K301a Smoking/Using Oil

jsoluna · #1 07-10-2011, 04:41 PM

Well, the 129 has done a lot of work this year. My first Cub Cadet has proven to be both a joy and a time consuming magnet for wife's jealousy.

It's a love-hate thing going on here. I started by first doing oil changes over and over again, for every 3 hours of labor on that engine. Eventually, though, it developed smoke on startup and now it smokes after warmup too. It uses about 1/3 qt of oil for every hour of use now. After its been run at WOT for a half hour it will clear up a bit, but you can see the smoke when you mow next to something, and it's worse under a load. I've been sooooo meticulous with the maintenance, I think the poor Cub just didn't know what to do except show it's wounds that had accumulated over the years.

What's my best bet? A rebuild, or an upgrade to a lower-hour engine? I've heard that the Series2 Kohlers were a bit better about oiling themselves on inclines and such, and I live in a very hilly area - and I use the Cub for my lawn care business as well as my own lawn (average about 10hrs a week of heavy use total)

I'm still very careful with the oil, I've never let it drop. I have a hunch though, that I'm the first owner to have taken so much care in this machine. It's happened to me on so many machines - the clean oil after a life of abuse makes the problems come to life

I'm bummed.

I understand it couldn't be a perfect first buy, but Ive just put so much of my heart and soul into this machine, here she is now:

Matt G. · #2 07-10-2011, 05:06 PM

Rebuild it. Most of the tractors of that vintage didn't have an hourmeter, so finding an actual 'low-hour' engine might be a bit of a challenge.

The series I/series II thing only applies to the KT-17 engine and has nothing to do with the K-series singles.

jsoluna · #3 07-10-2011, 05:11 PM

Ok, I see. I misunderstood. So then, a rebuild - what are the most common wear points on these engines? Given the symptoms I'm having, I'd think that at the least I'd need a new piston and rings. I remember when I took the head of and put a new gasket on, I could actually move the piston side to side at the top of the bore. It didn't have a bunch of wear on the side close to the valves, but it seemed to be a bit loose to me.

Matt G. · #4 07-10-2011, 07:05 PM

The best thing for you to do would be to read the service manual, and measure the components according to it. That will tell you what you need to replace and have machined.

jsoluna · #5 07-10-2011, 07:13 PM

Yeah, I figured - I need to use the Cub for the rest of the season though. I wondered if there would be a weekend job that I perform to keep it from burning so much oil, like a quick hone and piston and rings. It all does depend on how worn out it is inside though - something I don't exactly know yet. It seems I've read a lot of posts about smoky Kohlers - is it that common?

jsoluna · #6 07-10-2011, 07:55 PM

...and I'm curious....how long does it take a well running Kohler to dirty up it's oil for an oil change?

Reading the manual, I think they recommend every 25 hours after the break in period. I'd love to be able to go half that before having to change the oil in my 129. I swear, in about 2 hours it ready to be changed. It's not totally black, but it goes from perfectly clean to nasty real quick. Must be from combustion blow-by. I used Marvel in the gas and a bit in the oil when I first got it to clean things up, but there's no band-aid fix for this tired engine...

westofb · #7 07-10-2011, 11:38 PM

If you need to use it for the rest of the season, I would say keep doing what your doing...checking the oil and keeping it full. If it were mine, I would skip the constant oil changes...you are adding oil to it regularly anyhow, it is most likely getting dirty from the blow by around the piston. I would make sure to check and clean the crank case breather too. If you are worried about keeping the oil changed, change it every couple weeks or so (you said you use it around 10 hrs/ week). Once the mowing season is over, pull the engine are do a thorough rebuild on it, piston, rings, rod, governor gear, governor cross shaft, and cross shaft bushing. Once you pull it and get it apart, a good machinist can measure the cylinder bore and the crank's rod journal and specify what parts you need to order. I would also have them check the valves, valve seats, valve guides and replace whatever it needs. It should be good for several more decades of use after going through the engine.

Check out ebay for motor rebuild parts, you can get a kit using Stens parts for around $100 (if you need every component I mentioned, would run you around $150-175). From what I have read, people have good luck with them, I ordered a kit for my K321, hopefully someday the machine shop will get it done so I testify whether or not they parts are good or bad from personal experience.

steveyrock · #8 07-11-2011, 05:15 AM

I just did a total rebuild on a K301 AQS that ran fine untill the governor broke.This is what I needed,Piston and rings from Kohler 165.38.Gasket kit 60.67.Governor gear kit 32.04.New oil pan from Kohler 105.18.

Machine shop services.120.00
Cook the block and clean,Resurface head,Grind valves and seats,Bore block 10 over and magnaflux the crank and polish.

The oil pan was warped beyond getting it right along with stripped threads so I bought a new one. Total 521.22. plus my time to disassemble and reassemble and mount back in tractor.

AMCJavelin74 · #9 07-11-2011, 09:27 AM

I like OEM parts in terms of 'hard parts', but a quality American made aftermarket part works just as well from my experience. Stens seems to be pretty decent- however- some ebay parts are cheap generic import stuff that's subpar to the quality we've come to expect from our K-series engines. As they say "buyer be-aware".

If you want, I'd dump 1/4 can of '4 cylinder size' ReStore in it. You can buy it most any parts store, near all of the miracle oil treatments and such. Be sure to store it upside down and to shake it for a couple of minutes before use so the ingredients are well mixed.

There was a 4h project where a kid used it on an old Briggs (measured out for 'one cylinder'), and it did increase compression slightly. It sounds worn enough that this may not help though.

-Matt
p.s. It seems that the corner of your hood would be black with soot from the style of muffler you have on there. Did you clean it for the pics? My 129 (pretty much same as your tractor) has an elbow, a cylindrical muffler, and a short tailpipe exiting the 'passenger' side of the tractor.

jsoluna · #10 07-11-2011, 11:20 AM

Thanks for all the advice guys

I don't believe in most oil additives, but the last thing I did before posting this yesterday was add in some engine Restorer. It didn't help though, all it did was foul my spark plug quicker because of the red-ash deposits left behind from burning the additive

If I had the money and a backup tractor, I'd give the 129 a break and rebuild that engine asap, but I still rely on her every day....so I guess I'll keep cleaning plugs, adding oil, changing oil, and trying to keep her going. Still has plenty of power and runs absolutely great despite the blow-by.

So, it sounds like a thorough rebuild is costly for this engine...I did find the rebuild kits on eBay - about 103.00 at the time of this post for a master kit that includes rod, piston, rings, gaskets, valves.

What about the balance gears I've heard so much about? Should I remove it while I'm in there? And the governor gear? Replace it with the steel one? Or are these unnecessary repairs? I'm sure it's a matter of opinion.....