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Posted by on July 26, 2006, 4:06 pm
On Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:02:54 -0400, Stubby
>
>
>mar10 wrote:
>> Have a 3 year old Craftsman 25hp Kohler engine riding mower. My dad
>> ran it dry on oil - didn't notice that the oil filter came loose
>> and ran it without oil till it died (unfortunately he has vision
>> problems and was unable to notice this)
>>
>> Anyways- Sears has diagnosed that the engine seized and wants $2200
>> to fix - for $100 more I can get a brand new mower.
>>
>> Has anyone run into this or have thoughts as to if this could be done
>> more reasonably by a small engine repair guy? Or do I bite the bullet
>> and buy new?
>
>Jeez, you can get the old Chevy rebuilt for that. Talk to small engine
>places out in the country that need business. Or, look into buying a
>"short block" (no carb, starter, ...) and put that in yourself. It's
>not hard.
I agree. A short block or complete new engine is the answer. $2200
is outrageous. One reason I dont do business with Sears.
If you are handy, you could possibly rebuild the engine yourself and
for little money. Small engines are not that hard to work on. But it
depends on the damage done.
Just for grins, pull off the engine head and look at the cylinder
wall. Likely, the rings wore a groove in the aluminum cylinder wall
and siezed on some of the aluminum. The aluminum ususally is the
first to go.
This is a true story. 20 years ago my dad drained the oil on the push
mower in fall. In spring he forgot to put oil in it and started
mowing the lawn. It siezed and he was pissed. I popped off the head
and found the piston rings wore a groove in the cylinder wall. It was
not worth spending the money for a new engine on a $100 push mower.
Dad was going to toss the mower in the trash, so I decided to tear it
apart and save the carb and other stuff. Just for the heck of it, I
took a hammer and block of wood and pounded on the piston after
putting oil on the piston top. Soon, the piston came loose and I
sanded off the high spots in the cylinder wall. The engine then
turned easily. I replaced the head, filled it with oil, and the
mower started right up. It burned lots of oil at first, but soon it
seemed like it "wore in" and while it always burned some oil, it was
not all that bad. Well, that was 20 years ago. I still have that
mower and still use it as a spare.
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