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First there is a rapid build up of heat which causes more
friction between moving parts.In the case of briggs and
stratton, the crankshaft will begin to swell against the
bushings on each end of the crankshaft and will eventually
seize the engine hopefully before the piston rings meld to
the side of the cylinder walls.Just recently I worked on an
18.5 briggs that had seized because of low low oil, luckily
the piston rings were not hurt and I WAS ABLE TO free the
engine by inserting a pry bar around the ring gear on the
flywheel, luckily it had a steel flywheel.By moving flywheel
around and with plenty of oil in crankcase it freed up.
Since the governor gear is made of plastic if engine gets to
hot, it will actually melt the gear,thus if you free engine up
and start it, it could run wide open.
Also usually piston rings will need to be replaced if cylinder
is not scarred.
Since kohler engines, as well as kawasaki and honda
usually have roller bearings on each end of crankshaft and
engine is allowed to run out of oil,the piston will usually
suffer severe
damage and possibly break a piston rod before it seizes
which is why a lot of these engines have a low oil cuttoff
switch.The low oil cuttof switch is well worth replacing
instead of by passing on these engines,since running one of
these type engines out of oil will be quite expensive to
rebuild or replace.
The low oil pressure switch is located near the oil filter,on
crankcase side and in some cases on a horizontal engine,
underneath crankcase.To by pass, you usually just unhook
wire going to it, but I would not reccomend it unless you are
an avid oil checker,especially on kohler,kawasaki or honda
engines.