probably just needs a new gasket under the valve cover. easy fix.

 

That's great news, do I need to drain the oil first? I assume it's filled with oil behind this cover.

 

Tip the front end up on a jackstand should keep you from making a mess.

I would have to lookup the engine but I believe some have a gasket while others just use gasket in a bottle type stuff. Different OEM's have their own recommendations on what to use.

 

You can just use RTV gasket on that if you dont want to wait and order the oem gasket. It's just gotta hold oil, theres no tolerances to worry about.

Be careful taking those bolts off, I've snapped 2 of them off on 2 different engines. Both Kohlers just like that one.

Some PB blaster/wd40 would be a good idea.

 

How did you get the snapped off bolts out of the head to replace them?

 

I had that same problem, spewing oil everywhere like yours, turned out to be the valve cover gasket, simple repair I thought...

Careful when torquing the bolts back down as well, especially the muffler ones oh yes... Can't say for sure but on my 15hp Kohler I had to remove the muffler, good thing the gasket was fairly new, if such is the case on yours which I believe it is, you may wish to order up an exhaust gasket although you might be all right if you can get away with just removing that one piece of steel with the 2 + 2 bolts there... Right where that spark plug coil wire goes through, that piece between the muffler and the valve cover has to come off.

Not sure what the torque specifications were, I tightened mine back down by hand and now the bottom bracket bolt is partly stripped...
It's an aluminum block, if you can look up torque specifications and use a torque wrench that might be a good idea.

I used red hi-temp gasket in a tube.
And a gasket scraper to get the old stuff off.

Here's mine after the repair, no møer leak:

 

Thank you all so much! I finished this up yesterday so we will give it 24 hours to see if I have been successful or not!

 

They often leak in that area from to much crank case pressure. My generator was leaking in the same spot. It turned out my vent was plugged. I will prob get trashed for suggesting such an idea. Good luck. https://www.hunker.com/13407593/sig...13407593/signs-symptoms-of-a-defective-crankcase-breather-on-a-lawnmower-engine

 

They can be drilled out utilizing left handed drill bits or you can drill a hole and use an extractor. Google bolt extraction or look at YouTube

I really lucked out this morning. I was able to back out the bolt from the other side using a pair of vise grips. The easy-out was my last resort. Thanks for your reply. Why o why does the SV590 leak from the lower valve cover bolt so easily. This is my fourth replacement in 6 years.

 

Check out this video

 

Watched this yesterday. This looks like the updated version. Ver 1. did not use a gasket. Ver. 2 does