# Kholer 18 H.P. twin, in Cub Cadet



## treeboy (Jun 14, 2008)

Out of necessity I bought a Cub C. yesterday. It seemed O.K., I was told that it had been sitting for 1 1/2 years without being run much. While loading it on the trailor at a 10 to 15 degree side hill, it started to smoke like a steam engine boiler. It appeared to be burning oil big time. We shut it off inspected it & waited 3 minutes. Restarted it and it burnt off the oil in 5 or 10 seconds and was fine again. I took it home started to mow, and after about 4 minutes it started that smoking routine again, Heavy smoke! I shut it off inspected restarted and it was fine for 1 minute then more smoke again. I pulled the covers & could see where oil was being spit out from either the OHV valve cover, or the possible head gasket maybe 1/2" below the v. cover. Not sure if head splits there or not. I checked all the head bolts etc. all was tite. I reassembled the v.cover and tightened down good. I left the engine covers off so I could see where the oil was coming from. It never did it again for 4 hours, still nothing. What is going on? maybe a stuck ring from sitting??? One more thing, I noticed a few shims someone had installed under the rocker arm mtg. spacer. on the exhaust side (approx. 3 or 4) & maybe 1 or 2 on the intake side. It also cranks hard the first time, kinda like a bit of oil in cylinder giving it extreme high compression till it cranks a couple times. ?? Maybe valve seals or something ?? Wierd ?? Any ideas?


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## pyro_maniac69 (Aug 12, 2007)

yes, the kohler v-twins did have a problem with thier head gaskets going bad


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## treeboy (Jun 14, 2008)

Does the on/off again oil problem sound like head gasket, oil seals rings or valve problem. How hard is it to to replace the valve seals and/or replace head gasket. If I replace the head gasket do I need to plane the heads, or just clean them good maybe a little sandpaper on a glass or surface plate. It doesn't look too difficult. The valve adjustments may seem a bit touchy?? Not sure, any input will be appreciated. Thanks for your advice !!
Al


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## pyro_maniac69 (Aug 12, 2007)

the head gaskets are hard, but time consuming because of all of the baffles and what not you need to take off. And yes, you should plane the heads a little, if you have access to a table top belt sander, its very easy to do, you can tell by the diference in metal how much more you need to go.

and you don't need to worry about adjusting the valves, they are hydrolic, all you need to do is torque them down (200 inch pounds if I remember) and they are set.

and yes it does sound like head gasket because after the motor gets warm, the head gasket starts to seperate, and therefore starts to leak oil into the motor


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