# Lawnmower Oil Won't Drain



## Welshmom (Sep 7, 2008)

Okay, guys, here's a new one...

Was doing my end-of-year maintenence on my riding lawnmower, Cub Cadet. with a Kohler Courage 20 hp engine. Went to drain the oil...nothing came out. I had pulled the red valve/plug on the drain plug out completely and noticed that there are some pieces missing from the interior end of the plug - like they corroded or got munched off or something....:shrug:

I tried to stick a piece of stiff wire through there in case ther ewas a chunk of plastic blocking the drain hole... couldn't get it to pass very far. It seemed to stop hard at the position where the check valve ends. I even ran the engine with the oil stop valve off to see if it would get the oil flowing, but nothing came out....there is plenty of oil in there. And yes, the engine was very warm. 
Any ideas as to what is preventing the oil from draining? And how do I fix it?


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> there are some pieces missing from the interior end of the plug - like they corroded or got munched off or something....


Plastic or metal?
If metal, you might be able to fish them out with a magnet.

Does the plug go into a fitting that screws into the block?


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## Welshmom (Sep 7, 2008)

Plastic. the plug, or valve, does go into a pipe that sticks out of the block...I don't know if it screws in to the block or not. i'll have to investigate that.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

If you can see into the pipe and part of the plug is still there, you may be able to get a long self tapping screw started into it, giving you a handle to pull it out

I haven't had any luck finding any diagrams of the engine and those parts


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Just unscrew the pipe and drain it that way. replace the pipe with a bit of black pipe and a cap and your good to go.

 Al


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

alleyyooper said:


> Just unscrew the pipe and drain it that way. replace the pipe with a bit of black pipe and a cap and your good to go.
> 
> Al


This is what I did on my Cub Cadet Kohler Courage engine - replace the drain plug. The reason I swapped mine out is because it made draining the oil easy and less messy.

Just go to the hardware store and buy a 6" nipple of the correct diameter and thread and a hexagon-shaped pipe cap. These are regular pipe sizes and are stocked by all decent hardware stores.


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## Welshmom (Sep 7, 2008)

Fixed it.
I did unscrew the pipe, which had the pull-out plastic valve inside it. Discovered the sealing end was broken off (Grumble grumble plastic grumble). I was going to go with the plain pipe with a drain plug on it but the parts supply store had a Briggs & Stratton replacement that was metal for about 5 bucks more so I went with that. Done and put to bed for winter.


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

Bearfootfarm said:


> I haven't had any luck finding any diagrams of the engine and those parts


http://www.kohlerengines.com/manuals/landing.htm

Here they are. You will need the serial number from your engine. My Kubota T1880 uses a Kohler engine and I was able to find mine.


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