Take it in to the dealer you bought it from. He is your best ally if he wants to keep you as a customer. I can't tell you WHY your engine did what it did but your dealer is the best person to open it up and assess the problem. He isn't the one who is warranteeing it. Kohler and Cub are the ones who should step up for an engine with such low hours.

No point getting upset with Cub over this issue. It can happen to any manufacturer because they all buy engines from Briggs, Kohler, Honda, Kawi etc. The real question is whether or not this particular engine is prone to this problem or not and what sort of guarantee you will have that it won't happen again during the next 50 hours when the warranty is definitely expired.

If they will not provide you with some sort of further guarantee in writing, then I agree that you should sell this unit in order to get rid of the engine. If it was me, I would be pushing for a complete new engine.

Could you tell me the Kohler engine size and year? I bought my first Kohler last year, has been great, but want to know who is having problems with what. . .

It is the 23 hp courage motor, new model year 2005. motor manufactured 11-9-04.
I talked to my dealer today and they called c.c. I have to take it in of course before cub will authorize any repairs. The service mgr. stated they had had no problems with the courage motor, unlike a couple years prior motor. It didn't sound to optomistic since he told me that I might have to call cub and kohler myself since its out of warrantee. 2 yr warr expired 4-14-07, motor blew 5-7-07. Being that I am an a/c & plumbing tech I know some manufacturers will tell the dealer "no way" but will cave in to a consumer who doesnot give in. Kohler (plumbing side ) is usually great about standing behind their products, we'll see if they are the same about the motors.
Kurt

For what it's worth, this is the first problem I've heard about with the "new" Kohler Courage engines.

I would not say that they owe you a whole new engine but they should repair the one you have, if it was only 3 weeks out of warranty when it totally failed. The problem would be if Cub says it is Kohler's problem and Kohler says it is Cub's problem.

I guess I should clarify my comment regarding pushing for a complete new engine.

I would do this ONLY if the particular series of engine that was supplied with the tractor had a history of problems with the valve train. If this failure turns out to be something unusual, then a repair should be fine and there should be no reason to sell the tractor in order to avoid any repeat problems down the road.

And no, they don't "owe" you a complete new engine but they certainly owe you an engine that will provide a reasonable lifetime of use without any major problems, like this one. A well cared-for engine, such as the Courage, should last at least 1000 hours minimum and as much as 2000 hours. At fifty hours per year of use, that is adequate for most owners.

Finally ,
Got it taken in tonite after work and the service mgr. had told me to call him when I was coming down with the mower. He came down and pulled the valve cover off right then(6 pm) The keeper for the intake valve spring failed, possibly from the screw being loose that holds down the rocker arm. I'm sure one caused the other but who was first? The valve was still free and the pushrod was straight. So far so good, he'll call cub tomorrow and tear into it more.
I didn't mean to sound so b@#chy on the first post but it was only about 30 minutes dead at the time and the wife was sick of listening to me...lol.. I'm sure it will all be taken care of,just p.o.ed about using the pushmower!!
Quite impressed with them wanting to make sure it was inside and even looking at it at that time. I was planning on dropping it off and sticking the key in the mailslot. Didnt expect any more,we work the same hours.

I'll post what I hear tomorrow
Kurt

Well I got the call today and Cub is covering everything. I asked if there was any other damage than the spring keeper and valve cover. I was told they did'nt know Cub told them not to open it up , just crate it up and send it to them they were sending a new motor. They want to tear it down. I'm happy other than the wait, they have no guestimated time frame. But the price is right where I wanted it to end up at.
Kurt

Does it get any better than that??? No resistance. No yelling. No phone calls. I don't think you will wait very long for that engine to arrive. They will be shipping it via UPS or FedEx direct to your dealer. It's only a few hours time to swap out an entire engine so you should be cutting grass once again, likely this time next week.

Its back, running great. I was surprised at this soon really, where I got it at they work on real tractors. I figured it would be done between working on the farmers equiptment that is more valuable than mine is. But I'm thrilled
kurt

WQW! EXXXCELLENTT !!! CC did right by you, congrats!

Glad to hear that everything worked out for you. slkpk

By the way Kubota makes their own engines and puts them in everything but their entry level lawn tractor. And you won't see a Kubota engine with 50 hours on it blowing parts through the case.