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2005 Toro LX 500, motor is a 20HP Kohler. Never ran really great, but it did the job. Took it out of the shed, since the lawn is going to need some love soon. Filled up the tires, checked all around for mice nests and whatnot. Put a freshly charged batter in. Crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, turned the key. It coughed, made a few revolutions and started to squeal. I pushed the tractor to the house where I could better asses the situation.

Figured the engine seized, so I went to pull the plugs out. First problem I found is one of my plug wires was chewed through. Exposed wire looked great. Wasn't until I gave it a slight tug that it just came apart from underneath the cowl. Pulled the plugs out. The right plug was clearly used and firing (as of last year anyways). The one with the bad wire? Coated in oil, looks like it hadn't fired in some time. I wonder if this wire breakage happened last year and the kids forgot to tell me that the tractor was running like crap.

At any rate.. Put a socket on the flywheel. Would not budge, at all. Put a breaker bar on it instead and finally got it to move. Sure enough, the motor spun freely by hand, just by grabbing the grass guard on top. I was happy, it didn't seem seized. I put a few squirts of oil in the cylinders just to be safe. Made several more revolutions by hand. Went to go start it again to make sure it would turn over, and the starter engaged, but made this terrible squealing. Put the wrench back on and the engine wouldn't budge. I'm starting to think the starter is just toast. I've had them go before, but it's usually just a "click-click"

Any more info needed?

-Seth

Take the rocker covers off and rotate the engine by hand watching the valves.
Chances are the dud side will stick and a stuck valve will prevent the engine turning over.
The starters are quite weak and if they energise but can not turn, they squeal.
Forcing the engine to rotate with a stuck valve can bend the pushrods so you will need to pull them and check for straitness if the valves are not working properly.
If the valves are sticking then some times a good squirt of WD 40 down the inlet & exhaust ports then some pushing in by hand will free them up enough to run.

So it looks like you will have to share that love between the grass & the mower.
The dud coil wire will most likely require a whole new coil ( not cheap ) as the leads are not replaceable on most of them.

Regarding the coil, nope, not cheap. Ordered a pair from Jacks Small engines

Funny thing is, it takes zero effort to spin the motor around freely when the starter isn't bound up in it.

I will take the rockers off this weekend and see what there is to see. Can you point me to some info regarding clearances and the like?

Test the starter again. When it makes that noise stop and look at the starter teeth. They will be still connected to the flywheel if it is what I think it is. When you turn the flywheel it disconnects the starter and allows the engine to move.

That starter squeal is the rubber friction disc slipping on the tooth section of the starter. they will do that if they get more resistance that what they can turn. Basically they are designed to slip on Kohler starters. My first thought would be valve adjustments but I believe that has already been discussed.

BlazNT said:

Test the starter again. When it makes that noise stop and look at the starter teeth. They will be still connected to the flywheel if it is what I think it is. When you turn the flywheel it disconnects the starter and allows the engine to move.

Click to expand...

And what is it that you think it is? I don't mind replacing the starter if that IS what it is. Yes, the starter teeth are still connected to the flywheel. It does take a fair amount of wrench torque to get them to disconnect.

Of course, I'll also be checking valves this weekend. However, since it moves quite easily by hand.... I'd think there would be resistance by hand of there were valve issues, no?

Note; the spark plugs ARE out of the motor.

Just for giggles, grab the shaft of the starter, not just the gear and try to move it side to side. I have seen the starter on the Courage engines side load the shaft and wear the top bushing to the point that the starter will bind internally.

So where's the smiley for smacking myself in the head...

Should have just pulled the starter before posting. The gear was sheared clean off the stem that comes out. Think I found my problem.....

One thing of concern; the starter is only 2 years old. I did buy it on Amazon, claimed to be an OEM Koehler part. Is it likely that it was a knockoff and just poorly made, or is it more likely there is an underlying issue?

The condition of the left plug and wire suggests that it was running on one cylinder for quite some time (I"ve never seen that much oil on a plug before)

gearsoup said:

One thing of concern; the starter is only 2 years old. I did buy it on Amazon, claimed to be an OEM Koehler part. Is it likely that it was a knockoff and just poorly made, or is it more likely there is an underlying issue?

The condition of the left plug and wire suggests that it was running on one cylinder for quite some time (I"ve never seen that much oil on a plug before)

Click to expand...

Put it this way.
The last salaried position I had was running an distribution warehouse.
We picked up containers from the wharf then unloaded them into the warehouse.
Just inside the front door was a 3 way cyc where each different item got a deep etch photo which was emailed to the client.
The various clients then dropped all sorts of backgrounds behind the images suggesting a big shop, big warehouse big factory big quality control lab, farms for food products etc, etc etc.
We put the pallets in locations , counted the goods and sent the location & count to the customers.
They posted their "catalogue / brouchure " on line then the automated softwear would send us a picking slip, packing slip & invoice.
We pulled the stock off the shelf , popped it into a box , stuck the label on the front then popped it into the bay for the driver to take out in the morning.
Most of our customers were a single person with a regular office job who managed to find a contact to buy cheap junk from Asia.
The shipping cartons were made locally so had "made in Australia" printed on them and all of the web shops had worlds like "locally sourced or Australian stock" or similar to inffer it was made locally by a large company.
Amazon works exactly the same way.
If the vendor does not have a real street address where you can pick up from then they are nothing more than electrons in cyber space and there is a 50% chance you are buying rejects from the company that makes Kohlers starters. OEM parts, is not the same as OEM Quality.
Lots of the shonks we had for customers gave "lifetime' warranties which is good for the confidence of the buyers but usually they changed company names every time a new pallet came in.
Some were so sleezy that we did not even pick the stock till we had confirmed we had been paid.

Ask anyone who is in logistics and they will tell you there is a limit on the size of a warehouse over which they are offer no economies what soever.
If the stock is really "shop" quality then it should also have a "shop brand " on it and be no more than about 1/3 cheaper than the same article bough over the counter from a real live shop.
Most of the stuff on Amazon comes either in an Amazon box or a plain white unbranded box, which if you check Alibaba is just how the Chinese factories ship.
Now if a supplier can not afford 25¢ extra for a printed carton, that speaks heaps about the quality of what is inside it.