149 power loss when in gear
 

For the past couple of months, I have noticed power loss after driving up hills and at at higher rpm. At low rpm, the 149 is perfect and sounds great. At high rpm, 149 is great it’s only when it is in motion and under load, does it want to gradually loose power and eventually stop. After reading some threads I see there might be a issue with the generator. I put the volt meter on it and see there is 3 volts coming from “f” and 6volts coming from “a”. At the battery there is a swing between 13v (low idle)and 16v (high idle). Is this normal? If not is it the generator causing my power loss under load? If it is the generator can it be rebuilt?....Thanks for sharing any comments.

The Starter/generator would have a real hard time bogging that engine down. Especially a functional one. Going to need some more info here. Some history, last tune up, etc. Also. Is the tractor slowing? Or is it the engine actually losing rpm? If the engine is losing rpm my first 2 thoughts would be fuel issue or governor.

First, welcome to OCC........... :Welcome2:

The Starter/Generator only supply's voltage for the battery and very doubtful, that it will cause a power loss issue.

I am guessing, you have a Carb or Fuel Delivery issue.

Has the engine been rebuilt recently? Could the crankshaft end play be non existent and as it heats up and expands it binds even more? I would think if the starter generator is causing the issue it would be so hot that smoke would likely be rolling off of it. Just a thought

I agree that this is more likely a fuel issue and it could possibly be governor as stated before.

Thank you for the welcome! I have enjoyed reading and looking all the cub info and pictures. Very therapeutic if you are owner of one.

I have had this since new as it was my fathers and now mine. Always stored in a garage and wiped down after each use. The engine is original not rebuilt. I tune it up with new plugs and air filter once a year. this year was in May. I did exchange the gear fluid this year as I thought that might be why it was bogging down however that did not make a difference. The carb probably does need to be rebuilt any suggestion where to get a kit?

On the governor what is good way to check its functionality?

Good question on the tractor slowing as the tractor does not slow only the engine seems to bog down when going up hill an eventually will shut off if I continue without stopping and letting it get a short rest.

On the fuel I run ethanol free with a shot of sea-foam (cap full)

Sounds like a condenser is the issue.

Quick question,
When this is happening, Are you running blades or any other attachment that requires power? Or just driving? How long and steep is this hill your climbing?

You can hear a governor pulling when there is a load on the engine the rpms may dip a little then the governor reacts to load and tries to maintain engine rpm. There are detailed instructions for adjusting your governor in the manual

Here is the Kohler manual that is found in the Tractor Technical Section:

Page 6.27 thru 6.31 should guide you thru the governor setting and sensitivity adjustments.

http://www.kohlerengines.com/onlinec...df/tp_2379.pdf

Betting on carb getting leeeaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Maybe the fuel cap vent is clogged??

Easy enough to test, just loosen the cap and take it for a ride.
If it still dies, that's not it.

I think we need to go back to basics being you said you are a new person I have to ask. You say it looses power then stops are you actually talking about the engine or is the hydro slowing down and stopping?

Already asked... He says its the engine Dropping RPM

Just to let you know. It was the carb. I took it off and cleaned it and it seems to run stronger. Now the funny part is when going up a hill it would still stall out and eventually die. Sometimes its the simplest things- low fuel.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Just throwing this out there.
When was the last time it was decarbonized,
and valves adjusted.

And howdy, welcome to occ. :beerchug:

Good question. Neither on both. How do you decarbonize? Seafoam?

Here is some information from Kohler dealing with products like sea foam:
sea foam is a cleaning additive. I've tried it and had poor results.

The best way to decarbonize a Kohler engine is to remove the head. A Kohler service manual has the instructions on how to dicarbon an engine.

Thanks- the last thing I want is to make things worse. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Merk...do you have any opinion on using Marvel Mystery Oi?...in oil or gas?

I have been using Marvel Mystery Oil in the gas on one of my IH Cub Cadets for close to an year. I can't see any difference in the way the spark plug looks or the way the tractor runs. I'm not planning on using it anymore.

I use plow days and pulling a 6-13 car barrel train for testing different things( mainly fuel). I will take 2 fuel cans-one with gas straight from the pump and the other container is my experimental gas to an event. I tried sea foam 2 times at a plow day. both times my 149 was down on power and my 100 would run out of power. Both tractors ran great once the seam gas was dump and pump gas was added to gas tank.

Thanks for all the help.
Used the 149 to mow on Sunday and then decided to take a short drive around the neighborhood.... it ran great.

Don't mean to hi-jack this thread, but after reading this, I want to comment on Marvel Mystery Oil in the fuel. I have used it before and I had really good results with smoothing out idle and keeping the carb cleaner (functioning better without adjustment) longer.

Cub Cadet 123