Carl in CT

Hi, I have a Toro/Wheelhorse 267-H, it's a 1997, give or take a year. The engine is the Kohler Command, pretty sure is the CV18S. It has a bent push rod on one cylinder, exhaust side. That by itself doesn't seem too difficult to fix but I'm very concerned about what caused it to bend. It only has between 550 and 600 hours on it so I'm really puzzled as to why this happened.

I can fix the push rod but what should I look for that may have caused the problem?

SHARTEL

Carl,

You might check and see it there is any 'ding' or tiny shift in the fly wheel key. Timing and back firing may be the culprit that bent your push rod.

Carl in CT

I will do that, thanks!

Carl in CT

Well, got the push rods fixed last fall and it ran good but the governor was not adjusted right so the engine was racing. I just ran it that way, carefully controlling the throttle so as not to blow the engine to smitherines to finish up mowing for the year. I finally adjusted the governor this spring after taking it out of the shed and it seemed good sitting in the driveway running. Once I started mowing it only ran for about 10 minutes and then it started to run poorly and now it will hardly run at all. It will start on full choke and half throttle and barely stay running like that. Any movement in the choke or throttle from that setting and it dies. It doesn't appear that the governor has changed, it seems fuel starved so I'm going to go through the fuel system and see where that goes. I had already replaced the fuel intake at the gas tank and put on a new fuel filter this spring before this latest problem happened. I found a new carb for $43 online, it just has the fuel inlet in a different configuration so I may have to get cute with running new fuel line. The same place also has a new fuel pump for $10. So hopefully those new items and some new fuel line should take care of it.

In the meantime I bought a new Simplicity Conquest (leftover 2010 at dealer cost) and love it so far! I will get the 267-H running good and sell it for what I can (being honest about it's repair history). I have found the Kohler Command motors to be far too unreliable so the new Simplicity has the B&S Vangaurd which is a true commercial quality motor. The 2011 Conquest does not come with a Vangaurd motor so I was happy to find the new 2010 leftover. The Kohler Command is supposed to be commercial quality as well but it's definitely not the case. My dad had a Command that never ran well and the one on my 267 never ran well after the first 3 years of service. They both were well maintained but Kohler just isn't what it was back in the day of the cast iron workhorses. Dealers are saying the same thing, Kohler has gone cheap and they are seeing a lot of problems with them.