Kohler k301 throttle up issues
 

Hi there people.

I had this 124 for almost a year. When I 1st got it. I went ahead went through the engine, replaced all seals, gaskets, cleaned the carb and rebuild it. New fuel line, cleaned out fuel tank, all new ignition parts. I pretty much replaced everything on the outside because I dont know the history of it. But I do know that it does burn some oil a little bit. Which is fine with me because I kept a close eye on the oil level after every use. Ran extremely good. Pulled heavy loads without a issue.

Now fast forward to last Sunday. I went out to use the tractor to do some work to the property. I realized it wont turned over because I left the key in on position all night and burned up my new coil. I looked around for another one laying around and found one from one of my junk car put back. Swapped that in, ran fine until today. It wont fire at all. No matter what I do. So, I played with it some for few hours and finally got it to run. It ran rough. Like someone messed with my carb over night. When I try to rev up the throttle, it dies immediately. When I mess with the carb idle screw settings. I was able to get it running full throttle then I saw my muffler is glowing red.

My question is, did I mess up anything else because I left the key on all night my accident?

I'd check the points and the coil needs to be one with internal resistor.:beerchug:

if it will idle, but not rev up, possibility the condenser is bad.
if the muffler is red hot it is way too lean.

Could a bad condenser cause running lean conditions?

what Thomas said, you probably burned up or at least seriously pitted the points by using a coil without internal resister. Not sure if that would hurt the condenser, but you probably should replace coil, points and condenser.

Also the push rod for the points. I havent replaced that yet

I'll second that and to include the correct Kohler parts.

:IH Trusted Hand:

Kohler only? I bought a kit from isavetractors and it served me well until my accident.

Kohler parts are the best, but respectable aftermarket serve well usually.
You need to re adjust the main jet richer to get your mixture right.
(CCW is richer)
If your points between the rubbing block & contact point, are not blue from heat,you can prolly just use a little fine sandpaper between them.
The point push rod is not hurt from leaving the ig. on.
So the Correct coil & condenser should fix the elect. problem, then adjust the carb.:beerchug:

Too small of a sample time. Some things its best too not skimp on. The Kohler parts in this case are made much better and last longer.

Still.. Its your money, time tractor :BlahBlah::BlahBlah::BlahBlah:

Using Kohler parts gives you the knowledge that the part(s) fit correctly and have the correct specifications.

Aftermarket parts usually have a "ball park value" to fit numerous brand names and models of engines.

It is your tractor, your time, your money, do as you see fit.

:IH Trusted Hand:

Keep us posted on your progress and what the cure is ! Good resolution is good for future problem solving !:beerchug:

I will. I love this tractor. Does more than I expected it to do.

Well, that was unexpected. I blew the spark plug out of the head and I saw the piston glowing red...

Apparently you do not love this tractor as you continue to use it without fixin' it right.

:bash2:.

TOASTY :bash2:

Excuse me? I was trying to fix it right while setting points timing and carb setting. Apparently it's common to have stripped out spark plug thread. Mine was waiting to happen. Trust me, I'm not too thrilled about this. Now, I have to figure out my options for this engine. Pull head, get new head, possibly new piston and rings while I'm in there since its burning some oil. Or, find me a running engine for time being to get me by while I rebuild the one in the tractor.

Blowing out spark plug is really not all that common on these engines. I've never had one blow out and I have never picked one up that had stripped threads.

As far as that engine goes. You would be wasting your time buying anything before pulling head and checking cylinder bore. From what you already described, trying to slap a new piston and set of rings in that engine without any machine work would be a waste of time and money. In fact its a waste of time to do that 99% of the time even with an engine that didn't get that hot.

It should not be difficult to find a good used K301. I would bet money someone from this forum would be willing to sell you one. In my neck of the woods a good one will run $175-$250. Rebuilding yours "if its rebuild-able" and done correctly should run around $350-$450 depending on how much of the work you do yourself and the parts you purchase.

Just looked at local craigslist
 

https://longisland.craigslist.org/gr...119831252.html

Like I said in last post. Not hard to find a good one. $190 tells me he would probably take $150.

Maybe he would ship it to you.

You can see the piston through the spark plug hole???!!!
I kinda doubt that.
Valve maybe, the piston is on the other side of the engine

:biggrin2: Great point fin, Mind was in another place when reading the post.

Ummm, you might be right. I wasnt thinking clearly because I wasnt thrilled about what happened because I spent so much money on it going through everything and this happens all sudden. Just dont understand.

When I 1st got this 124, it was badly neglected and over few months after owning it, I went through everything, all the way down to the wire harness to the 2nd trans put in and it ran beauriful up to last tuesday started run rough. Thought having me leaving key on by accident all night had something do with it.

he could have seen the piston, among the heads that were used on these K301s over the years they moved the spark plug hole. who knows if the head he has now is original or has been replaced?

I was thinking the same, thank you. I'm not sure what original and what not.

Ive seen some very slight variation of position of spark plug hole on different heads for K301's but all were still over valve side of the head..

Anyone got any pics of one over piston? Not doubting it.. Just never seen it.
RW? got a pic of yours?

Not much room between the top pf the piston and the head when at TDC!
It's a very tight squeeze there.
Think about it.
What kind of gas are you burning?
Corn gas??
Any additive such as MMO?
I use MMO in all my older equipment, 1 oz/gal

Pics of K301 heads....
And for the record, I have had the plug blow out of the head.
I was mowing on a 122, plug blew out, sounded like a gunshot, engine died, and I thought the neighbor had taken a shot at me and hit the motor.

What did you do to fix it? Get new head?

Answer, yes.

Which generation head is best for k301

Anything with good spark plug threads and inexpensive!:beerchug:

Anyone wanna sell me a head? I'll try again and see

According to the source from where the pictures came, you don't want Generation 1 unless you are building a puller. It is high compression and you'd need to run premium gas. It was originally meant to be on K241's which would not have as much compression as K301s. It is also meant for K301 running on propane.
The technology improved though each generation, so obviously Generation 4 would be the best.
I'd post the link where you could read about it yourself but the OCCPD would hand me my a$$. PM me if you want it.

I don't know ironman, sounds like BM to me...:bigthink:

Heres the engine when I had it out and went through it. As you can see, I have a torque wrench to do the job. Not a cheap tool either. I dont cheap out on stuff like this. Which is why I'm stumped on how it ran good to burned up coil and very rough after that.

Did you flatten the head, did you re torque the nuts after you ran the engine?
Were you running it with the burnt up coil or did you put a different one in? You do not say if you did or not...

Do you have pictures of the tops of the heads, that matters also, low boss, high boss, low brow high brow ect ect.

I did retroque after 5 to 20 minutes of running. The head was flat using a metal ruler to determine each sides. The coil was burnt up by sitting all night long with the key in the on position by accident. I put the old coil that was on it originally when I 1st got the tractor.

You can purchase a spark plug rethreading kit off of ebay for much less than buying a different head. Just saying. Kelly:bigthink: