Kohler engine no start

[wheatking]

i got this old single cylinder kohler K Series been on the farm for ever mounted on a 6" auger was main auger back in the day before my time but now all it does it clean couple thousand bushels a year, used it this spring was starting to run crappy then bad but ran enough to finish cleaning then drained gas and parked it till now

 

was thinking carb job, pulled the bowl off some rust sentiments in there cleaned it but the float needle  seemed to move up and down nice put back together still seems like its flooding itself air filter off and can see bit of gas spray out and with choke closed it will ignite the gas but no sign of engine actually starting 

 

pulled carb off all orifices and things seem clean, float seemed to be working turning it over and moving choke i'm getting flames out the carb as well as the exhaust but no sign of starting,  does this sound like a stuck valve or something else going on,   fuel pump is working there is defiantly spark i jolted myself  

 

Any ideas? first issue we've ever had with this thing 

[Wes806]

ALot of them single cyl had a half moon key in the flywheel and would shear off.   I would check that first along with compression.

[snoshoe]

Things I don't know but will guess at. Manual recoil start? Magneto ignition? Belt drive? Manual compression release? Automatic compression release? No compression release?

If belt drive it is unlikely flywheel key is sheared.

 With no or Manual release . Compression check is possible. I would just turn by hand through compression and listen at carb and exhaust for leaky valves. Will have some leakage past piston and rings. Takes a little experience to know what is bad. The good news is it has to be real bad there to not run. High on my list of suspects on an old engine are the valves. Remove side cover and check clearances. Specs should be on serial tag unless this engine is not that old and has stickers. Some of the older - smaller engines did not have adjustable lifters. Clearance was set by grinding stems to length.

[snoshoe]

Intake .008-.010 exhaust .018-.020 may not be correct but will run ok.

[Binderoid]

You  don't  say the horsepower but 6" auger must be 8 or 10hp.

If it's doing a lot of backfiring, pull the breaker cover off and observe  the points action while  running. If you  have lightning bolts at the points,  the condenser  is breaking down... sometimes  can run good  cold, then act up when  warm. 

This throws ignition  timing  all over the place  and cause backfires.

[mrfred54]

Not going to be flywheel key. K series Koehler engines have points and condenser. .020 points setting. Pretty simple engines, point setting is the timing of the engine. Should be a hole in the flywheel housing and flywheel will have two marks. T will be top dead center and S will be spark. Points can be set with a timing light to the S mark. Valves should be set .012 intake, .014 exhaust. Is your plug getting wet?? Guessing you have a K301 or K321. They were the most common. Exhaust valve hanging up in the guide is not uncommon issue

[wheatking]

Ya i didnt think it was the flywheel seems to be good,  has a very healthy spark at the plug when i took it out and turned it over, it was wet when i pulled it out thought maybe needed replacing but turning it over sparked really well, so that is kinda why i thought of a valve stuck, thought of maybe pouring a couple drops of gas inside the head then putting the plug back in and seeing what happens 

[vtfireman85]

Gravity fuel delivery? 

[wheatking]

1 hour ago, vtfireman85 said:

Gravity fuel delivery? 

no theres a little pump under the carburetor when i turn the shaft over it pumps out so it works fine, at first i thought the prblem was the fuel line i replaced it with a bigger line, all i had here but then the over fueling things came up so i got some smaller stuff and still seems to be over fueling 

[poor farmer/logger]

Sounds dumb but did you try replacing the spark plug? They can work fine out in the open but under compression will not spark  

[wheatking]

9 minutes ago, poor farmer/logger said:

Sounds dumb but did you try replacing the spark plug? They can work fine out in the open but under compression will not spark  

not yet, was gonna grab a new one next trip to town

[lotsaIHCs]

3 things I've always checked on my many k series Kohlers when they start running crappy. First is spark plug, then points and condenser. Last is head bolts. I've had several with loose head bolts and they run rotten and hot when that happens.

[560Dennis]

if drop a teaspoonful of gas down the spark plug hole replace plug and it starts briefly . The take fowl bowl off the carburetor ,and remove main jet , clean out the three holes that allow into main . Where I suggest starting. Try it . 
A lot of good tips and maintenance talked about here to check this link .

https://gardentractorpullingtips.com/index.htm

[wheatking]

its a kohler model K 321s

 

tryed new spark plug didnt change anything but it may help it running when it gets there the gap on new one was smaller than old one, 

 

tried abit of gas down the hole and all i got was a bigger fire ball out of the carb, the points are sparking well and the spark plug is defiantly sparking, ( gotta learn to quit touching it haha) 

 

still not sure was gonna maybe pull the cover off for the valves and see if that tells anything 

[poor farmer/logger]

Sure sounds like a timing issue with it back firing like that. Too bad the spark plug didn’t fix it.  Doesn’t usually end up that simple and cheap unfortunately but it’s a good place to start(no pun intended lol)

[mark60]

have you checked the point gap it should be set at .020 . i am thinking you might have a intake valve hanging open.

[IHC_1470]

First mark the timing marks on the flywheel so you can see them. Second connect a test light to the negative terminal of the coil or where the lead connects to the points. Third spin the engine by hand in direction of rotation slowly. When the light goes out the points have just opened. The s mark should be in the center of the timing hole or very close. This will verify your timing. All the K series I have worked on had auto compression release, to check compression you need to spin the engine backwards to get a good compression reading. Or if you have the equipment you can take it to TDC and use a cylinder leak tester. When you say the points are sparking well that is a pretty good indication the condensor is going bad. You should see very little spark at the points if things are working correctly.

[wheatking]

59 minutes ago, mark60 said:

have you checked the point gap it should be set at .020 . i am thinking you might have a intake valve hanging open.

was kinda wondering that myself if that would be enough to cause somthing like this watched a few videos on setting the points will try tommorow 

[Binderoid]

The points are  sparking  well? They should not be sparking at all.

[Powered by IH]

You wanna see sparks Clark?

[wheatking]

it runs once again , took valve cover off and found the intake valve stuck, musta been a bit of moisture find its way inside and stuck it slightly, mught have to start covering these old engines if its gonna keep sitting outside 

[Rawleigh99]

The plastic liners from totes work well for covering them. A little big, but that's better than a little small!