mar10 wrote:
Have a 3 year old Craftsman 25hp Kohler engine riding mower. My dad
ran it dry on oil - didn't notice that the oil filter came loose
and ran it without oil till it died (unfortunately he has vision
problems and was unable to notice this)

Anyways- Sears has diagnosed that the engine seized and wants $2200
to fix - for $100 more I can get a brand new mower.

Has anyone run into this or have thoughts as to if this could be done
more reasonably by a small engine repair guy? Or do I bite the bullet
and buy new?

I'd think a small engine repair shop _might_ do it for less, but will
Sears stand behind their work? I think you could probably by a
complete replacement engine for roughly $1500 and be a little ahead.

However, before I leapt into either of those scenarios, I would try
Eric's suggestion--I was going to suggest it would be worth seeing what
you could do to "unseize" it before investing a bunch as you're really
not going to be any worse off than you already are and if it doesn't
run or knocks badly or blows/burns a lot of oil you're not going to
want to spend the money on it anyway--a new one would be far better
investment. Don't know how good the mower itself is, I was never
particularly enamored of the Sears stuff I have seen, but by the time
they're putting in 25 hp engines, maybe they've built the platform up
to it. If so, and is only three years old, then the new engine if look
hard and find a decent deal might be worth it--sorta' gets to be a
judgement call on whether you'd like a whole new, shiny beastie or save
a few hundred bucks, maybe...

Anyway, bummer!!!