Kohler engine repair trouble

I have a mid 1990s Craftsman lawn tractor with a Kohler CV15S engine. Background: 1) Had a small oil leak this spring. 2) Used tractor 2 times this year. First use while starting, it didn't start on first try and then sprayed fuel out of muffler. Then started and ran for 2 hours. Suspected fuel shut-off solenoid was bad. On second use after about 10 minutes, engine backfired and quiet. It would start but only ran at sub-idle speed regardless of throttle input.

Disassembled top half of engine, replaced carburator with new one. Replaced head gasket, Valve cover gasket, to fix oil leak and new carburator gaskets. Reassembled with new spark plug gaped to 0.040. Now engine does seem to fire at all. Checked fuse and interlock switches. Checked spark on engine block and check ignition module gap. Sprayed gas and and even starting fluids in carb. Still doesn't fire. I should also note that I can hear the engine intake pull air in when I turn engine. I am pretty sure the engine is getting fuel. Tested to carb and spark plug looks wet too. Noticed that valve lifters are non-adjustable type. However, it looks like the top valve, which I believe is the intake valve, is being depressed some even at its high point in the cycle. I suspect that the exhaust valve is also depressed some. I believe this is why it is not firing. Need help on what to do with this issue and what to do next.

Did you bleed off the hyd. lifters before you put it together?

Thanks for the reply.

No, I didn't bleed off the lifters. Was hoping I wouldn't have to do that.

Can you describe the process? I'm a bit of a novice with some of this work and I have never bled off the hydrolic lifters before. (I've done gaskets and carbs before but no lifter work.)

What tools will I need to compress the spring and bleed off the lifters?

Go to the Kohler service manual on line and it will tell you how to bleed off the lifters. As for myself I take each lifter and mount a old push rod in my drill press and press all the oil out of them. You could do the same thing with a vice and a bolt if you don't have a drill press.

Thanks. I assume that I will have to take the head back off to remove the lifters. Right? Any special tools or techniques to remove them?

kbm123 said:

Thanks. I assume that I will have to take the head back off to remove the lifters. Right? Any special tools or techniques to remove them?

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I don't know about the single cylinder Kohler command but on the twin cylinder command you can pull out the lifters through the head push rod holes. I use a magnet to remove the lifters. It looks like the same lifter they used in the GM car engines for years and they give very little problems.

reynoldston said:

I don't know about the single cylinder Kohler command but on the twin cylinder command you can pull out the lifters through the head push rod holes. I use a magnet to remove the lifters. It looks like the same lifter they used in the GM car engines for years and they give very little problems.

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Thanks for the suggestion. I'll take a look at it.

Just a thought... Did you check the key on the flywheel? Some of what you described sounds like it might be a timing issue. Good luck.

No I haven't checked the key yet. I don't think it is timing though because of the way it originally quit on me. I could be wrong but I'm not sure how timing would get out of sync without some sort of catastrophic failure. Again, I could be wrong. Just a novice at this.

Two things shear the key.
1) sudden violent stop
2) backfire
Well 3 if you add a loose flywheel bolt but that usually only happens after some one has removed the flywheel not during use.