Kohler vs Kawasaki fuel consumption

[CalG]

The Bolens garden tractor sometimes get's the call to move snow. (I never use the 5 foot mower deck, I don't have that much lawn ;-) It's fitted with the opposed twin 23 hp K series Kohler

When the snow is light, I sometimes reach under the air filter canister and give the fuel delivery screw a 1/4 turn towards lean. That seems to up the "fuel efficiency". But it is easy to tell by the exhaust note when the proper fuel deliver is metered for heavy loads. There is a BARK there!.
Works the same way with the Fordson, When blowing heavy snow loads, the engine exhaust tone tells the story. It's amazing what another 100 rpm under load will do out from the pto. (NB Full power rpms is only 1000, idle is close to 100 . Those where the days eh! ;-)

No going too lean though! That can get expensive! ;-)

 

[Tomtint]

I have a Walker mower with a 23 hp Kohler. And another Scag with a 17 hp Kawi.... I know they are not the same hp but relatively close for the sake of comparison. We have a area we mow that typically takes 2 hrs to mow with each machine running. The walker will burn about 2.5 gallons, the Kawi maybe 1.5 gallons. There is another thread somewhere here and I had stated that I old never own another Kohler... I still stand by that.

 

[Turbys_1700]

That seems high to me. I've put 5 hours on a 25.5 Kawasaki that is new running a 61" Snapper Pro and I've burned a tick over 7 gallons. I figure it will go down perhaps when broken in. It only has 6.5 hours now.

 

[dalola]

My 12 year old Y/K Max2 with a 23hp Kaw also burns about 1 gal/hr wide open, 61" deck. Been consistent since day one.

 

[art]

The most economical is the Kawi engines. Kohler is the second one and briggs have been the worst. With the new fuel injection systems we have not had any conclusive info brought to us from the pro mowers yet to say there is any change yet although for some makes engines will possibly benefit more. There is a big difference in fuel economy from full throttle to 3/4 throttle so when checking who does what it is advisable to ask! The fuel difference on most engines is big.

 

[LD1]

For MY comparison of dads mower and mine....it's always WOT. Just hard to imagine such a difference. I think mine is something like 750cc v-twin. Dads is 680cc v-twin (Fh680v). Both spin 3600 rpm or so. Just hard to imagine that the Kohler can suck in twice the fuel, but is only 10% bigger.

 

[Tomtint]

The most economical is the Kawi engines. Kohler is the second one and briggs have been the worst. With the new fuel injection systems we have not had any conclusive info brought to us from the pro mowers yet to say there is any change yet although for some makes engines will possibly benefit more. There is a big difference in fuel economy from full throttle to 3/4 throttle so when checking who does what it is advisable to ask! The fuel difference on most engines is big.

My mowers are always run at WOT. Only time they are not is when they are traveling without the blades spinning

 

[Grumpycat]

i was told Kawasaki was frightened by the class-action lawsuits against B&S and others alleging claimed HP numbers on push mower engines were at 3600 RPM but governed to lesser HP and 3150 RPM for consumer use. So even on the larger rider and ZTR engines Kawasaki knowingly underrates HP vs what others claim. A 27 HP Kohler and 23 HP Kawasaki may be closer than you would think.

 

[Tomtint]

I was on my Walker mower today for 2 hrs and 45 minutes , at basically WOT mowing. I started at full ( right under the cap ) And it has less than 1 gallon left in tne tank. I believe it holds 4.5 gallons.

 

[Cub gt 2544=best]

I have a kohler command ch 670 and in about 2 hours I have burned maybe 1.2 gallons. On the other hand my kohler magnum in 2 hours would need to refuel and it doesn’t run rich or lean.