John Deere L110 - oil leak

[Max]

Hi Folks,

Does anyone have any epxerience with repairing oil leaks on an John Deere L110 tractor? The engine is a Kohler Command 17.5hp. I cleaned the engine up yesterdau and ran it and it was obvious (1) where the leak was coming from, and (2) it's a fairly substantial leak!. I don't know EXACTLY where the leak is yet, I need to remove some plastic covers to see the precise point. I've some experience with car engine repair (engine replacement, cylinder head gasket, replace camshaft, etc.) so I would think that repairing this engine would be "easy" in comparison. For a kick off it's a smaller engine and far more accessible than some of the cars I've worked on.

I contacted John Deere to see if they can help, next on the list is Kohler.

Cheers, Max

[mrcaptainbob]

A great Deere forum is:

http://www.weekendfreedommachines.org/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

A great Kohler forum is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kohler_Engine_Club/

Good luck with that!

[Max]

MrCaptainBob, is there anything you don't do?

I'll check out those sites you mentioned because I'll be damned if I'm gonna spend the small fortune it will likely cost to gave some bloke chnage a gasket for me........at least I hope it's only a gasket.

I need to keep all my pennies for one of those nice new Dodge Magnums, took one out for a spin today and it was pretty tight.

[Max]

I took a photo of the engine and marked on it with a red circle where the oil leak originates. I also marked with a red line the direction of the oil flow which, surprise surprise, is down.

http://www.bodoin.com/images/oil_leak.jpg

Cheers, Max

[HayZee518]

ok - got an idea where to look. That linkage is part of the governor speed control and is connected to a vane inside the area of the flywheel. Underneath the flywheel is an oil seal. Oil gets slung around by an oil slinger. Possible that the seal is faulty and oil is ejected up and out where it drips on the housing and down. Another possibility is the gasket seal on the valve cover. Oil is squirted on the rockers and pushrods.

[Max]

Thanks. I got the service manual in PDF format so will be looking at that. I also subscribed to the Kohler Yahoo! group and await a reply from them. My only hope is that I don't have to spend lots of money on custom tools to do this job. Fingers crossed.

Edit

http://www.bodoin.com/images.oil_leak2.jpg

The new photo shows what it looks like without the flywheel cover attached. The red circle indicates an area of pooled oil that cannot be clearly seen because of the shadows.

Another Edit:

Argh! there's a hole in my engine, my engine, my engine, there's a hole in my engine, what shall I do?

http://www.bodoin.com/images.oil_leak3.jpg

The hole circled and arrowed in this new pic shows a little hole and even though I probably shouldn't, when I run the engine I can see oil coming out of it. I am going to contact Kohler and see if:
1. it's a defect,
2. it's a missing grommet or something,
3. they will replace my engine (like the Mass lemon law with cars kinda thing),
4. can I fix it with something

[HayZee518]

If its a cast housing you might get it brazed. An aluminum housing, if it's not cast aluminum might get it welded. Otherwise I'd go with a new engine if its under warantee. Epoxy repairs will never fix it.

[mrcaptainbob]

If Kohler won't come through on any warranty repair, here's what I'd do if it were mine: If it is aluminum...I'd coat a small drill bit with grease and hand drill a small hole. I'd then coat a tap to fit with grease and thread that hole. I'd put some locktight on a screw to fit and thread that sucker in snug.

[Max]

Thanks folks. I called John Deere and the tractor is still under warranty for about another year so now I just need to get it to my nearest approved dealer. I'm confident that it's a manufacturing defect and it should be covered.