Kohler Command 20- Will Clogged Air Filter Make Engine Use Oil

[mcambrose]

I have a Walker 2002 with about 700 hours on it. It is a secondary mower, so it only gets 4-8 hrs of use a week. Last Saturday I checked the oil during regular maintenance and found it about 3/4 of a quart low. It had never used oil like this before. I have been mowing in very dusty conditions this spring, so I decided to check the air filter (Donaldson) to clean it. It was very clogged with dust. I also noticed that it had an inner filter. I was told a couple of years back that Walker had recommended removing these filters because they were causing too much restriction of flow, so I thought I had removed them from all my machines. My mower is the model which also has another round kohler ailr filter on the top of the engine. I used the mower a couple of hours this week so far and it doesn't seem to be using oil since I cleaned the filter. Does this make sense? Also, previously I had noticed an oil smell when I turned around and came in contact with exhaust. I didn't get that same smell yesterday when I used it. Could cleaning the air filter make the difference?

[Bill Kapaun]

A clogged filter can make the engine run too rich, theoretically washing oil of the cylinder wall and letting it past the rings.
I would however, check the crankcase oil and smell it for the odor of gasoline.
It would probably be more common for a leaky needle/seat in the carb to allow gas to flood the crankcase and dilute the oil. This can then allow the oil to be consumed.
Your filters are trapping too much dirt, so you want to remove them? Seems to me, cleaning them more often would make more sense.

[petez]

Yes it makes sense, when the piston goes down and draws its fuel charge in. it creates a vacuum to draw air and fuel from the carb, if it has a restriction it will draw from the least resistance, which would be past the piston rings, the valve seats or wherever and that would draw oil with it.