Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: brider on May 29, 2024, 08:01:31 AM
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My normal garden tractor site locked me out for posting due to inactivity, so I thought I'd post here. This seems like the crowd who might opine freely.
I have a Simplicity Sunstar 20 with the Kohler twin M20 (?) engine. Thru the past spring and now this summer it really was reluctant to spin over quickly, just dragged when you hit the starter, turning over very slowly. I assumed it was an old battery, symptoms seemed exactly like a low battery. Voltmeter is acting normally, shows 14V or so when it finally fires, settles down to 12+ after a while.
Bought a new battery, SAME RESULT. Just drags when you hit the starter. Used a load-tester on the battery, checking near 13V static, checks good under load.
So: New battery, charging system seems to be working, drags hard when starting, can I assume it's the starter itself? If the elec PTO was dragging, then I assume I'd see the mower trying to move also. Can't think of anything else in the system that would cause this physical drag. Batt connections are good and clean; usually iffy connections result in the "click-click" or no sound....
Opinions?
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I would suggest before you go any further. Adust the valves you may have a valve that has too much clearance and not allowing the compression release to work from there I have the same issue with my 22 Husqvarna with a Kawasaki engine. You're bumping up against the compression release because the compression release probably is not working correctly. . Check all your connections. You may have grass clippings or plugging the movement of the switch plungers on your foot pedal seat switch etc.
TOMB
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I had the same lawn tractor (badged as a Deutz-Allis) for a long time. Great machine but old and needed certain attention as it aged.
Never had an issue with valve adjustment failing.
my typical issues were problems with the alignment/activation of neutral switch, especially on shifter. If it isn’t where it needs to be and clean of corrosion, it can make only partial/intermittent actuation and be an impedance on the starter circuit to cause this type of problem sometimes. These switches can be maddening on the tractor. Btdt over and over again.
The big Achilles heel of these tractors are the kohler engines with the flywheel-mounted magnets that serves as rotor for charging. These magnets fail, pieces come loose and then either attach themselves to whatever steel or iron they touch or they fly completely out of the engine. The pieces can damage anything on the way out….
Replacement flywheels are obsolete and have been for many years. The last few years I had my tractor, I kept it on a battery charger when not in use and ran it like a total loss system to compensate for impaired charging system.
Hated selling it, but the growing charging issues got old. Look around the flywheel area of your engine. Remove some of the tin and check. Flying magnet shrapnel may not be related to this issue, but it can lead to lots of obscure & hard to diagnose unexplainable problems. Since the starter is tangent/related to flywheel, I wouldn’t be surprised if magnet bits damaging starter could be part of your issue.
If the rest of the electrical connections and switches are all right (check for damaged wires, caused by magnet shrapnel) and battery is excellent, I would first pull plugs to see if it spins fine with plugs out. It should help you understand how starter is working with lesser load, but I would be checking starter before doing anything with valve adjustment.
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Does it have a compression release as part of the starting system?
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If that's the same old Kohler flathead twin they've build since...what, the '60s? it has no compression release nor needs one at something like 8.5:1.
Check the cables to the starter motor. If it has a separate solenoid, check all the connections- preferably with a volt drop test on a multimeter. My gut reaction is that it's the starter bendix just being dry and stiff, along with marginal connections to it.
One simple test is to check the voltage while cranking at the battery, then test voltage at the starter motor hot terminal. If there's more than a half volt drop, you have a meaningfully poor cable connection. Consider too that you can have corrosion at the cable ends under the insulation where you can't see it.
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Kohler has been using starter motors that have a cantilever shaft that engages the fly wheel. (non supported when doing the work). I have had the same issue that you are. Pulled the starter and tested, but seemed to work just fine, however it would not work correctly when actually trying to start the engine. the starter itself binds up when the starting forces are applied.