Toro Zmaster557 Kohler Command No power Cylinder temp high

[KnuckleBuster]

Hey Guys
I came here for help. I am a auto mechanic and thought this would be a fairly easy adventure and I couldn't have been further from the truth.

I bought this mower and ran it hard for several weeks and it ran flawlessly. One day I shut it down and it backfired. I began inspection and found a bent push rod. I did disassemble it down but stopped short of pulling crank. After assembly it fired up on first turn and all seemed good. But with Blades running it had no power. when I went to examine I found the right cylinder was much hotter to the touch. I confirmed with a laser temp meter and the left side was running at the cylinder at 159 degrees the right side was running over 600 degrees. It has 150 pounds compression in both cylinders and seems to turn freely

I did not break it down again for inspection because my storage is small and I can't move it around if it is not running. I am thinking lubrication problem but not sure if I should rebuild it or just replace the engine. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

 

[KnuckleBuster]

32 Views and no one wants to touch this?
I was thinking about this last night and wondering if the the muffler which i know is burnt out and possibly modified is feeding exhaust directly to the opposite cylinder? There are a bunch of welds on the muffler like it was cut open and it was as loud as hell when I bought it but it ran good.....HELP!

 

[Briggs92]

Most likely the cold cylinder has a dead coil. Disconnect the ground wire on the coil and check for spark. If there isn't the coil is bad if there is there is a fault in the wiring up to the kill switch it the switch itself.

 

[KnuckleBuster]

Thanks! I will check on this. Any idea what the temp should be on a normal running cylinder?

Also what affect would there be if the exhaust in each cylinder was tied together? I cut open the end of the muffler and it had been hollowed out.

 

[reynoldston]

I don't know what temperature cylinders run. Did you take these reading close to the exhaust ports? It sounds to me like it is running on only one cylinder. I would check spark, compression, fuel, and timing on the cool cylinder. Use the same technique you would use looking for a skip in a auto. If you need help on any of this let me know and I will try to get you through it. The best of luck

Nick

 

[KnuckleBuster]

Took reading in the middle of the cylinder below the head. If it was a motorcycle I would call it the jug but the cylinders are cast *** one piece. I gave up on this a few months ago and I was saving to buy a replacement motor but at $2K its taking a while and here in Florida the grass is still growing.

It has good compression and I sure I would have checked the basics, fuel, spark, compression. It all checked out and when I noticed that the temp appeared to be extremely high it through me for a loop. I talked to a local shop and they said it was probably a lubrication problem and it would have to be rebuilt or replaced. But I pulled it apart and everything looked good with the exception of the one bent push rod. I put it back together with the new style head gaskets and replaced the bent push rod. The cylinder walls looked great and so did everything else.

There was a lot of debris packed around the cylinders and in the blower housing and I was kinda of shocked that it did not appear to run hot. The hour meter stop working at 1300 hours so I have no idea how many hours are actually on it. I gave $2500 for it and it was $13k new so I figured if I had to replace the engine it would be worth it but I don't want to have to replace it if it is fixable but I don't want to have to tear it down again for a rebuild and spend more than half of what the new engine would cost.

I will be back at the shop where I keep this weekend. I will start fresh trying to diagnose it again and try and confirm if its running on both cylinders..

 

[KnuckleBuster]

I forgot to ask....Are these companion cylinders? Do they fire at the same time?

 

[reynoldston]

If this will help you can download a free repair manual for this engine

Kohler Engines: Owners and Service Manuals: Manuals and Maintenance -

 

[reynoldston]

If this will help you can download a free repair manual for this engine

Kohler Engines: Owners and Service Manuals: Manuals and Maintenance -

www.kohlerengine.com/manuals/landing.htm

 

[KnuckleBuster]

Thank you for the info I will check out the link.

I will be out to work on the Mower this Saturday and I will post my findings.

If anyone has a laser temp meter or other way of finding out what the cylinder temp is on a normal running air cooled engine I would sure be interested in finding out. At this point I am just curious and it was for this reason that I possible went down the wrong path with my diagnoses when I saw temps that high...

2005 Kohler SP27 Command

in a Toro Zmaster model 74243