Small engine repair Part II

[SwampYankee]

Ironically, I too am having issues with a Kohler Command. In my case it's a Pro 15 on my 48" Bobcat walk-behind mower. It stalled suddenly and now it won't start. Any ideas?






It was actually quite a spectacular failure, puking it's guts in my front lawn. It doesn't owe me anything, I bet it had over 900 hours on it. It had been losing a 1/2 pt. every four mowings this year. Apparently that rate increased since my last cut. Intuition told me to check it even though I topped it off the last time I mowed. I should have listened.

I was hoping to do a rebuild over the winter, I guess it'll be a replacement instead. Oh well, at least itll only be a few more weeks of mowing with the old 22" push.

You lose some, you lose some.

[Matt L]

Is that a camshaft peeking out through the hole?

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by Matt L

Is that a camshaft peeking out through the hole?

Yep, part of it came out the hole.

I don't know why I'm not more pissed off (even at myself), but it was actually so fascinating to watch happen and see the after-effects.

[Fulcrum525]

Is "Swampyankee" a metaphor for "no luck with machines?"

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by SwampYankee

Yep, part of it came out the hole.

I don't know why I'm not more pissed off (even at myself), but it was actually so fascinating to watch happen and see the after-effects.

its fun to see something destroy itself, even if it is your own machine or toy..

then you get curious and start trying things to make it look cool-er while it destroys itself and then you end up breaking something that shouldn't have broken.. I'm still amazed I actually still have a job at the grocery store..

"Joe, what are you doing"

"nutin"

"oh, ok"

[SwampYankee]

True dat!

[Angel]

Looks like a "Upgrade opportunity" - or a chance to have a diesel lawnmower =)

-John

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by Angel

Looks like a "Upgrade opportunity" - or a chance to have a diesel lawnmower =)

-John

Evil minds think alike!

[mgburg]

Originally Posted by TheDon

its fun to see something destroy itself, even if it is your own machine or toy.. ... then you get curious and start trying things to make it look cool-er while it destroys itself and then you end up breaking something that shouldn't have broken.. I'm still amazed I actually still have a job at the grocery store.. ... "Joe, what are you doing" ... "nutin" ... "oh, ok"

Isn't that the premise behind "MYTHBUSTERS" - where they first try to find out why a 4-penny nail can cause a car to swere into oncoming traffic when the tire delates too fast...and by the end of the show, they're at some rock quarry out in the middle of of nowhere, 400 miles away from Armpit, Nevada, with some gentleman from the ATF, a half-ton of C4, a tanker of diesel-fuel and a non-functioning cement-mixer that has "I'M TOAST" written all over the side of it...then the closing shot is a remote camera showing the shock-wave as it spreads out from ground zero as the cement-mixer ends up in pieces no larger than a Matchbox Car...

And in the "safe zone" - all huddled around a monitor - Adam and Jeremy (the "Ying & Yang" of the show) are both acting appropriately (Adam, like a kid ready to wet his pants at the apex of a hill in a speeding car and Jeremy, giggling at Adam and the event that just deafened half the critters underground for 10 miles and is recorded as "...a 3.4 'event' on the Richter scale..." at some monitoring station in Lower Futtbucker, England.). Then the crew heads out to the site to "survey" the carnage...

Yeah! Cool!!!

[rscurtis]

You won't be so "fascinated" when you find out the cost of a replacement engine or short block.

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by rscurtis

You won't be so "fascinated" when you find out the cost of a replacement engine or short block.

I'm well aware. Like I said it was due for rebuild or replacement over the winter anyway so I'd already been looking into options. It just helped with the decision.