stated brand new, did the 5 hour oil change, went to Amsoil Synthetic and kept using the synthetic from 5 hours to 67 hours. Just in case the synthetic kept it from breaking in , it drained it today and went back to dino oil in hopes the rings just need seating , but synthetic of no synthetic, its been 67 hours and a light white smoke still comes out the exaust. Better seen in bright sun light, not that obvious but I can always smell it. Thougth it might be running rich with a dirty air filter, changed it today and it made no difference. I notice if I back off the throttle it gives a one second puff of smoke which should signify something but I can't remember if it mean a bad valve guide or not. Any ideas, head gasget, bad gas, unseated rings, exaust recycle doo-hicky, what causes a light constant stream of white smoke out the exaust that gives one puff when you back off the throttle or is this normal for Kohler?
It's not normal for Kohler engines to do this. It could be caused by several things. At 67 hours take it back to the dealer and let him worry about it.
I have never noticed a Kohler to do this. In fact to this date I feel that Kohlers are one of the easiest, and best running engines that I have ever used. Nice & Smooth
Since it is white smoke at least it is not oil burning. Sounds like you are seeing whats left of burning gas. Ours will do that if you work them hard. If it was water cooled I would say that there would be a possibly of a head gasket leaking.
The P.O.S. 1998 model of the 25 I had did the same thing at about 100 hours out of the box. It was the first of many defects in that motor. Mine was a scored cylinder and there was no abuse or dirt injestion. There was no explanation and it never was a good motor for me. Good Luck.
I'm with MOW ED on this one. Gonna take a lot to get me back on a Kohler. Sounds like it could be a head gasket. Mine sounded like a VW bug and smoked a LOT! Never had original power after the gaskets were done, and they were done twice. Then the smart spark, twice. UGGH! Very bad taste in my mouth with Kohler. Then when I find out that MOST 25's did this That just p!ssed me off even more! I really thought Kohler had that mess straightened out by Y2K, but.... DO NOT MENTION AMSOIL to the dealer. Kohler gets wind of that and they'll run a mile with it.
How much is it using? I never recommend going to asynthetic until after 100 hours of good hard running to seat the rings in. Synthetic oil is great stuff. Super slippery. That's the way it's supposed to be. The internals of the Kohler engine aren't designed to have the super slippery stuff in right fromthe beginning. If they were, it would have it from new. If no oil usage is detected, run it hard with the petroleum based oil and see if the problem goes away. If oil consumption is a problem, get it to a dealer ASAP.
Jman and the rest, thanks for the replys. does not seem to be an oil burner, but I was not real keen on detecting small usage, just keeping it above line and not paying attention to quanty over hours. I drained the synthetic and put dino castrol 10w-30, gave it a new air filter, sucked out the gas and tried a different station with fresh. No change, hardly any smoke while warming up and then 15 min later it starts the small steady stream and the one second puffs it I back or or apply throttle. Called Kohler, they want three tests done, Compression, leakdown and some pulse test which I think judges pressure coming from the crank case. In general they feel it could be something to do with a one way valve that I think is part of the emissions. Head gasket was brought up too. I will say one thing, the dealer said Kawi was not free of there problems either. Maybe I'll try one next time, but the Kohler guy were nice, did not jerk me around, communicated well ect. Actually two different mechanics pushed me into Kohler over Kawi based on general issues. Thing is, besides Lesco's stupid air foil set up, I don't hear to many Kawi Horror stories. I know Kohler had a lifter problem that was fixed prior to my engine, I ordered the serial number to miss that one. I hope its a small issue, I still like the motor and notice not power loss. Getting back to the Kawi 23 which was my other choice on the Hustler mower, the mechanic said in the Kawi shop manual , Kawi wanted heads pulled every 350 hours to get carbon out. Seemed strange to me because there our guys on this forum with 2000 plus hours on their Kawi's without head pulled. Live and learn.
Kohler Tec guy said the light annoying smoke comes from a failed primary and or secondary breather valve. Nothing serious, no real oil consumption and no harm to engine. It would run for years with this condition without harm. They are pulling the head and changing breather valves. The Kohler guys were good about it and made sure they kept a customer, no jerking me around. The head tec guy said they knew Kawi took a lot of the market about 5 years ago when Kohler heads were blowing gaskets and they are not looking to go back there. He said the Kohler Command's major issues were worked out years ago when I asked him is there anything I should switch out since the motor was going into the shop. We'll see. I told him thank, we talke for 20 min. and I told him I can't even get a true Kawi Tec on the line for my other engine. Its not back yet but so far I liked dealing with Kohler. My dealer said even if this was out of warrante they are good about taking care of customers as long as you don't do something stupid.
