kohler courage sv590 Slow/no start, hard to turn past compression.

Kohler courage sv590. I parked it last year and now it doesn't start, The battery has been dead for some time so I've been jumping it with a Battery charger. I've never had a problem jumping it so I never went to get a new battery. When ever it turns it stops on the compression stroke and the starter has a really hard time getting past it. It turns with the plug out and it's hard to turn by hand though the compression stroke. Even with the charger set at 12v 200a it still won't pass it.

I did a lot of research and found that the problem is usually related to valve adjustment so I adjusted the valves to the spec in the manual. I'm a 12yr ASE master so I've adjusted valves before and did them the right way(so I think) but still no start.
Any other suggestions?

I don't know a whole lot about ACR but what I can say is I see the small exhaust push in between strokes. I don't know how far its supposed to push the valve but it does happen.

WELCOME to LawnWorld....

Start with a new battery... your bad battery will only get worse as time goes. Plus most chargers will Not actually put out the amount of current they claim.
When you started doing it, the battery had some ability to help the charger feed enough current, now the battery may not be helping at all & may actually be using some of the chargers output... :smile:KennyV

KennyV said:

WELCOME to LawnWorld....

Start with a new battery... your bad battery will only get worse as time goes. Plus most chargers will Not actually put out the amount of current they claim.
When you started doing it, the battery had some ability to help the charger feed enough current, now the battery may not be helping at all & may actually be using some of the chargers output... :smile:KennyV

Click to expand...

Ok, Ill get a new battery and try it again.

KennyV said:

WELCOME to LawnWorld....

Start with a new battery... your bad battery will only get worse as time goes. Plus most chargers will Not actually put out the amount of current they claim.
When you started doing it, the battery had some ability to help the charger feed enough current, now the battery may not be helping at all & may actually be using some of the chargers output... :smile:KennyV

Click to expand...

New battery fixed it. When I read the part about chargers not putting out what they claim, I remembered a couple times where I had a charger set at 40A and didn't charge the battery. I put a clamp around it and found out it was only putting out 2A. The charger I got is a Autozone cheapy and I've only used it a couple times.

Thanks

Hello,
Mine does the same thing and even does it when I jump it with my truck. I know the battery is about shot. Is it possible to have a weak starter motor? Never adjusted the valves because I don't know how. I would hate to buy a new battery and not fix it. The mower was a freebie so you can imagine its not in very good condition at all so I really don't want to spend a lot of money on it. Can you explain how to adjust valves? The motor is a Briggs 16.5 HP

Hello & WELCOME to This Forum...
Here are a couple good YouTube videos on adjusting valves on a single cylinder Briggs...: ( HOW TO ADJUST VALVES) FIX HARD TO START Lawn Tractor with OHV Briggs Engine- MUST SEE- Part 1/2 - YouTube
& Part 2,: ( HOW TO ADJUST VALVES) FIX HARD TO START Lawn Tractor with OHV Briggs Engine- MUST SEE- Part 2/2 - YouTube
:smile:KennyV

After viewing the videos KennyV posted here is a manual which may help you also.

http://www.kohler-engine-parts.opeengines.com/pub/SM_2069001_SV470_thru_SV620_REV3_12.pdf

KennyV and Rivets,
Thanks for the info. Never thought about UTube, good idea I will check it out. I did buy a new battery and I was able to get it started however it still lags on I believe would be the compression stroke then the crank will start to spin and get momentum and start. There is certainly still something wrong. I hope it is the valve adjustment. Anyway thanks again for the help.

Hello,
New to the board, but wanted to share with our recent experience. We purchased a used (~120 hour) Husqvarna this past summer that has a Kohler SV830 engine. The starter seemed weak from the beginning. Read many posts talking about the problem of too high compression if the valves were out of adjustment, so checked that, but afterwards the starter still seemed weak, even when jumped.

Went through the wiring and made sure contacts were clean... no difference. Checked the solenoid... no change. Finally, decided to remove the starter and have a look. Sure enough, the brushes were in rough shape. One brush looked like it was jammed and may not have been making contact. Two other brushes were cracked and only partially contacting. Started looking for replacement brushes. Very hard to find anything under Kohler, but after searching based on brush size, found that there's a replacement set for Tecumseh. Happened to find one fairly cheap on ebay. It's made in China, but for $20 decided maybe worth a try. Says for models 35899, 36959,37442 and several other models. The wires are a little smaller than the original, but its a perfect fit. Installed it today and it cranked like it's never cranked before! :smile: It literally starts as soon as the key is turned.

Anyway, for anyone with a starter that seems it's not strong enough to turn over the engine, it may be worth pulling the starter and having a look.

Merry Christmas everyone,
Dan

Good information thanks