Head gasket woes
 

I changed the head gasket on my 1450 the other day. After mowing for a couple hours, it started knocking and sucked all the oil out of the crankcase. No leaks and after filling the crankcase up, it runs enough to get in the shed. I never heard of this before. Any thoughts on this?

You are supposed to re-torque the head after 15 minutes of use. Perhaps you can try that? Might be leaking there.

I just put on a new head gasket wed., e torqued my bolts to (25-30) lbs., sure enough after running for 15/20 min., at idle, ALL bolts needed a re-torque when it cooled off again. Not much but each bolt took a twist to get back to 28lbs.

Nik

This is a long shot. Did you check all the air cleaner openings? A friend had a newer Cub suck all the oil out of the engine because a mouse had plugged the air cleaner chamber/s.
This probably is not the issue, but just letting you know that it could happen?
Regards,
Chris

I do the following when I replace a head gasket:
1. Check head for flatness
2. Check block for flatness
3. Replace all head bolts and studs-nuts. I perfer Kohler bolts-some use grade 8 bolts.
4. Decarbon head-top of block
5. Run a tap thru all threads that hold the bolts-studs in place
6. Torque head bolts-studs/nuts to Kohler specs in 3 increments. My torque wrench is set to 20, them 25 and them 30 foot pounds.
7. Torque the head bolts according to Kohler manual.
8. Run 15 to 30 minutes and retorque head bolts-nuts.

Your Kohler should be good for a long time

RE: Head gasket woes
 

I'll use all your suggestions and see what's wrong. Thanks, Ron

Compression is: 140 dry, 160 wet. No internal engine noises after mowing and running it for 30 minutes.