Was there engine damage?

19 years ago

I belong to a sportsman's club. While at the club grounds, I was mowing grass with their WheelHorse lawn tractor. I'm not sure of the model number, but the mower is a 1992 model (15 years old). It has a 16 horse Kohler engine with a 54 inch deck. Anyways, after mowing for a few days...maybe six hours total, the oil was checked and it was a quart and a half low on oil. The engine hold three and a half total quarts when full. My question, did any damage to the engine occur from running the mower with the oil low? Any comments will be appreciated.

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Comments (6)

tmajor
19 years ago
If it didn't seize up, probably not, in my opinion.
metal
19 years ago
I am sure it didn't help it, but if it is showing no symptoms I would probably just change the oil (it might have gotten a little hot?) and then make sure to check it before each mowing from now on. Did you notice any leaks? Does it get the oil changed regularly? That is a lot of oil to lose.
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mownie
19 years ago
The engine apparently has not suffered "catastropic" failure but as metal remarked, "it sure didn't help it". In this "sportsman's club", is the mowing a chore that is passed around to members or is it something you did just this time or is it going to be your job from now on? I ask because if you guys pass this chore around you need a back-up plan to make certain the pre-op checks are done as a separate duty and not just "part of the mowing job". If YOU (roland) are going to be handling the mowing (and oil checking) you will quickly be able to determine if this engine "uses this much oil" in one mowing session or if it just hadn't been checked and filled for some time. Your club might want to make sure there is an actual "maintenance plan" in place for this machine so the club won't be looking for a "new lawn tractor" prematurely.
edsacre
19 years ago
I agree with everyone & would add one thing. Stencil on the hood "Check oil before mowing" At least the incident was a wakeup call. Sportsman's clubs usually don't have a lot of extra cash for needless expenses.
butchs_hobby
19 years ago
Metal is right, probably didn't help it but if it's still running with no funny noises, change oil and filter, you probably dodged the bullet on this one. Mownie is correct too, there does need to be some kind of maintance schedule and one person responsible to see that it's done. Years ago the softball park asked me to look at their small Allis-Chalmers tractor, it wouldn't start. No flapper valve on the exhaust pipe, old can not put back on when parked and let sit over the winter, had water in two cylinders. After not a small amount of work, it fired up and ran fine with no damage to the motor that I could tell. I was sure glad when my wife quit playing softball so I didn't have to keep fixing that old tractor after everyone and his brother thought they were an expert on operating it!
mownie
19 years ago
THANK YOU butchs hobby!! That's what I'm talkin' about.