Kohler KT 715 diagnose symptoms

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actionmatthew

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Excellent forum; what a community!
First post for me.

I have a Kohler KT 715 (7000 Elite Series, 20hp, Spec PS-KT715-3041, Serial 4613304884) motor in a riding mower/tractor that is giving me some trouble.

The symptoms are rough starting, starter binding up, not turning the flywheel, and I have to boost power to the battery with a jump and/or help turn the flywheel by hand while I have the key held in start. I have installed a new starter, new solenoid, and battery is great (I've tested with different batteries, and by jumping). Also the starter is getting the 12+ volts to it when I try to start it.

Once it runs it is fine. It seems like this has been going on for about a year, but has gotten worse somehow and now is a real problem.

My research indicates that I'm down to a couple of things this could be. 1. The ACR is broken, 2. the valves are out of adjustment, or 3. something like fluid building up in the cylinders??? - but that seems like a stretch.

One thing I can't isolate is whether or not this motor actually has an ACR. Parts of the manual indicate it does, and parts indicate it does not.

Any thoughts or diagnostic steps on this would be super appreciated.

Thanks you all,
Matthew
 
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actionmatthew

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Thank you so much for the service manual. The only manual I had so far was the owners manual that came with it and the troubleshooting portion said it could be the ACR. I'm encouraged to know that it might not even have one!!! Valve clearance could cause something like this (make it super hard for the starter to turn the motor over)? I'll make the valve clearance my next check.
 
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VegetiveSteam

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actionmatthew said:
Excellent forum; what a community!
First post for me.

I have a Kohler KT 715 (7000 Elite Series, 20hp, Spec PS-KT715-3041, Serial 4613304884) motor in a riding mower/tractor that is giving me some trouble.

The symptoms are rough starting, starter binding up, not turning the flywheel, and I have to boost power to the battery with a jump and/or help turn the flywheel by hand while I have the key held in start. I have installed a new starter, new solenoid, and battery is great (I've tested with different batteries, and by jumping). Also the starter is getting the 12+ volts to it when I try to start it.

Once it runs it is fine. It seems like this has been going on for about a year, but has gotten worse somehow and now is a real problem.

My research indicates that I'm down to a couple of things this could be. 1. The ACR is broken, 2. the valves are out of adjustment, or 3. something like fluid building up in the cylinders??? - but that seems like a stretch.

One thing I can't isolate is whether or not this motor actually has an ACR. Parts of the manual indicate it does, and parts indicate it does not.

Any thoughts or diagnostic steps on this would be super appreciated.

Thanks you all,
Matthew
Click to expand...
Yep, no ACR on any current production Kohler Twin Cylinder engine except in very specific applications.
Before you go too far, are you able and willing to do one simple voltage test?
 
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VegetiveSteam

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actionmatthew said:
Absolutely, what did you have in mind? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Take your voltmeter and simply attach the black lead to the negative terminal of the battery. Then take the red lead of your meter and touch it someplace on the case of the starter that is unpainted. Typically, I usually go to the drive end housing near the mounting bolts. Crank the engine and see if you read any voltage. You should read zero. If you do read voltage, then you have a compromised ground. Possibly where the ground cable connects to the equipment. Ground issues are pretty common on some of these pieces of equipment so it’s always a good idea to eliminate that first as it’s very easy to do and might save you from chasing other things that aren’t actually a problem.
 
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actionmatthew

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Super doable. I'll check that out before I start the valve inspection/adjustment.
 
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actionmatthew

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The manual references an ACR under troubleshooting. Super confusing, Kohler! Am I right?
1690241895041.png
 
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actionmatthew

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Not reading any voltage with that test you recommended, so that's good. Here is a video from earlier that shows a bit of how it sounds when it actually does start to turn over again and again, I had the choke off so it would not start but the sound is interesting I think. I still have not checked the valves, but that's next.

Video.mov

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
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