Catastrophic failure

[markindetroit]

I sent this letter to the Hustler representative today.


Hello,

I have a Hustler Super Z that I bought in 2005. It has 164 hours on it. One of the lifters got stuck in the casting journal and it subsequently caused the destruction of the cam and the rest of the engine. I discovered this fact when I had my local dealer, Larrys Mower Shop in Ann Arbor MI disassemble it and tell me what happened. They told me they have never seen an engine like this fail with 164 hours on it.

My question is....what recourse do I have? I know my mowers is out of warranty...but I spent money on a product that is suppose to be reliable and have a great reputation. I used this mower for only residential
purposes and kept up with regular maintenance.

I hope, if nothing else, I can have someone from Kohler take a look at this engine and tell me why this happened. I would think your company would be concerned enough to help me out.

The Kohler engine is a CV740-0017.


I am now looking at having to spend about $2000 for a new engine..which seems pretty ridiculous to me. If I followed every direction I was suppose to for keeping my mower in shape per the manufacturer so how can I be assured of not having another major failure with a new engine?

Any comments are welcome.

[mowerconsultant]

I received your email.
I have already talked to our regional manager for your area and he is going to contact Kohler and get them involved.

Pj

[markindetroit]

Thanks for the quick reply. I look forward to some kind of resolution.

Mark

[djagusch]

Just remember it came with a 2 year warranty and your at the 4 year area. If they give any help you should be happy.

[lifetree]

Man, someone should definately do something for you ... after only 164 hours nothing like that should happen !!

[Coastline Lawn]

That is unfortunate. You could always replace it with a Kawasaki engine if nothing comes of Kohler helping.

[Imow4u2]

We lost a 25 Kawi @ 180 hrs.. We were only a few months deep in warranty though.. Jist is, it happens to all mfg.'s

[3Bladz]

Kohler had some issues with a vendor supplied lifter causing cam failure. I had one do it and kohler paid for the parts. I found out about the lifters while talking to an engineer at the show at Louisville. He gave me info to get reimbursed for the labor too, but I didn't bother. One interesting thing we discussed, was he said they rarely got more than 200 hours before failing. I had 650. He asked what oil I used, and I told him Mobil1 synthetic.

[mowerconsultant]

From what I understand Kohler and the dealer have stepped up to help out in this situation.

Pj