These seem to have an 8mm nut in the centre of the rocker that holders the rocker in place. They don't seem to adjust as I'm used to, what am I missing?
Sorry this is the same engine as my other thread repairing a beater Toro.its a Kohler 5000 series
#5
reynoldston
Sorry I can't help you out with a 5000 series Kohler because I have never heard of such a model Kohler. Could that be the tractor model number and not the engine model? If so that mower came with a Kohler command engine. This being the case that engine came with adjustable and non adjustable lifters. It looks like yours came with the nonadjustable hydraulic lifters and they adjust themselves. If by chance you loosen or remove one of these lifters you will need to bleed it or you can bend the push rod.
Thankyou both, it made perfect sense when I called the engine a Kohler 5000 Series but was absolute rubbish, too tired to make good sense.
It's a Toro 5000 Series Zero turn with a Kohler CV740 engine. Thank you for taking the time to interpret my question and give me an answer. None adjustable hydraulic lifters. I will look else where for the reason it won't run.
Spark, fuel, compression, and timing and it will run. Seeing you were looking into valve adjustment is it lacking compression? If this is so on both cylinders?
I have spark and fuel, and the timing should be right after checking the flywheel. So my next check point was compression, but I don't have a compression tester so I thought that I would check the valve clearance and adjust if needed.
#10
reynoldston
I don't know your tool situation or skills. I find I need certain tools in my shop to do engine repairs. I am at a lost here ??? Maybe you can tell something by putting your finger over the spark hole and turning the engine over. Personally I never had very good luck testing compression that way.
I did try the old finger on the plug hole method, there is some air forced out but it's not enough to say one way or the other. The compression tester that I have on hand is for the large Diesel engines that used to get serviced here.
I ordered a general purpose one, but it has not arrived yet.
#12
reynoldston
How did you test for spark. Your spark should jump a good 1/4 inch to run that engine. I also have a tool to test that. If you don't have this tool you can make one by taking a old spark and give it a 1/4 spark gap.
The command engines use a capacitor discharge ignition. It puts out a lot of voltage. The actually Kohler tester looks like a spark plug that you removed the side electrode from and then recessed the center electrode down inside the ceramic about 60 thousands.
Yes this is what I mean. You will need that much spark for that engine to run. Now if we are talking about a Kohler Command it has two coils so test both of them. As ILENGINE said they do make a tool for this, but a old spark plug with a wide gap dose the same job. You can buy a tester from most parts store and all it is a spark plug with a clamp on the side of it and the ground electrode is missing. You can buy them for less then 5 dollars over here. They also sell a spark tester with a light but that wouldn't tell you if you have a weak coil.
A cheap & nasty tester is a 1/4" ring of tube slipped over the insulator on the plug then put the cap on .
This forces the spark to jump from the cap to the plug with the plug laying on the engine.
Compression increases the electrical resistance of air so a spark that looks good outside the engine may not happen inside an engine.
Very true, This is where the light tester comes into play. It tells you if the spark plug is any good or not under compression. Something we did in the earlier years clean the spark plugs and test them under compression in a machine that did that. Plugs are cheap just replace them.
Now that is a very handy test to know, I've been swapped to some night shifts this week so won't get at the machine till next week. I will let you know how I progress.
There are a couple of tools that I could not work without.
One is my inline spark tester, I have 1/2 dozen of them cause a I do on site servicing and customers always want to buy mine when they see it being used.
There are a lot out there but the neon tube ones work the best as the orange/red light is easy to see but a blue /white spark is not so easy.
For testing the strength there is another one that slips over the plug and has a moving contact which you move out till the engine stops.
There are a lot of cheap Chinese copies of this on the web, if you don't pay better than $ 50 for one it will be SHOCKING experience
The best one of all is the Colortune which is a spark plug with a glass window so you can see not only the spark jump the gap but also the colour of the flame inside the engine.
Poor mans Co/Co2 meter.
Sorry I've been so long away from this thread. Days off work and then a run of night shifts. I will admit the night shifts are much more pleasant than the hot days. It's been 36 deg in the shade so I think that is 97 or 98 for you, and humid. But we get that here in the wet season so it's not like this is a surprise.
The Toro that would not start. Now runs.
I did not fix it I gave up, when I realised that with the days off and nights it would be more that a week before I got hands on it again I decided that was too long for it to be off line.
Called the dealer in town and 3 days later they sent a trailer out to pick up the Toro.
I wasn't there but the scene has been described to me several times. The man picking it up said he would try and start it to get it onto the trailer as the winch was not working.
The engine spun over well as it's been doing and he looked at it and immediately said that smells a really rich fuel mix.
He checked the carb and someone had undone the 8mm bolt on the choke cable applied full choke and retightened the bolt.
The engine was drowning, yep looks like it was deliberate, looks that way.
So 1 fast adjustment and it started right up.
Apparently it ran just perfect for the next 4 days, in fact till yesterday when it died again.
the only thing you need to watch for with the neon blink testers is they can and do give a false positive if some cases. they will still show spark if the plug is internally shorted to ground.
