Pollack Pete 2,273 #1 Posted February 24, 2012 As you probably remember,I'm working on a Kohler K341 16 horse that turns over extremely slow with the starter.Yesterday I tried it again without my booster/charger on it.Same slow turn.I decided to pull the starter.I jumped it across the battery and it made a loud squeeling sound like a tomcat in heat.I figured this was my problem.I took the starter apart and greased the bushings and blew all the black dust out of it.Put it back together(anyone have an easy way to put the bushes back in their holders???) Put the starter back on and had the same slow cranking.Put the battery charger on and got it running.Now I see it has a blown head gasket.Had exhaust blowing out the PTO side of the engine.No big deal.I wanted to check for carbon build-up and check to see if the ex. valve is opening a little on compression stroke like someone here said.Some carbon build up on head and top of piston.Some carbon around the valves.I've seen worse.The ex. valve does in fact open slightly on compresion stroke so I guess the ACR is working.Got a head gasket on order already.I wonder why the compression was so high with a blown gasket? Also,must be my battery is weak.I thought it was a good one.Wrong again.Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WH854 44 #2 Posted February 24, 2012 As you probably remember,I'm working on a Kohler K341 16 horse that turns over extremely slow with the starter.Yesterday I tried it again without my booster/charger on it.Same slow turn.I decided to pull the starter.I jumped it across the battery and it made a loud squeeling sound like a tomcat in heat.I figured this was my problem.I took the starter apart and greased the bushings and blew all the black dust out of it.Put it back together(anyone have an easy way to put the bushes back in their holders???) Put the starter back on and had the same slow cranking.Put the battery charger on and got it running.Now I see it has a blown head gasket.Had exhaust blowing out the PTO side of the engine.No big deal.I wanted to check for carbon build-up and check to see if the ex. valve is opening a little on compression stroke like someone here said.Some carbon build up on head and top of piston.Some carbon around the valves.I've seen worse.The ex. valve does in fact open slightly on compresion stroke so I guess the ACR is working.Got a head gasket on order already.I wonder why the compression was so high with a blown gasket? Also,must be my battery is weak.I thought it was a good one.Wrong again.Thanks everyone for the suggestions. This is a picture of atool for holding bushings in on your kohler starters Glad you found out some of your problems,good luck on the rest of your job. BTW don't forget to retork the head bolts after you run it for a while!! Chas Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
can whlvr 991 #3 Posted February 25, 2012 good to hear the good news,if you cant find a cool brush tool like chas showed you can use a flat peice of sheet metal with a slot cut out for the shaft,i made one years ago and keep it on the wall Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bowtiebutler956 649 #4 Posted February 25, 2012 Glad to here you got it figured out, thats alot better than having to tear the whole motor apart. :woohoo: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pollack Pete 2,273 #5 Posted February 26, 2012 As you probably remember,I'm working on a Kohler K341 16 horse that turns over extremely slow with the starter.Yesterday I tried it again without my booster/charger on it.Same slow turn.I decided to pull the starter.I jumped it across the battery and it made a loud squeeling sound like a tomcat in heat.I figured this was my problem.I took the starter apart and greased the bushings and blew all the black dust out of it.Put it back together(anyone have an easy way to put the bushes back in their holders???) Put the starter back on and had the same slow cranking.Put the battery charger on and got it running.Now I see it has a blown head gasket.Had exhaust blowing out the PTO side of the engine.No big deal.I wanted to check for carbon build-up and check to see if the ex. valve is opening a little on compression stroke like someone here said.Some carbon build up on head and top of piston.Some carbon around the valves.I've seen worse.The ex. valve does in fact open slightly on compresion stroke so I guess the ACR is working.Got a head gasket on order already.I wonder why the compression was so high with a blown gasket? Also,must be my battery is weak.I thought it was a good one.Wrong again.Thanks everyone for the suggestions. This is a picture of atool for holding bushings in on your kohler starters Glad you found out some of your problems,good luck on the rest of your job. BTW don't forget to retork the head bolts after you run it for a while!! Chas I made this tool yesterday and used it on one of my GT-14 starters.Worked great.Took about 5 minutes to reassemble the starter compared to about 45 minutes trying to hold the brushes and springs with a pocket knife and screwdriver.This is just another thing that makes this website so good.Thanks for the drawing of the brush tool. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WH854 44 #6 Posted February 26, 2012 As you probably remember,I'm working on a Kohler K341 16 horse that turns over extremely slow with the starter.Yesterday I tried it again without my booster/charger on it.Same slow turn.I decided to pull the starter.I jumped it across the battery and it made a loud squeeling sound like a tomcat in heat.I figured this was my problem.I took the starter apart and greased the bushings and blew all the black dust out of it.Put it back together(anyone have an easy way to put the bushes back in their holders???) Put the starter back on and had the same slow cranking.Put the battery charger on and got it running.Now I see it has a blown head gasket.Had exhaust blowing out the PTO side of the engine.No big deal.I wanted to check for carbon build-up and check to see if the ex. valve is opening a little on compression stroke like someone here said.Some carbon build up on head and top of piston.Some carbon around the valves.I've seen worse.The ex. valve does in fact open slightly on compresion stroke so I guess the ACR is working.Got a head gasket on order already.I wonder why the compression was so high with a blown gasket? Also,must be my battery is weak.I thought it was a good one.Wrong again.Thanks everyone for the suggestions. This is a picture of atool for holding bushings in on your kohler starters Glad you found out some of your problems,good luck on the rest of your job. BTW don't forget to retork the head bolts after you run it for a while!! Chas I made this tool yesterday and used it on one of my GT-14 starters.Worked great.Took about 5 minutes to reassemble the starter compared to about 45 minutes trying to hold the brushes and springs with a pocket knife and screwdriver.This is just another thing that makes this website so good.Thanks for the drawing of the brush tool. If you have a Kohler Manual this picture is in it under Starters Chas Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pollack Pete 2,273 #7 Posted February 26, 2012 I do in fact have a couple Kohler engine manuals.I only read them as a last resort.Ha-ha......... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
