Kohler K181 Governor Problem

rrodger9

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May 19, 2018
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I have a Kohler K181 that was just recently rebuilt. After getting the short block back from the machine shop, the new bushing for the governor rod did not fit the throttle disc properly and when I exchanged it for the old bushing, the governor rod was pulled loose from the plug that goes through the rear of the block and holds the other end of the rod in place. I was able to get the rod inserted again and didn't turn the rod any when it was loose We got everything back together, cranked it up and the motor went straight to wide open. Moving the throttle lever has no effect and even when set to low idle, it revs up and can only be controlled with the choke. I have adjusted the governor arm per the manual and I am only able to turn the rod little over a quarter turn in each direction so I am pretty sure the tab on the rod has not broken. When the motor revs way up, the governor arm does not move at all. Is it possible that something happened when the rod came loose from the rear mounting hole? If so, how hard is it to get to this once the bottom of the motor is off? I didn't set the governor up originally, the machine shop did it. I am pretty sure it is something internal but just wanted to make sure before I tear the motor off and back down.
 

ILENGINE

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Even if the governor is toast, you should still be able to bring the engine to idle by holding the throttle shut. If it still revs when you are holding the throttle against the idle adjustment screw on the carb then I would be looking at the carb throttle butterfly.
 

rrodger9

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May 19, 2018
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I just rebuilt the carb yesterday and didn't try shutting the butterfly on the carb itself. Using the throttle lever does nothing...no effect at all. I see no movement from the governor arm at all. I've read the posts concerning setting the governor arm and followed that to the letter and fixed some things I saw we did wrong and like I said, I rebuilt the carb just to make sure. I guess the part on the rod is no longer in the right place or the governor is fried even though it was just replaced...I will start tearing it down and let you know
 

rrodger9

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May 19, 2018
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It was the governor. It came unpinned and broke. There were pieces of it in the crankcase...I guess I know what I have to do now. 1 good thing is that when it ran, it ran great. I can't wait to get this fixed
 
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