Commando 800 (8HP) - little Kohler wont come up to temp.

[njdpo 10]

Hey all,

I was outside yesterday mounting up a recently purchased 42 inch snow blower to my Commando 800 yesterday - in 28 degree (F) weather. I was impressed how easy it was to attach without having ever done the procedure before. I need to cut the lift Rod by 1.5 inches (per the manuals instructions) - as it is the blower housing can not touch the ground by about 1.5-2.0 inches. I cant wait for it to snow - BRING IT ON MOTHER NATURE !!!

Anyway after I got it connected I decided to see how things operated and It worked just fine.

I decided to show her off to the neighbor. When I got there - I decided to warm my hands from the hot air coming from the cylinder head while the engine was still running. Now this motor has been running for about 30+ minutes, and I can clearly see that she isn’t going to get hot (shes barely warm). While I have changed out the motor oil from straight 30w to a 10-30 mix. I'm thinking this motor needs to run a “little bit†warmer. *** Particularly once I start seeing single digit temperatures up here ***.

I'm considering fabricating a small circular restrictor (from a beer can, cause I like beer ) to partially block off the air inlet (on the flywheel). So for example if the inlet diameter of the screen was 8 inches, I would fabricate a 5 inch circle and center it on the screen. The effect would be similar to what you see on the highways when the big trucks put plastic blankets in front of their radiator inlets so the big diesels don’t freeze their radiators and burn up their motors in the coldest temperatures.

So have any of you done this sort of thing before ? If so - How have you done it ?

I know some may be thinking - hey let her run cool that cant hurt... But at this point shes running so cool - I cant easily turn up the throttle (without her bogging) because shes not coming up to temperature. I guess I could richen up the air/fuel mix a bit - but then I might be fouling plugs...

Thanks - Dave

[TT-(Moderator) 1,162]

Do not restrict the airflow.

Riding the tractor to the neighbor's house is not "working it", and it will heat up more when it's actually under a load. The "bogging" is probably caused by improper carburetor or ignition timing settings.

Winterfronts are used on diesels because the cooling system is sized for operating in hot weather while under a load. The cold air being forced through the radiator at highway speeds never allows the engine to come up to normal operating temperature, therefore it's necessary to block off some of the radiator area.

[njdpo 10]

Thanks - I will experiment with richening up the air/fuel mixture a bit.

I'll make sure I start checking the plug to see how things are looking on the inside.

Thanks - Dave