not charging

bertsmobile1

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Very rare for a flywheel to go bad other than the magnets falling off or breaking away & joining together .
Kohler use regulator rectifiers , not plain rectifiers so they only allow power through when there is a need for it
So make triple sure that the resistance between the red wire on the rectifier and the battery is 0 with the ignition turned on .
The alternator will not generate if it can not see the battery needs charging .
A trick that works well when I suspect that there is a problem with the charging circuit is to connect a battery charger to the + wire on the rectifier plug ( plug disconnected from rectifier ) and the - on the battery .
Turn the charger on then check the voltage at the charger and at the battery .
They should be almost the same
do this with both the key turned on & off .
If I am still not convinced the charging circuit is good, I slip an old headlight globe between the battery & charger to put a load on the circuit.
Kohlers seem more prone to wires breaking at the crimps so they just touch
In this condition they will show continuity with a volt or ohm meter but will not carry a load .
Gets really frustrating when you keep seeing continuity but that moungrel battery just won't charge
 

johnorlandi

Active Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2018
Threads
27
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79
Very rare for a flywheel to go bad other than the magnets falling off or breaking away & joining together .
Kohler use regulator rectifiers , not plain rectifiers so they only allow power through when there is a need for it
So make triple sure that the resistance between the red wire on the rectifier and the battery is 0 with the ignition turned on .
The alternator will not generate if it can not see the battery needs charging .
A trick that works well when I suspect that there is a problem with the charging circuit is to connect a battery charger to the + wire on the rectifier plug ( plug disconnected from rectifier ) and the - on the battery .
Turn the charger on then check the voltage at the charger and at the battery .
They should be almost the same
do this with both the key turned on & off .
If I am still not convinced the charging circuit is good, I slip an old headlight globe between the battery & charger to put a load on the circuit.
Kohlers seem more prone to wires breaking at the crimps so they just touch
In this condition they will show continuity with a volt or ohm meter but will not carry a load .
Gets really frustrating when you keep seeing continuity but that moungrel battery just won't charge

Why I am changing the flywheel is the original stator broke apart (after I rebuilt the engine) and damaged some of the magnets. I replaced the stator and I cleaned the magnets the best I could but I guess they still are not right so the easiest thing to do is replace all. I will take your advice once I replace all. If when I get the flywheel off I will let you know how good or bad the flywheel is

Thanks for all the info

John
 

johnorlandi

Active Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2018
Threads
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yse I think I did this all but I will copy your list and go and do it again to be sure thank You
I finally changed the flywheel/stator/rectifier with all Kohler parts and it is charging great. Thank for the help, the flywheel magnets were all screwed up
 

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
Joined
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Threads
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Messages
24,995
Well done
Kohler magnets tend to give more troubles than all the others added together
Never needed to change a Kohler stator unless something had got in there and munched everything up .
 

johnorlandi

Active Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2018
Threads
27
Messages
79
Well done
Kohler magnets tend to give more troubles than all the others added together
Never needed to change a Kohler stator unless something had got in there and munched everything up .
yes the stator got chewed up a little and I wasnot going to take the chance I bite the bullet and put everything new it work great now

thank again for your help
 
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