How I Repaired Every Issue With My Kohler Courage 20 Mower

Kohler Courage 20 engines are known for having numerous issues. My mower just so happened to have every one. I'll be showing you how I fixed these issues to try to extend the life of my Husqvarna YTH20K46.
Products used in this video:
Valve Cover Gasket (Amazon) - amzn.to/3kuCGKr
Engine Cover Gasket (Amazon) - amzn.to/3MJu52x
High Temperature Gasket Maker (Amazon) - amzn.to/3vJDVvX
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Chapters:
00:00 - What's Wrong With This Mower?
01:50 - Removing the Valve Cover Gasket
02:21 - Removing the Engine Cover Gasket
05:42 - Removing the Cams and Cleaning the Block
07:23 - How To Repair the Cracked Block
08:22 - Repairing the Cracked Block
12:34 - Reassembling the Engine
18:04 - Checking Valve Lash
20:36 - Replacing the Valve Cover Gasket
21:58 - Will She Start?
22:10 - Fabricating a Exhaust Heat Shield

[@rogerd943]

One of the better videos on this subject. Surprised it doesn't have more views.

[@BustedBeaters]

Thank you! I appreciate that!

[@ericpigg2689]

The fact that you left the clamp on there is pure gold!

[@BustedBeaters]

It's still hanging in there! Made it through one season that way lol

[@ericpigg2689]

@@BustedBeaters That is awesome. I would have done the repair the exact same way, but removed the clamp. But, I fix them for resale. That clamp might not be the best selling point! :D

[@macdoctor562]

Great video, I love the straight to the point method you used. There's some who feel they need to explain things to death and repeat themselves to try and look smarter.

[@BoundANDDetermined88]

Busted Beaters, great video on bringing new life to a workout mower. Keep up the great work.

[@SP-eq9st]

I get the joy of ripping down my Kohler tomorrow, and this video was a big help. Thanks

[@BustedBeaters]

Glad I could help! Hope it goes well for you!

[@MisterDusk007]

Everything i needed to know in one video...thanks so much for the steps that will help me keep my POS running reliably. Cheers!!!

[@BustedBeaters]

Hahaha yeah it'll still be garbage but hopefully it'll run for a little longer

[@panteraa9195]

Great video man! Appreciate your time invested and attention to detail when explaining all your doings. Should definitely be proud. Nice work 👍🏼

[@BustedBeaters]

Thank you! Glad I could help!

[@sendit1158]

Lol he copied Taryl fixes all vid

[@panteraa9195]

@@sendit1158 oh he copied someone else’s video huh? You think Taryl is the only person in the world tearing apart engines? Even if he did, so what lol. Let the kid do his thing. You don’t have to sit behind a screen and troll/cut people down just for the sake of it. Who cares, what do you benefit from making that statement? At least the kid is out doing hands on things instead of sitting behind a screen acting like a big shot know it all. Being an arrogant punk doesn’t make you a man bud. Humble yourself, educate, and set an example. Instead of pointing the finger. #FJB

[@jayhudson365]

Very good video. Well edited, thorough and educational. Thank you!

[@larry3099]

Fantastic video! This will surely serve a great purpose for me this winter when replacing the same gaskets on my cub cadet. Thank you!

[@BustedBeaters]

Good luck! It's not a bad project!

[@alainbilodeau6156]

Good job, really well explained, I will follow your procedures, cheers

[@macknumber9]

Excellent video...nice little tip on finding TDC on compression stroke too...i like that way of confirming you are at TDC on the compression stroke

[@BustedBeaters]

Appreciated it!

[@thecemeteryguy]

Thanks for sharing, that was awesome.

[@KevinMonroe-o8b]

Well done!

[@nperry106]

I'll be replacing my carburetor and valve cover gasket on my Courage 20 this weekend. Glad i found your video. I wondered what kind of oil to use but i see you used 10W30

[@miguelmojica5897]

I'm gonna have to download this video. I bought a mower with the Kohler courage 19hp engine on it, unaware of its terrible reputation. I may need to do at least one of the things you explained on this video. Great job BTW.

[@BustedBeaters]

Appreciate that! I was unaware of all the issues too until I started looking into it. Mower may not be the prettiest thing but it's still running strong!

[@minter66]

Just wanted to say thanks for this video. I have a TimeCutter Z4200 and I already replaced the first engine due to crack. Second engine just cracked for no reason. No bolts were backed off on the block. So screw replacing it again, I’m using a plate and JB weld. Your instructions are fantastic for tearing the engine down. Waiting on JB MarineWeld since it is oil/gas resistant. Then I’ll follow your steps further.

[@BustedBeaters]

No problem! I hope you can keep it going for another couple of seasons!

[@jdevans87]

I just clean the crack, add epoxy then a patch of fiberglass. Done a couple & they still run!

[@afarrar3]

awesome video, just did the valve cover and adjustment on mine, I've got the same cracked block, and threw some RTV over it, but I like your fix alot better, I'll have to jump on that next time. Lost about a half quart of oil in one mow

[@BustedBeaters]

Oh wow! That's a lot of oil! It's not the best fix in the world but it does keep the mower ticking so that's a good thing!

[@twochordthom2172]

Great job!

[@freddean995]

Exact problem I am dealing with my Man. Thank you Brother!

[@BustedBeaters]

Glad I could help!

[@kennyjones2508]

Great video man

[@noeloakes3803]

thanks for adding the different tolerances , and ftlbs of tork,

[@metaldad4694]

Thanks for a very good video. I will be doing the same to my cub cadet. the valve tolerance was a plus.

[@BustedBeaters]

Good luck with the repair! It's not too complicated just takes some time.

[@andrew4403]

Now that those issues were fixed that engine will last a good long time. The lock tight on the bolt's is what it needed from factory. Now that it's fixed not much else will go wrong with the engine. Keep oil in it and this motor will last a long time for sure.👍. Keep us updated on how well this engine is doing in time. I bet you will be happy with it's performance. I have one just like this one and I fixed all of the issues in time before those loose bolt's cracked the block. Not sure how long those plastic gears will last but mine is still running strong.

[@BustedBeaters]

So far it's survived a season so I'm pretty happy with it. Yeah I wouldn't have thought the plastic gears would have been that durable but they didn't show any signs of wear when I opened it up. Hopefully It'll run for a while

[@Kyle-mo5si]

Mine is a troy built super bronco... same motor, all i have done is oil changes, new carb, new exhaust and valve cover gaskets. Other than that has been great for the last 17 years, unknown hours, my best guess is a shitload..glad i watched this so i can do preventive maintenance.. great video

[@BustedBeaters]

That's pretty awesome! A lot of people have had good luck with them. Seems like not every motor had these issues. And even this mower had about 500 hours on it or so before it really had any issues

[@picker63028]

Nice work and information. I have the kohler courage 19 and it died last year. 500 hours. I already had a new Cub so i parked it till now. Gotta tear it down and see whats broke. May be something not worth fixing. My career is automotive technician so I have no fear of repairs. I will say nothing is built like the old stuff. Just junk.

[@BustedBeaters]

Yeah junk is right. I would say that if it can't be fixed for less than $50 it's probably not worth fixing. Always fun to tear them down and see what went wrong though!

[@fireresqlt]

Great video!

[@BustedBeaters]

Thank you!

[@derrickmosley80]

Excellent video, my courage 17 went POWWW like a old cartoon sound. Opened up ,had field mice nest in there. Cleaned it out, replaced spark plug, ignition coil, fix fuel solenoid and still will not start. Sprayed starting fluid into carb and it went POW again and nothin more.

[@BustedBeaters]

Yikes! That doesn't sound good at all!

[@philliphall5198]

You explain it very well but most shops will not even try to fix one because of warranty issues But most of the time it works great 👍

[@BustedBeaters]

I imagine that most of these engines are out if warranty. I imagine you're right that most shops won't want to mess with them

[@gravedigger1960]

You should have also replaced the shaft seal on the flywheel side.

[@BustedBeaters]

Yeah youre not wrong. . Proaby not an expensive part but my goal was to keep it running for the least amount of $ possible

[@richardcole6566]

good video, very informative. Do you know where I can order the cams for the kohler courage?

[@BustedBeaters]

Appreciate that. Unfortunately I do not

[@Gary65437]

Great job on the crack, excellent how to video, muffler protector/heat shield. The Kohler eng doesn't deserve such a nice big oil filter...lol I wonder if replacing that eng with a briggs would be a big hassle or not.

[@BustedBeaters]

Hahaha I agree! This engine doesn't deserve an oil filter at all! I'm not sure what would be involved in replacing the engine with something else.. In my case the rest of the mower is in rough shape so I would probably just replace the whole thing.

[@Gary65437]

@@BustedBeaters I tend to agree, not wanting to spend 800+ for a new eng even though I already replaced many other parts like spindles, belts. My kohler is hanging in there with just a minor carb leak while it's shut down. Fixed that with gas shut off valve. May have to swallow 2,700 for a new one....Grrr

[@BustedBeaters]

I know the feeling! I have a feeling mine will be at the scrap yard the next time something major breaks. I also had to put a gas shut off valve put on. I eventually bought a chineese carburetor from ebay for $25 or so. It runs just as it did but, without the leaks!

[@zedrone7975]

Good job, you should also stop drill the crack and filled it with JB weld or/and a bolt to keep the crack from growing

[@mikespain8655]

The engine mounting bolts also loosen up. The starter also has problems (3 generations of starters). The Kohler Courage is a dog, but the rest of Kohler engines are good to great.

[@BustedBeaters]

Yeah this was a rather unfortunate purchase. Kohler really messed up with this engine. Patched it back together and it's still running though!

[@eyeorewolf]

Excellent video, very informative.

[@nicklee8103]

FINALLY found a video of someone taking a Kohler Courage engine apart like that. I'm having an issue with mine with the engine not turning over, have it all torn down to where the internals (cam/crank shafts are exposed). When you tore it down did you have any issue with that compression release on your exhaust cam gear? Thinking that might be my issue from others I've ask but not sure what makes it "bad" or not.

[@BustedBeaters]

That's interesting? Will the engine turn over? Did you look at the valves? I've seen issues where the valves are stuck closed causing the engine to be very difficult to turn over. The only issues with my engine was the cracked block and leaking oil

[@nicklee8103]

@@BustedBeaters Thankfully no cracked block/leak here. The flywheel would spin from the start but start dying very fast and definitely wouldnt turn over. Read some things further online saying those older starters were replaced a few times by the company since they were claimed to be underpowered. In the time i commented here on your vid i replaced the battery, starter, and the compression release spring. Put it ALL back together and now I cant get ANY power to the starter to even test it. I didnt even do anything with the electrical/solonoid so i dont even know where to go from here.

[@solexxx8588]

Excellent video. Thanks. I swapped mine for a ME1004 electric motor with a 500 amp speed control and Lithium ion battery. This is a crap motor. What were they thinking?

[@BustedBeaters]

That sounds like a pretty cool swap!

[@derrickmosley80]

Nice swap, do you have a video of it? What's the price tag to do a swap to electric?

[@parochial2356]

How is the TG3600 filter working out?

[@BustedBeaters]

The filter has been great! No issues with it.

[@macknumber9]

Is this the only engine that went on this mower? Im trying to find a replacement engine for it instead of fixing the cracked block and i dont want any headaches with the muffler/exhaust installation

[@BustedBeaters]

I'm not sure if it's the only engine they put on them. I imagine it would be a headache to convert over to another setup. If it were me, I would purchase another mower. I've been seeing them fairly cheap on FB Marketplace

[@CheersWarren]

Thanks trying to fix crack without disassembly buy I think I'll add the clamp too . its surprising how hard it is to get parts for then engines included 'discontinued' parts from kohler that are needed! Next mower will be electric , can't stand the noise these make!

[@BustedBeaters]

Yeah it's very hard to find parts. My thought was to just keep it running as long as possible. Electric seems to be the way of the future!

[@curteby475]

my 20horse motor caught on fire. burnd up all the plastic on front of motor b4 i got it. now i know why

[@BustedBeaters]

Yikes! There's a very good chance this was it!

[@chanteb3972]

Do you know my favorite pair of the valve cover gasket on my Kohler 17 was using RTV to form a gasket

[@BustedBeaters]

I switched to just RTV and it has been holding up very well

[@georgestuartvail3960]

​@@BustedBeaters good info. It must be that the cork and gasket maker didn't last?

[@mateofreyo1553]

I hope you meet Jarvis Clark one day

[@BustedBeaters]

I do too lol

[@samkitty5894]

I have a weird problem with my engine of the same type. The speed control lever moves up and down just fine with all the components underneath. Yet, engine runs at high speed only, regardless where the speed control lever is. In other words, it only has 1 speed, and it is high.

[@shepard0001]

How did she hold up over the summer?

[@BustedBeaters]

So far so good! Its still up and running and doesn't have any oil leaks

[@shepard0001]

@@BustedBeaters Awesome! I'm going to do the same thing to mine in the next couple weeks. My block cracked much worse than yours was. But the repair seems promising. I've already tried just using JB-Weld, But i didn't remove the case and do it to the inside, or put the c-clamp on it. The JB Weld didn't hold up on the outside alone.

[@BustedBeaters]

Good luck with the project! Yeah I didn't think just the JB weld would hold. And I had to throw a tack weld on the c-clamp to keep it from backing out and falling off. So far it's all holding together!

[@philliphall5198]

Small peace of plastic straw will help release the wire terminal from plug

[@BustedBeaters]

That's nit a bad idea. Going to have to try that next time!

[@afhostie]

Can we just use rtv instead of paper gasket?

[@BustedBeaters]

Yes. Since filming this I have found that the rtv holds up better than the power gasket

[@afhostie]

Where can you find a new motor?

[@BustedBeaters]

I would probably recommend just buying another mower

[@afhostie]

Tried this but now the engine struggles to spin. Cant get it to start.

[@BustedBeaters]

That's strange. Could be the valves or maybe the cover is not sitting on the engine properly

[@gearhead366]

If it's stupid, and it works... it's not stupid.

[@earlewaters1917]

Just weld it

[@BustedBeaters]

I would have liked to. Don't currently have a way to weld aluminum and the mower isn't worth it to me to pay someone to weld it up. Would have made for a all around better repair though.

[@andrew4403]

Not sure why you don't just get it welded. That'll work best. It's not like the engine is pressurized. That will last the life of the engine.

[@BustedBeaters]

I don't have a way to weld aluminum and I was trying to spend the least amount of money as possible. My first choice would have been to weld it for sure!

[@philliphall5198]

Flywheel must be removed and bolts check every year and add blue lock tight added with clean dry bolts and bolts holes Sorry design for sure 😢😢😢

[@BustedBeaters]

Yeah terrible design. The goal is to keep it going as long as possible lol not an easy task for sure!

[@Bad-Idea-Network]

I just got one for free oh no 😂

[@BustedBeaters]

Can't beat it for free! You can still get a decent amount of hours on these engines

[@Bad-Idea-Network]

@@BustedBeaters It ain’t cracked yet should I still put a C clamp on it?

[@BustedBeaters]

I wouldn't do the c-clamp. That's really a last ditch effort lol. I received a free mower with the same engine (just not cracked). What I did was applied loctite and retorqued each bolt on the engine cover one by one. From my understanding, as long as these bolts don't loosen up and hit the flywheel, the block won't crack. This has worked so far, but I've maybe only put 20 hours on the mower since then. We'll see!

[@Bad-Idea-Network]

@@BustedBeaters Oh I got ya. I will snug up those timing cover bolts instead. Thanks my guy.

[@Bad-Idea-Network]

My mower must not have many hours on it. My intake was exactly .005 and my exhaust was tighter than .007. Also only one timing cover bolt was slightly loose.

[@sendit1158]

Nice copy of Taryls vid

[@panteraa9195]

You’re real salty over this Taryl character. So Taryl has the exact same crack in the block in the same spot on the same mower with the same garage playing the same music saying the same words. Thats like saying jumping Johnny is the only man allowed to make a video on removing a spark plug on a jet ski. Listen to how dumb ya sound. Better “send it” back to grade school kid. #FJB

[@KevinMonroe-o8b]

Well done!