Riding mower stole my day.

[middle.road]

IMO Kohler use to make some nice small engines. After yesterday I'm not so sure.
It's in our 42" Toro. Should have known when it started right up this season that something was up.
The decal fell off at some point last year and I had stashed it.
The upper right LED has been blinking for quite sometime and I figured it must be battery or something trivial.
Well now comes the extreme 'time waster'.
The pict on the right is from the manual off of the Toro site, and does not show a light in the upper right.
I had pulled the tractor out to redo the drive pedal to make it more comfortable for Honey when she mows.
Then I decided to figure out what the blinking light denotes - and *POOF* there goes the rest of the day.
Found the decal stashed in my tool chest junk drawer.
Then went looking for another version of the manual because on the decal there are NOT any words on it and that is a strange icon.
Found an earlier version of the manual (left pict) that showed it was oil.
Change the filter with a (hopefully) Purolator equivalent. - No change.
And now it is even showing 'CHG OIL' in the LCD.
Kohler manual shows a pressure switch. I took off all the guards and such and never did find it.
There was though an 1/8" pipe port above the filter, so I rigged up a pressure tester and fired it up and it showed 20PSI.
Several searches, YouTube videos and reading through several manuals to no avail.
I'm going to ignore it for now and hope for the best. <end rant>
.... .....

Pedal Mod
The shape of the original is lousy IMO, replaced it with a piece of PVC.
I prefer a lever/stick type like on our old Craftsman. This type of pedal drive gets tiresome.
........

 

[graham-xrf]

Oh dear! It's not that it does not work. It's the not knowing that gets ya!

 

[BtoVin83]

Let me ask this, how did you check the oil level prior to blinking lights? Put some tape over it and get the grass mowed, it ain't gonna mow itself.

 

[mmcmdl]

I have a Toro 44" that I can't figure out . Every time I take this thing up to NY it dies . Brand new engine . I ran it up to the shop the end of last year and was told it was a ground wire for $125.00 . It died again , in the exact same place . I had my electrician check it out and everything seems good . I lost the ignition and the PTO . I've checked these wires 10 times , bypassed all the safety switches etc . This POS has me stumped .

 

[middle.road]

I have a Toro 44" that I can't figure out . Every time I take this thing up to NY it dies . Brand new engine . I ran it up to the shop the end of last year and was told it was a ground wire for $125.00 . It died again , in the exact same place . I had my electrician check it out and everything seems good . I lost the ignition and the PTO . I've checked these wires 10 times , bypassed all the safety switches etc . This POS has me stumped .

Send it down here, I'll have it going in a week, and (3) Twelve Packs - guaranteed.

Being serious now,,, what engine does it have in it...?

 

[middle.road]

Ready for this?
I'm not sure who exactly who sent us good vibes, but I thank you!
Light has quit blinking and the CHG OIL has gone away.

Now for the not-so-good-news.
My pedal mod did not help the wife's hip. Started aching about halfway through the yard.
I told her to just man-up and finish. I shan't mention how well that went over...

Need to figure out a plan 'B' for propelling this b*stard forward, cause this pedal design ain't cutting it...

 

[NCjeeper]

I told her to just man-up and finish. I shan't mention how well that went over...

That made me chuckle. Let me guess where you slept last night.

 

[hermetic]

Friend had an older Toro with a Kohler 14.5 hp in it, broke its conrod every other year, when it blew up the thid time, he scrapped it and gave it to me, it now has a 29hp citroen 2cv engine in it, and runs very well! The Kohler was awful! Very loud, massive amounts of vibration, and very crude design. One of the Honda V twins would have been the ideal replacement, but I had several 2CV engines!

 

[pdentrem]

My buddy has an old Magna V45 and I told him when he dumps the bike I will buy it. Great engine!

 

[middle.road]

OK i'm intrigued, can we see a picture of the '29hp citroen 2cv engine', sounds like a cool mod for a rider.

Friend had an older Toro with a Kohler 14.5 hp in it, broke its conrod every other year, when it blew up the thid time, he scrapped it and gave it to me, it now has a 29hp citroen 2cv engine in it, and runs very well! The Kohler was awful! Very loud, massive amounts of vibration, and very crude design. One of the Honda V twins would have been the ideal replacement, but I had several 2CV engines!