Agco Allis 918H question

New to the forum today not sure if there a intro ?
my question on the Kohler Command

I have a 1996 Agco Allis 918H garden tractor
 it has a Kohler Command 18 hp engine it ran great
for most of the 8 or more years i've owned it
last year it started smoking but ran the oil leave dropped
then you had to check the level daily and add oil

the right front of the cylinder showed oil residue
build up from years of use

one day while it was running i saw gas spurting out the same area
watched some youtube videos for ideas and help

after the videos i was hoping for a blown head gasket
so that's where i'm at

i have most bolts removed and shields but not the cooling shroud
went back to the video found out i didn't remove the 2 intake bolts
so i'm at that point wondering if the can be removed with the shroud
in place? if not what's involved? removing the engine?

do not know what and where the bolts etc. are located or what must
be removed and what does not
so any help i greatly appreciated since i'm in Minnesota and snow is in
the forecast today i need to get going 

p.s. - any thoughts if it's only a head gasket or rings etc.
Thanks Rich

I have a new service manual for the Command series if interested.

I have verticle crank kohler comand 18 hp . Had a serious oil leak, I was ready to replace it , dealer handed me a small square gasket for small plate in between the two heads under the intake ,it fixed the leak . He said they all leak after a few yea

update - 1st of all i should say my tractor is not
up in the air so i can get under and see what's going on

it in my garage which is a mess loaded with
every thing i wanted inside with the snow coming
which has arrived

the mower deck is still under it & my jack stands are under
my 50 Olds 88 so i need to borrow some stands


question on removal my 18hp horizontal shaft  engine
from the hydrostatic drive unit on my Agco Allis 918H

i did download the manual found out there are 4 mounting bolts
to remove but i did not see any thing about separating engine
from the  hydrostatic drive unit

i check around and i think taking 2 bolts out at the flywheel was
mentioned so is that what i need to do? or is there more things 
i have to unbolt?

right now it's nasty outside -4 with -35 wind chill coming
so i'm not going in the garage any to soon
the other thing the engine is dirty from years of cutting grass
and dirt thrown up and sticking on the oil leak

i'm gong to spray it down with carb cleaner i can't even see
the mounting bolts
when i do get it clean i'll keep it clean - lesson learned


Edited by Orange918H - 09 Dec 2013 at 12:35pm

Well i finally got the engine out  only took 6 months

reason -  it was covered in grease could see much
and the biggest thing was lazy

so the head gasket was blown on the right side as expected
got every thing figured pretty much now, just a lot of clean up to do

i took carb cleaner and blew out the head bolt holes worked ok
until i did the top left hole with the most fins -

the carb cleaned was shooting out the fin mid way down to the rear

i hope that is tapped through the block from the factory
and that's why this is happening - need some advice on this - Thanks


Edited by Orange918H - 19 May 2014 at 5:16pm