resources and knowledge I have gain over the years. I even created a few PDFs of the info I have gathered in the last ten plus years so I can have the info at my fingertips.

As the oil pressure on the Kohler in this post it would take someone with engine in their shop to take the time and actually measure the pressure. Personally I don't have a SV800 series in the shop right now. But to be honest it would take to time away from their beer drinking time and they can't have that.

BTW I getting tired of trying to deal with the "Space Cadets" at tech support. Some don't even know what an engine is.
 

grpascott

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What you're saying is true. It's frustrating to see "No longer available" on a parts list, or you have to buy
a whole assembly not an individual part. I think Honda's problem with the decompression debacle put them over the edge. Yeah, if you can get through the robot answering machine the techs arent very
helpful.
Enjoyed your insight...will talk with you again.
 

ILENGINE

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I think Honda mainly exited the push and self-propelled mower market for two main reasons.
1) Battery outdoor power equipment is the trend and Honda got out earlier than others on gas stuff
2) Low gross profit margin on this equipment, small percentage of overall sales, highly competitive market in this area
(Guess it is 4 reasons really).
And then Honda secretly does this in the background

 

sessman55

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Hi folks,
I have a 2010 Kohler Courage twin SV840-0012 on my BadBoy Z turn. I decide to put an oil pressure gauge on it. I reads 30 psi at startup. After warmup it drops to 20 psi at idle, and 22 psi at 3000 rpm. Is this too low or is it pretty normal? Any help appreciated.
That’s normal
 
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