deadstick
Silver Member
Well I finally got around to seriously looking at my starting problem. I took the starter motor off and disassembled it. BTW I had tried all the other easier suggestions with no luck....
What it ended up being was the starter clutch fork (the piece that the solanoid uses to engage the starter clutch) was melted and so couldn't operate correctly. This thing was made of plastic which kind of surprised me....
I called around a few Kohler dealers to see if they had a replacement. None of them had the starter motor in stock or the clutch fork (Apparantly you can order this piece on its own)...
Well being the impatient guy I am I couldn't wait for the starter to be ordered so I visited a local automotive alternator shop to see what they could do... They looked at it and tried to find a matching clutch fork but couldn't. They said the starter motor was an after market brand from Delco and was hard to find ready parts without ordering.... They showed me an alternative starter motor which was the factory starter motor for the engine rather than the after market.... It looked real similar but not exact. All the holes lined up so $168 later I attached it to my engine and what do you know no more starting problems. Starts perfectly first time... nice....
I tried the warranty route but unfortuantely the way this works is you have to bring the unit into the service center intact (which means attached to the engine). I wasn't about to pull the engine just so they could check out my starter motor or worse take the whole machine (I have no trailer and it doesn't start.....) and then wait many days while they decide if it was under warranty or not and then to order the parts....
I called a few Kohler service centers for a price on the Delco starter motor. All had to order it and the prices ranged from $175-$270... I feel good that my price was cheaper (just...) and now have a factory starter motor which parts are easier to get hold of....
What it ended up being was the starter clutch fork (the piece that the solanoid uses to engage the starter clutch) was melted and so couldn't operate correctly. This thing was made of plastic which kind of surprised me....
I called around a few Kohler dealers to see if they had a replacement. None of them had the starter motor in stock or the clutch fork (Apparantly you can order this piece on its own)...
Well being the impatient guy I am I couldn't wait for the starter to be ordered so I visited a local automotive alternator shop to see what they could do... They looked at it and tried to find a matching clutch fork but couldn't. They said the starter motor was an after market brand from Delco and was hard to find ready parts without ordering.... They showed me an alternative starter motor which was the factory starter motor for the engine rather than the after market.... It looked real similar but not exact. All the holes lined up so $168 later I attached it to my engine and what do you know no more starting problems. Starts perfectly first time... nice....
I tried the warranty route but unfortuantely the way this works is you have to bring the unit into the service center intact (which means attached to the engine). I wasn't about to pull the engine just so they could check out my starter motor or worse take the whole machine (I have no trailer and it doesn't start.....) and then wait many days while they decide if it was under warranty or not and then to order the parts....
I called a few Kohler service centers for a price on the Delco starter motor. All had to order it and the prices ranged from $175-$270... I feel good that my price was cheaper (just...) and now have a factory starter motor which parts are easier to get hold of....
