The problem I'm having is the a 'lazy starter'. The engine does turn over but starter doesn't spin it fast enough to start.
1. Battery has been replaced and I changed the solenoid.
2. The PTO pulley can be rotated by hand with some resistance, the mower belt is off the pulley.
3. With the plugs out engine it turns over much faster. Cranking compression on both cylinders is around 100psi.
4. The Kohler service manual has no mention of an ACR. Is it possible that these engines do not have a compression release system?
First thing I would do is to check voltage at the battery while trying to start the engine. You may need an assistant to sit on the seat while you watch the meter. You need to have at least 10 VDC. If it drops below 10VDC and you had a battery voltage over 12.4 VDC before doing the test, you have high resistance in the starting circuit or bad battery. To rule out a bad battery try this. Jump the starter by connecting a jump cable directly from the negative post on the battery to an extra clean please on the frame. Connect the other cable to the positive post on the battery and the other end to the large terminal on the starter. If it turns faster my guess is that you have either bad connections on the frame ground or starter. If all connections are very clean and tight, you then may have cables which are seriously calcified causing resistance to current flow. If it’s still slow bad battery.
Take a VOA meter and put the positive lead on the battery and the negative lead on the battery terminal of the solenoid. Turn the key and read the voltage you should get a reading of zero or near zero. The higher the reading you get the higher the resistance. Go to the starter side of the solenoid and do the same. And then to the starter. This will tell you if you have bad connections or high resistance in the wires.
Life is full of surprises!! After removing the plugs for the compression test and the no compression spinning of the engine, I took a look at the plugs and they looked like they needed to be replaced. When the new ones were installed, the engine spun like it was new and within 3-5 sec cranking it started right up.
One might conclude that the new plugs had something to do with the better starter performance but of course this can't be the case. To confirm, I disconnected the plug wires and the starter continued to perform normally. My conclusion is there is an intermittent fault in the starter circuit, I'm guessing a bad ground.
I'll clean the battery ground and since we have new plugs, I'll install a new condenser and points.
Not this one, it does have a set of points. I did clean the battery connection to chassis. Is there a ground wire to engine block or does it rely the mounting screws? Thanks.
