317 Hard to Start

1098 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by ereed011, Jul 20, 2009

Superfast

Discussion Starter · Jul 19, 2009

Well my 317 has an original Kohler Series 1 in it, and it has been running great for the past few years. Last week it started sputtering a little, I took the carb apart cleaned it up, changed the air filter and installed new plugs. It fired right back up and started sputtering again. I took a look at the points, they were a little pitted so I replaced them and the condensor. It took a few cranks but the tractor fired right up and ran like a champ, I could feel a difference in power and it sounded nice and smooth. I worked it for about an hour moving dirt (has a loader on it) and shut it down for a few minutes to take a break. When I came back it I could not get it to start. I figured it got warm and probably cooked some of the gas out of the carb fuel bowl, so I choked it, still nothing. I let it sit for about 30 minutes and it fired right up again. I have had a chance to play with it some more over the past few days and it seems when the engine is cold it will start great and run strong, once you shut it down and try to restart it won't until it cools down. It never did this before I change the points. I have double check the point gap, but figure I must be doing something wrong. Does anyone have a clue what might be happening and how to fix it?

Thanks in Advance,
Scott

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ereed011

· #2 · Jul 19, 2009

I would make sure your cooling fins are open. There can be a lot of junk that packs up on the back side of these engines.
The next time it does this , pull a plug and see if its wet. If its not then you might have a gas problem.
When I move dry dirt with my 140, loader , the air cleaner will pack up bad on it. I would also check that out.

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vinnie110

· #3 · Jul 19, 2009

On my 317 I found that the hood and side covers traps the heat from the shut down engine which boils the gas out of the carb flooding the engine, lots of black smoke when restarting. I took the side covers off to let the heat escape and it starts much easier hot. Or if you want to leave the covers on open the hood when the engine is shut down hot.

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Superfast

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 20, 2009

I took a look at the cooling fins, they didxn't look too bad but I cleaned out the little bit that was there. Air filter looked good also.

I am thinking this is a timing issue, it has been a little harder to start from cold, but once it starts it seems to run pretty decent. Never thought I would create all this just by replacing the points. Is there any way to get the points set correctly without a timing light? I have went through the Kohler manual and set the point gap using the manual method but it's still not quite right.

Scott

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ereed011

· #5 · Jul 20, 2009

If you get the points to open to the widest point and then slip the .020 gage in to get a slight drag, you should be right there. I have never had a problem with my KT 17 's doing that.
Roy

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