Interesting Kohler Stuff

[clueless 3,132]

This is from the Simplicity site a few years back from an older guy who owned a Simplicity dealership and was an old mechanic. According to my Simplicity dealer, he was the go-to Kohler guy for Simplicity. He posted this a few years back. I found it interesting. He was talking about the difference in the newer overhead valve engines and the older L head engines.

 

"Keep in mind that the OHV engines run much cooler than the L heads. None of the L heads can run 10w30 oil because there is an inverted triangle of heat in top of the cylinder next to the exhaust  valve. It runs so hot in this area that can't be adequately cooled the multi-grade oil breaks down here and the engine uses oil. Straight 30 can handle this hi heat and not break down. The OHVs move this heat out the exhaust in a direct line and the cylinders can be cooled effectively all the way around. This lowers the crankcase oil temps and increases the life of the engine. There is a fleet of Kohler Command engines in an oil field in Texas that are running the "pump jacks". These engines run on natural gas which is a very clean fuel and does not "dirty" the engines up. This was in a Kohler dealer news bulletin several months ago. The maintenance guys come once a week and change the oil. oil filers, air cleaners and restart the engines and come back a week later and repeat the sequence. These engines run 24/7 week in and week out and each have over 50,000 hours on them. If they used oil, they would be blown when the maintenance guys came back. Also remember that they run on extremely clean fuel.

[953 nut 58,485]

1 hour ago, clueless said:

These engines run on natural gas which is a very clean fuel and does not "dirty" the engines up.

Also runs cooler. A few decades back I has a F-150 that was converted to Gas/LP and when you ran LP it would run cooler but didn't have as much power. I have heard that Natural Gas is like that too.

[ZXT 2,401]

I've never heard of smaller Kohler engines being used on pump jacks around here, but that's pretty neat! I know the old hit-or-miss engines they used on the pump jacks ran forever before being overhauled, and they were under a pretty constant load 24/7.

 

50,000 hours seems like an awful lot for any engine, especially under constant strain.. Must've been pretty good engines to put up with the abuse.

[bds1984 1,479]

Regarding the multi-grade oil comment, that was true DECADES ago but oil technology has evolved significantly since then.  My K341 and M18 are running on either 10W30 or 15W40 with zero oil consumption.  

As far as the LP-Gas powered trucks down on power, that is a yes and no.  In the mid 80s my father began managing a propane company which had a fleet of F250s and F700s that ran on gasoline and propane.  Many of the trucks were difficult to start on propane during the colder months so we'd start them on gasoline, warm up the engines, and then "switch" them over to propane.  Some of the vehicles were outfitted with the regulators and vaporizers from after market outfits and those were slightly down on power.  It wasn't until the later 80s models came in that there wasn't much of a difference.  Many of the 87-up Fords with the multi-port EFI were had with propane conversion from the factory and those were the best running trucks of the fleets; they really were coming into their own by the mid-90s and were barely different than any other car driven off the dealer lot except for the large fuel tanks in the bed. 

One of my favorite memories of the days my dad took me to work with him were riding around in a particular F800 delivery vehicle with the "high-output" 429 and the muffler fell off.  Talk about feeling the rumble of a big V8 going down the highway at 3600 RPM!  Music to my ears!

[itsmeraymond 4]

On 6/3/2019 at 3:29 AM, 953 nut said:

Also runs cooler. A few decades back I has a F-150 that was converted to Gas/LP and when you ran LP it would run cooler but didn't have as much power. I have heard that Natural Gas is like that too.

Yeah thats really cool!