Absolute theft. No other word for it. Charged me over $500 ($60 for fuel) to "diagnose" a 1 year old 15K mower that is under warranty. $60 in fuel!! I guess they drove it home every night or drove it to the next county.
The mower had fuel diluted oil when I brought it in. They notated what Kawasaki said to check, which included ethanol fuel, contamination, water in fuel, fuel pump and a few other things. They claim to have done that, and said there wasn't enough fuel in the oil to compensate for amount. Was this done with a oil analysis? Nope. Guess they did a smell and taste test and determined it that way. They said they "drained down" the oil so I was going to send it out myself for a actual analysis. Nope. Lied. Mower has brand new fresh oil in it. Ethanol? Nope. I buy pure gas from Valero. Said there was water in the fuel. Nope. Came home and tested the fuel in my tote tank on my trailer. No water, no contaminates. Plus I have a canister filter my fuel goes through before it goes into my mowers (see photo). Asked if they did a compression and leak down test....NOPE. FIRST thing any mechanic who knows anything does when there is fuel in the oil if it isn't the pump, injector or carb.
So, in the end, they stole $500 of my hard earned money I made working in 100+ degree heat to do what? Plug it into a computer and burn about 20 gallons of fuel, which didn't happen and was just more theft. I can cut 15 acres of grass and not burn $60 in fuel.
So what is actually wrong with it? Well, within 30 minutes of pulling into my driveway I found it had no compression on one cylinder. Almost certainly a bad valve seal. Took me MAYBE 20 minutes to diagnose.
Never, EVER, buy a mower from this place, or take it here for service. read more