Kohler Courage 18 won't start.

texashuman

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So I suppose you will just feel like you are 17 all over again.

No. The gravely has nothing close to the the acceleration or top end that Olds Rocket 88 had with a 3/4 lift cam.
 

Scrubcadet10

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No. The gravely has nothing close to the the acceleration or top end that Olds Rocket 88 had with a 3/4 lift cam.
it wouldn't take much to supe up your gravely. LOL.
 

texashuman

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it wouldn't take much to supe up your gravely. LOL.
Well, I deliberately dialed the top speed back after the guy that was doing some of the mowing on my 5 acres of South Texas mesquite scrub broke two front spindle bolts on successive weeks.
 

texashuman

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OK,
New battery got it turning over again, but now that I knew what to look for I could tell it was struggling to get past TDC.
The English page with the service intervals is missing from my manual.
Pulled the valve cover and:
Exhaust was a tight .007
Intake was a loose .007 ---- adjusted to med-tight .005 and put the cover back on.
Did an oil change. I am wondering about switching to a synthetic oil??
Looked at the plug. Good.

Fired it up and I can tell that it is a bit smoother running.

Thanks to all.
Davi Wayne-Disney
Cut Right Sharpening serving the Texas Coastal Bend and Coastal Plain.
www.cutrightsharpening.us
 

bertsmobile1

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As you have now found out your mower engine is a lot cruder than your anchient Olds was.
So synthetics is sort of lipstick on a pig.
OTOH it is only 1 quart or so a year so it will not break the bank.
Regardless of what oil you run, it will still need to be changed at the end of every season.
If synthetic floats your boat go ahead it will not do your engine any harm.
However just beware of oil with very thin bases as these tend to leak when sitting and also will usually cause a bit of smoke on start up till the rings re-establish the seal in the bore.
 

texashuman

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Regardless of what oil you run, it will still need to be changed at the end of every season.

A "season"?? What is that? I am in deep South Texas. I mow something about every two weeks for 10 months out of the year and the other two months the mower gets started and used to pull a wagon to haul Mesquite logs around about every 2 weeks.
 
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