Howdy from a newcomer.
I'm not a contractor, but I found my way to a commercial walkbehind about 15 years ago as it was the best option to cut my lawn clean and fast. I've never looked back since. The mower I've been using for that duration was a kind-of junkie 20+ year old Bunton Bullet 48", with a Kohler command 14 vertical shaft motor.
Unfortunately my beloved Bunton recently developed what is likely its last problem. I've done a bunch of diagnostics on it - not including a leak-down test (I don't have the equipment) - and I'm stuck. Lacking a mower, I hopped onto Craigslist and located a newer mower, a 10 year old Bobcat 48" with a Kawasaki 15 twin cylinder.
Items I am hoping the forum can help me with.
1) The Kohler has 0 compression ... nothing - zip, zero, nada. I've checked the valves and they are still operating. Lacking a leak-down test setup I can only guess at what's going on. One observation I have is that the intake and exhaust valves have different "resting" states. When the exhaust valve is in its "closed" position the rocker is relatively loose - when the intake valve is in it's closed position, the rocker is still tight against the valve stem. Without the leak-down test I can't tell if the intake is leaking or not, but I'm still left wondering if this symptom is suggesting that the intake valve is blown or if the hydraulic valve system has gone haywire?
2) The Kawasaki is running rich in both cylinders. The engine seems to pull strong enough, but its RPM seem to oscillate a bit under load. It also hunts a bit at idle. I've seen rebuild kits for this carb online, but are the adjustments and settings finicky? In a case like this, is it wiser to just pickup a full replacement carb and just do a swap-out?
I'm not a contractor, but I found my way to a commercial walkbehind about 15 years ago as it was the best option to cut my lawn clean and fast. I've never looked back since. The mower I've been using for that duration was a kind-of junkie 20+ year old Bunton Bullet 48", with a Kohler command 14 vertical shaft motor.
Unfortunately my beloved Bunton recently developed what is likely its last problem. I've done a bunch of diagnostics on it - not including a leak-down test (I don't have the equipment) - and I'm stuck. Lacking a mower, I hopped onto Craigslist and located a newer mower, a 10 year old Bobcat 48" with a Kawasaki 15 twin cylinder.
Items I am hoping the forum can help me with.
1) The Kohler has 0 compression ... nothing - zip, zero, nada. I've checked the valves and they are still operating. Lacking a leak-down test setup I can only guess at what's going on. One observation I have is that the intake and exhaust valves have different "resting" states. When the exhaust valve is in its "closed" position the rocker is relatively loose - when the intake valve is in it's closed position, the rocker is still tight against the valve stem. Without the leak-down test I can't tell if the intake is leaking or not, but I'm still left wondering if this symptom is suggesting that the intake valve is blown or if the hydraulic valve system has gone haywire?
2) The Kawasaki is running rich in both cylinders. The engine seems to pull strong enough, but its RPM seem to oscillate a bit under load. It also hunts a bit at idle. I've seen rebuild kits for this carb online, but are the adjustments and settings finicky? In a case like this, is it wiser to just pickup a full replacement carb and just do a swap-out?
