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Snapper Jack

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
This rebuilt Kohler 22 HP has approximately 50 hrs and ran flawless all summer long last year. I warmed the engine up to change the oil and filter,restarted and it ran fine. Today I did some rewiring and started it up but now has a loud knocking sound,pulled the V/C's and found no bent P/R's and the lifters do seem to be pumping up as there was no excessive play in the R/A's. Has anyone ever run into this situation just by changing the oil or am I looking at reopening this engine again?
 
Did you use the correct oil filter..??
Are you sure you don't have a bad hydro idler pulley or a chunk out of the belt..??
Is it a horizontal engine.???

Describing noises on the internet can be a challenge....
Knocks...ticks...clacks...clunks..etc....
 
Without knowing the nature of the electrical work you perfomed...here's a guess...
The only electrical repairs that I can think of that can give you a knock are...

While replacing the stator...the flywheel magnets came loose..making the flywheel out of balance..

While replacing the clutch..the bracket that keeps the clutch assy from spinning with the engine ...wasn't tightened and came loose..
The clutch is banging against everything it can reach...

This stuff is easier to diagnose with mower and engine numbers....
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Without knowing the nature of the electrical work you perfomed...here's a guess...
The only electrical repairs that I can think of that can give you a knock are...

While replacing the stator...the flywheel magnets came loose..making the flywheel out of balance..

While replacing the clutch..the bracket that keeps the clutch assy from spinning with the engine ...wasn't tightened and came loose..
The clutch is banging against everything it can reach...

This stuff is easier to diagnose with mower and engine numbers....
It's not electrical. One of the lifers on the #1 bank won't pump up.Got another good use one and same thing,ran it a few minutes and nothing.
I read all the horror stories of these commands with lifter pumping issues,so now I can officially call these command engines APOS:laugh: Can't believe I dumped all this money in getting it rebuilt but now I know better and will be replacing it with a vanguard. What's the going price for used 22 command with lifter issues?

Thank you all for giving some assistance on this matter.
 
It's not electrical. One of the lifers on the #1 bank won't pump up.Got another good use one and same thing,ran it a few minutes and nothing.
I read all the horror stories of these commands with lifter pumping issues,so now I can officially call these command engines APOS:laugh: Can't believe I dumped all this money in getting it rebuilt but now I know better and will be replacing it with a vanguard. What's the going price for used 22 command with lifter issues?

Thank you all for giving some assistance on this matter.
So the noise is more of a tick, as in valve lifter. Try this before you do anything dramatic. pour 3 cap fulls of seafoam in the oil and run it as normal. The seafoam may break up the build up and free the lifter. Worked for me.
 
It's not electrical. One of the lifers on the #1 bank won't pump up.Got another good use one and same thing,ran it a few minutes and nothing.
I read all the horror stories of these commands with lifter pumping issues,so now I can officially call these command engines APOS:laugh: Can't believe I dumped all this money in getting it rebuilt but now I know better and will be replacing it with a vanguard. What's the going price for used 22 command with lifter issues?

Thank you all for giving some assistance on this matter.
Who rebuilt the engine.???....did they charge you for new lifters.??
You have the first lifter that caused an engine to KNOCK....they tick and click..but never KNOCK..
You don't have a Kohler problem...just a problem with the guy that doesn't know how to rebuild a Command Twin...
 
There is a reason why thousands of pretty smart guys... called technicians.... go to schools year after year.....
The main reason is so that they don't make bonehead mistakes when working inside engines...
On some of the early Command Twin engine blocks...there was an issue with an air pocket forming in the area that feeds the #1 intake lifter..
There is an update kit that solves this problem.....

You will never learn anything ....until you admit that you don't know it all....
 
In my opinion rebuilt engines are a waist of money. You pay as much as $1100
For a rebuilt kohler 20hp. You can get that engine $1600. Bottom line that rebuilt will never last as long as new engine don't you agree with me.
:waving:
 
In my opinion rebuilt engines are a waist of money. You pay as much as $1100
For a rebuilt kohler 20hp. You can get that engine $1600. Bottom line that rebuilt will never last as long as new engine don't you agree with me.
:waving:
In my opinion...you have never been inside the classroom that taught small engine repair..
The bottom line ........
 
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In my opinion rebuilt engines are a waist of money. You pay as much as $1100
For a rebuilt kohler 20hp. You can get that engine $1600. Bottom line that rebuilt will never last as long as new engine don't you agree with me.
:waving:
No I don't agree with you...and neither do the over 200 customers I have built engines for..
My rebuilt engines last 2000 to 3000 hours...and have had many reach 4500 hours...
I have 1 customer that brings me every new mower he purchases...and has me disassemble the engine...carefully inspect and fine tune the internal engine parts...realign the crosshatches.for maximum compression and minimal ring wear...and then. Reassemble the engine..

If you knew how to properly rebuild an engine...you wouldn't have to spend $1100. Or whatever...
You could rebuild it for the price of the parts....
 
If you can rebuild an engine and make it last 4500 hours. You can teach the kohler mechanical engineers a thing or two:waving:

Except for they water cooled engine. ask here on lawnsite how many guys have had their kohlers reach 4500 hours.
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
There is a reason why thousands of pretty smart guys... called technicians.... go to schools year after year.....
The main reason is so that they don't make bonehead mistakes when working inside engines...
On some of the early Command Twin engine blocks...there was an issue with an air pocket forming in the area that feeds the #1 intake lifter..
There is an update kit that solves this problem.....

You will never learn anything ....until you admit that you don't know it all....
This so called bone head bought a Kohler short block and having 35plus years building engines does have some what of an level headed educated back ground of refurbishing complete engines, along with the existing heads and a updated kit was installed for the lifters of which I searched past threads,thanks to Richard Martin for bringing the subject up from his past experience with the Kohler engine. There's plenty of oil finding it's way to the lifter feeding galleries,lifters just refuse to pump up. This engine was running flawlessly until I changed the filter and oil and replaced with factory filter and oil.
 
If you can rebuild an engine and make it last 4500 hours. You can teach the kohler mechanical engineers a thing or two:waving:

Except for they water cooled engine. ask here on lawnsite how many guys have had their kohlers reach 4500 hours.
There is a great big world out there beyond the walls of this site..

You still dont get it...Getting 4500 hrs from a new or rebuilt engine has more to do with the guy operating and sevicing the engine...than the company that built it...

I doubt I could teach much to the engineers at Kohler...they are pretty sharp..
The only difference is... they are building a production engine...and I build a handbuilt engine...
There arent too many engineers working on the assembly line...
 
This so called bone head bought a Kohler short block and having 35plus years building engines does have some what of an level headed educated back ground of refurbishing complete engines, along with the existing heads and a updated kit was installed for the lifters of which I searched past threads,thanks to Richard Martin for bringing the subject up from his past experience with the Kohler engine. There's plenty of oil finding it's way to the lifter feeding galleries,lifters just refuse to pump up. This engine was running flawlessly until I changed the filter and oil and replaced with factory filter and oil.
Confusing ability with experience usually ends up with a frustrated mechanic..

If you have more than 1 lifter (intake #1) making noise..its not a lifter problem..
Check your oil pressure..sounds like the welch plug or the pickup tube fell out of the oilpump..
If you have about 4 psi oil pressure..thats probably what happened..the pump will pump a good volume of oil...but you dont have enough oil pressure to pump oil into the hydralic lifters..
you should be able to remove the oil sender and install your oil pressure gauge there..

If for some reason the lifters are just plain bad...stranger things have happened...
You can use : MELLING JB817 lifters...accept no substitute..all the other automotive lifters I have tried were a waste of time...
 
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