Archive through June 02, 2013

[tsimpson]

Good evening folks,
I recently bought a old 12 HP kohler for parts and practice on my 129...the carb on it is fairly new but when it was parked it had gas in the syastm which is now kind of a mix of spar varnish and karo syrup....Id like to clean up this carb. What is the best method and chemicals needed to do it?
As always, thanks and have a great day.

 

[tcbusch]

Dave Schultz,
Might be the balance gears, Starter, or pto clutch.

The starter can be removed easy enough. The pto clutch can be eliminated by stuffing temporary shims between the side of the fiber clutch plate and the pulley walls, I've used stick back weather stripping before. The only really good way to eliminate the balance gears is to use a stethoscope to listen to the motor, or better yet just remove the gears. There is a FAQ on how to remove the gears without completely disassembling the motor.

 

[czuck]

Terry Busch,
Could you post the dimensions of your bracket? Do you know what belt # you used. I assume you have the speedup sheave on the deck. Just measured the sheave on my deck - 5"
Most likely I will put it on my 147.

 

[lpalma]

Paul

You did pretty good for $2

 

[sblunier]

Doug B.

The sprayer will move with the 3pt. I used a std Brinly adapter and made a combination sprayer mount and 2" ball/drawbar out of what was left of an old 1-1/4" receiver hitch I had laying around. 2ea. 1/2" bolts attach the receiver to the Brinly adapter, and then it's plug-n-play with the sprayer and drawbar (and anything else I want to build for it).

Sprayer may see a 2 nozzle boom in the future, but right now it will be used with the hand wand only, spraying fence lines, bed edges, and the gravel drive over at the church cemetery.

 

[mconway]

Anthony, i use NAPA Chemicals MAC's - Regular, part number MAC 6402, $26/gal but I've had mine for about 6 years and still use it. Just take carb apart, bowl off and float off body, you can take needles out if you want to but if you don't, shouldn't be a problem. put it all in the basket and let it soak for an hour. put it back together and it should run.

 

[memorgan]

Dave Schwandt, Had a motor with a knock that turned out to be a bad main bearing,I ended up pulling the motor apart piece by piece untill I found that it was the front bearing and this was on an overhaul with less than a year and not many hours on it,,,,just my two cents!!

 

[dschwandt]

Thanks Mike, This is a fresh K321AQS .030" bore. The shop (NAPA) that did the machine work furnished all the parts (Stens) and I assembled it. I will pull the PTO off and see if that helps.
I guess I could pull a cart or something around to load the engine some.
The flywheel was torqued to spec's as was the rod. I assume the machine shop bored the block to fit the piston, I'll have to call them. The rings were set at 2-6-and 10 o'clock and the end gap was within spec's. The bearings looked good and I had to use all the bearing plate gaskets to get .003" end play clearance. The cam was still in the block when I got it back from the shop. I don't know if they removed it or not. This is the 1st small engine I have ever really worked on and I read the service manual over good beforehand.

I have a tired 1250 that is the next candidate and it has the same sound/knock/rattle but I just figured that it "was time" on that one as it smokes pretty bad. I had done the head cleanup and re-surface on it this spring and by the looks of the pistion I'm sure it is due for an O/H as it was erroded badly on the valve side.

Both will have to wait a few weeks though as I have a car, my Chrysler 300-F, in the shop now that has worse problems. Developed a bad oil/water/smoking problem last week on the way home from St. Louis. Not good!!

Dave S.

 

[kide]

David - it sure sounds like the work was done properly and you did your homework. Note the questions about "when" were mostly to help you determine if you had a main or rod bearing problem. Usually a rod knock will show up under no load, spinning up or at high rpm. A Main knock will show up usually under load. Piston slap, usually gets better or goes away as the engine warms up and the skirt expands to the bore size..
You may want to take into consideration that small, air cooled engines are noisy and you can, if you listen, hear several noises that are all normal. Unless the engine really sounds loud, I'd run it some more and see if it changes - keep looking for external sources also.. Have fun..

 

[hydroharry]

David - as far as I'm concerned the Kohler "AQS" engines are notorious for rattles and I found it interesting you mentioned your tired K301AQS has the same knock/rattle. You have to eliminate the muffler box and duct that it mounts to, as a possible source of the knock. I've found the duct often cracks and causes rattles or a knock. The muffler box itself is basically tin and usually cracks and causes a rattle noise. David Kirk's muffler crutch is a terrific fix to avoid the duct cracking but if yours is already you may need a replacement. Also, I've found the bolts holding the crankshaft coupler to the rag joint can come loose and give a knocking type sound, but that is usually a knocking noise you can readily tell is not internal to the engine but sounds close and in time with it running.
When it comes to internal knocks I'm a novice, but David Calkins out here has identified the cam alignment as a known issue Kohler has in the block design. I think the cam noise if more of a ticking sound but maybe Dave could chime in and provide some details.
And you also have to eliminate the infamous ISO-mounts, which if not correct will allow the engine to hit or bang against the left side panel. I've seen the left side panels on Quiet Line units actually have a hole where the air cleaner cover stud or wing nut hits the panel.
Please keep us informed as you progress with this, and sorry about your 300. What engine does it have?