181 S/G dead

[phipsi27 2]

Hi all,

I have an 856 and I've been dealing with a generator problem for a while. It has not been charging. It ran fine but after a couple of mows, the new battery was dead. Recharge and start right up. I redid all the wiring. Same thing, generator light stayed on. Opened the regulator and cleaned all contacts. The light went off and I thought that had fixed it. Went out yesterday and dead again. Charged over night and now the starter wont turn over. Engin can be turned by hand so no problem there. I guess the starter just gave up. Here are my questions;

Can this be rebuilt?

If so, can a shade-tree guy do it or should I take it somewhere?

Thanks for all the information in the past and future.

[sshell 8]

test your battery first. If you have a voltmeter just set it to read DC Volts and test from the posative to negative post. If your battery is fully charged you should have 12.5 to 12.8 volts. Anything less and recharge the batt. Remove the charger and let it set for an hour. Test it again and see if it is maintaining voltage. By the way disconect the batt cables to insure there is no draw on the batt. With out a load tester it is kinda hard to properly test a batt but checking it with a voltmeter can give you an ideal if it is not holding a charge. Plus batts are ALOT cheaper then a gen. rebuild. Hope this helps. :banghead:

[rustyoldjunk 127]

phipsi,they are rebuildable.so if it turns out thats what is needed check with a local automotive electric repair shop or ask around at machine shops,someone will be able to point you to a shop that will rebuild it for you.as for rebuilding it yourself,i have never done one so i cant say for sure how difficult it might be be but i dought it would be that hard,just take your time.

[phipsi27 2]

Thanks,

I'll poke around with the multi meter this evening and see what I can find out. A guy here at work knows of a couple ol' boys that do that kind of work so at least I have a direction to start headin'.

Thanks again,

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

It could be just bad brushes. That would be worth checking. The Kohler manual does have info about rebuilding, though I do recall that the commutator is to be turned down on a lathe!

Also, if you were poking around in the regulator you may have depolarized it? Not sure if that would affect starting or only charging, but I do recall on my brothers old 50's truck he had to do this is they sat with no battery.

Look around and there should be a long post about polarizing generators.

Best of luck

[phipsi27 2]

I checked the battery and it was still fully charged. Checked power to the regulator and that was fine. Wanted to see voltage to the starter so I turned the key and the dang thing started. So I mowed the yard while I had it runing. After I was done, I checked the battery again and it was the same as before.

Can these develop a dead spot?

How would you check the output of the generator?

Thanks,

[Buzz 502]

How would you check the output of the generator?

Use your voltmeter. check battery voltage with the engine shut off. Should be 12+ volts. Start the engine and run it at high speed. Check the voltage, it should be around 13.6 to 14.2 V. If it stays the same with the engine running/ not running, your generator isn't charging and we'll go from there.