getinmerry
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2007
- Messages
- 211
Here's the story in a nutshell:
July 15th I bought a new lawn tractor from TSC. It's a Husky with a 20hp Kohler.
In early September I was using it and it started knocking really badly and started to seize. I shut it down and checked the oil- it was dry. I ran and grabbed a quart of oil and put it in to help cool it down and get some lubrication back into it. I started it back up for about 10 seconds just to let the oil circulate then shut it back down and let it cool for an hour.
While it was cooling I started to investigate and found a constant line of oil up and down my lawn from my last 3 passes. I looked the tractor over and only found traces of oil on the frame. Perplexed, I started it up again and ran it for about 5 minutes. No sign of oil leaking. Ran it for another 20 minutes or so to finish the lawn. Ran fine, no sign of an oil leak.
As I was driving it to the shed, it started to knock and seize again. Parked it and checked the oil- still full.
Called TSC to see about getting it repaired under warranty. They asked if I bought the extended warranty- I didn't. They replied thatI was on my own and needed to contact Kohler.
Kohler put me in touch with a local service center, and I dropped it off. About a day later they called me and said that Kohler wouldn't cover the damage because it was an oil issue and I obviously didn't check it before using it. I blew a gasket (pun intended), because I had checked it and it was laying all over my lawn. Plus it only has about 8 running hours on it. It shouldn't have used a quart of oil in 8 hours.
They said they would check with the rep the following week and get back to me. They stated that the oil level was still full and it wasn't leaking since I brought it in.
The following week I got the call that they found the quick-change oil drain wasn't tight and that's how it lost the oil. They were going to cover it and repair the motor. They "rebuilt" the motor and gave it back to me.
I went to use it last week, and after about 20 minutes of use, it started knocking and seizing again. I checked the oil and it was down half a quart. I looked underneath and found the mower deck covered in oil. It was leaking out around the shaft seal---pouring out!
I took it back to the repair place and told them I want Kohler to replace the motor, not just repair it. I'm waiting for a response from the rep, but the shop said I have a snowball's change at getting a new motor.
I spent extra on this machine to get the Kohler because I've owned a lot of them over the years and always had good luck...I can't believe how everyone's quality has gone down since MTD became the main player in the lawn mower industry. It's all garbage- even good names like John Deere, Arins, and Cub Cadet are all that MTD crap now.
Just had to vent on this.
Chuck
July 15th I bought a new lawn tractor from TSC. It's a Husky with a 20hp Kohler.
In early September I was using it and it started knocking really badly and started to seize. I shut it down and checked the oil- it was dry. I ran and grabbed a quart of oil and put it in to help cool it down and get some lubrication back into it. I started it back up for about 10 seconds just to let the oil circulate then shut it back down and let it cool for an hour.
While it was cooling I started to investigate and found a constant line of oil up and down my lawn from my last 3 passes. I looked the tractor over and only found traces of oil on the frame. Perplexed, I started it up again and ran it for about 5 minutes. No sign of oil leaking. Ran it for another 20 minutes or so to finish the lawn. Ran fine, no sign of an oil leak.
As I was driving it to the shed, it started to knock and seize again. Parked it and checked the oil- still full.
Called TSC to see about getting it repaired under warranty. They asked if I bought the extended warranty- I didn't. They replied thatI was on my own and needed to contact Kohler.
Kohler put me in touch with a local service center, and I dropped it off. About a day later they called me and said that Kohler wouldn't cover the damage because it was an oil issue and I obviously didn't check it before using it. I blew a gasket (pun intended), because I had checked it and it was laying all over my lawn. Plus it only has about 8 running hours on it. It shouldn't have used a quart of oil in 8 hours.
They said they would check with the rep the following week and get back to me. They stated that the oil level was still full and it wasn't leaking since I brought it in.
The following week I got the call that they found the quick-change oil drain wasn't tight and that's how it lost the oil. They were going to cover it and repair the motor. They "rebuilt" the motor and gave it back to me.
I went to use it last week, and after about 20 minutes of use, it started knocking and seizing again. I checked the oil and it was down half a quart. I looked underneath and found the mower deck covered in oil. It was leaking out around the shaft seal---pouring out!
I took it back to the repair place and told them I want Kohler to replace the motor, not just repair it. I'm waiting for a response from the rep, but the shop said I have a snowball's change at getting a new motor.
I spent extra on this machine to get the Kohler because I've owned a lot of them over the years and always had good luck...I can't believe how everyone's quality has gone down since MTD became the main player in the lawn mower industry. It's all garbage- even good names like John Deere, Arins, and Cub Cadet are all that MTD crap now.
Just had to vent on this.
Chuck
That's why all my craftsman stuff sucs........get it?
