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Good morning. I have a White Outdoor Transmatic Lawn Tractor Model 606, with a Kohler engine Model SV7103 Spec# SV710-0011 Serial # 370108653.

My issue is It is hard to start. Turn the key and I can hear the soloonode click and the starter engage, but not turn the engine. Repeat and no turn, repeat and the engine turns and it fires up. Sometimes it takes more repeats, sometimes less.

Holding the key to the start position does nothing, have to turn key off then to start again, keep repeating this until the starter spins.

Any ideas as to what the issue is?
Let me add a few things I have done over the years:
A few years ago I replaced the solenoid, that made not difference.
I have replaced the battery last year, no difference.
I keep the battery at full charge by using a battery maintainer when parked.
It seems to be worse when the weather is cold, subsequence restarts after the first takes less repeats.
The starter bendex seems to through out into the flywheel gear, but not enough torque to turn the engine.
That is all I can think of right now.

One simple thing to do is to make all of your connections are clean and making good contact. Then you can go to troubleshoot if it didn't help.

Battery need replacing? Terminals clean and tight? Cables in great shape?

Something else to check for after making sure of your connections, is to check for a bent starter shaft. A bent shaft will cause the drive gear to move in and out in relation to the flywheel ring gear. If the gear happens to stop when the bend is causing the gear to be closer to the flywheel, it can bind the next time you try to start it. A bent starter shaft was a very common issue on the SV twins and can be intermittent.

You may have to adjust the valves. I just had the same issue. Replaced starter, solenoid and battery. It was the valves. thay were out of adjustment on the compression stroke. Taryl Dactyl videos `on Youtube will help you out.

VegetiveSteam said:

Something else to check for after making sure of your connections, is to check for a bent starter shaft. A bent shaft will cause the drive gear to move in and out in relation to the flywheel ring gear. If the gear happens to stop when the bend is causing the gear to be closer to the flywheel, it can bind the next time you try to start it. A bent starter shaft was a very common issue on the SV twins and can be intermittent.

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Interesting, have not considered this possibility. How would you suggest I might test whether the starter shaft might be bent? Other than swamping the starter with a new one?

pchalpin said:

You may have to adjust the valves. I just had the same issue. Replaced starter, solenoid and battery. It was the valves. thay were out of adjustment on the compression stroke. Taryl Dactyl videos `on Youtube will help you out.

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That is interesting, I suppose if the compression is strong the starter might not have enough torque to turn the engine and after it bumps a few times the valves might open enough to let the compression decrease, thereby letting the starter get a few revolutions in, tyhereby starting the engine.
How would I test for this situation?

Boyde said:

Interesting, have not considered this possibility. How would you suggest I might test whether the starter shaft might be bent? Other than swamping the starter with a new one?

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You'll have to take the starter off more than likely. If the shaft is bent, it will be noticeable. If it's easier to take off the blower housing, you might be able to see it that way too.

How old is the battery?

Considering this a 2007 engine.

This starters do wear out the top bushings and the armature shaft. When this happens the starters start binding upon turning the flywheel under compression load. I have seen starters less than two years old to bind. I lust recently replaced one that I know was just two year old that was binding that was giving problem starting in cold weather due this binding.

But make the battery is fully charged and the battery voltage at the starter is when a couple tenths of a volt as compared to battery loaded voltage when trying to start the engine. Also the battery loaded voltage must not drop below 10.5 volts

Boyde said:

That is interesting, I suppose if the compression is strong the starter might not have enough torque to turn the engine and after it bumps a few times the valves might open enough to let the compression decrease, thereby letting the starter get a few revolutions in, tyhereby starting the engine.
How would I test for this situation?

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I took of the valve cover and checked the valve clearances. They were way off. Set them to .0004 regardless of what the manual says. Problem solved. Make sure you check and set the clearance at top dead center of the compression stroke.

Boyde said:

That is interesting, I suppose if the compression is strong the starter might not have enough torque to turn the engine and after it bumps a few times the valves might open enough to let the compression decrease, thereby letting the starter get a few revolutions in, tyhereby starting the engine.
How would I test for this situation?

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Don't try testing to prove or disprove. Compression release on many engines works off of the valve settings. Won't attempt to explain at this time. Adjust your valve settings and crank her up. Your best bet to solve your problem and save your battery!

Anybody heard of this? I looked at buying a new starter, just researching so far. The new starters have 9 teeth instead of the ten teeth, suggests more torque to turn that engine. This would suggest there might be a common issue with these engines. Any thoughts?

Very common starter issue. Just replaced the starter on the BIL mower a month ago because that exact same starter that you are having issues with sheared the shaft off even with the housing. Issue totally set me off so I rewired his mower for the Command solenoid shift starter

Some more info on this issue: I jumped the solenoid today and the same issue was evident, so that eliminates the solenoid. I put a battery charger to boost the battery, this caused the starter to spin the engine every time, so this points to the amount of cranking amps being drawn by the starter. It also suggests that there is nothing wrong with the starter.
So I am thinking the compression is too much for the starter to turn unless it can draw enough amps.
The battery is rated at 400 Cranking Amps, 350 CCA.

How old is the battery?

pchalpin said:

I took of the valve cover and checked the valve clearances. They were way off. Set them to .0004 regardless of what the manual says. Problem solved. Make sure you check and set the clearance at top dead center of the compression stroke.

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Should be like 0.004" or 0.006", not 0.0004. Possible typo?? Makes a difference.

Take the battery to an auto parts store. They will check it for free. They can fail at any time. Nice work on keeping a maintainer on it.

Also remove the spark plug/s. Try cranking it over. Engine should rotate like a top.

Shot in the dark, remove the oil dipstick. Smell for fuel. Could be hydrolocking the cylinder?? Watch for fuel kicking out of the spark plug hole when you crank the engine. Report back here.

Boyde said:

Some more info on this issue: I jumped the solenoid today and the same issue was evident, so that eliminates the solenoid. I put a battery charger to boost the battery, this caused the starter to spin the engine every time, so this points to the amount of cranking amps being drawn by the starter. It also suggests that there is nothing wrong with the starter.
So I am thinking the compression is too much for the starter to turn unless it can draw enough amps.
The battery is rated at 400 Cranking Amps, 350 CCA.

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Due to the issue with possible worn shaft starter bushings it could also lead to the starter dragging due to the armature hitting the magnets requiring extra amps to turn.

Further to this discussion. I have continued researching, and it appears that the compression is a common issue with these engines. It appears that setting the value clearance to a tight .004" to allow the exhaust valve to open a fraction of a second sooner will release some of the compression, thereby allowing the starter to spin the engine with less amps.
Also I have determined that there is a couple of design flaws with the starter, there are three generations of the starter, the third generation solves this issue as well as a few other issues. The third generation has nine teeth instead of ten (More torque), a thicker shaft(less breakage) and a bunch of other things.
The third generation costs money, so I will not be doing that one right away (my starter still spins sometimes). I shall tackle the valve setting first, if that is not enough, then I shall reevaluate a new starter.

I will give you a heads up. 3rd generation starter doesn't fix the starter issues