Troy bilt horse grounding

[Allgoodian]

Hello ,
I have a Troy bilt horse from 1991 with a kohler magnum 8 electric start. Could anyone tell me if these were positive or negative ground systems, and what would be damaged if hooked up backwards. Thanks

 

[DennisArrow]

Negative ground. You would fry LOTS of stuff possibly depending if you hooked it up and left it or just let it spark...........God bless......Dennis

 

[Allgoodian]

Thats what I thought .. I " inherited" it from my uncle. He had it hooked up positive ground. So far I have just replace the ignition module, and spark plug but am still not getting a spark. Fun stuff....

 

[BATTY54]

I have the same model but a 1986 a little older, try to push the throttle lever up to high speed. Mine shuts down when you bring the throttle all the way down past idle. Make sure your key is on too, not sure if you have the levers that need to be held while operating but they will also kill the spark if not hooked up correctly or wires pinched.

 

[Allgoodian]

Thanks. I will check that out

 

[DennisArrow]

Lets see............I am not really familiar with that particular Kohler engine but the one on my lawn tractor from the mid 80's is a Kohler. Hmmmmm...........electric start has a solenoid that the "fire" goes through to the starter motor and ignition. Could this be burnt out? Also, there is an inline fuse that although the engine turns over, no fire to the ignition.

I think what I would do, is to turn on the key and follow the circuit from there to the ignition module with a test lamp or ohmeter/voltmeter.

Is your engine turning over with the electric start?.................God bless.........Dennis

 

[Allgoodian]

I bought a solenoid from the parts store and need to put it on. The motor does turn by using the key but part of the throttle cable gets fire hot like it is shorted or something..... Kinda strange since there are no wires connected to the cable itself and I can't find where a hot wire is anywhere close to it. And it is only a section about 6 inches long that gets hot. Thanks to all who are giving me ideas and help.

 

[BATTY54]

The hot cable sounds like a bad ground using the cable as a jumper. The 8 HP Kohler uses a magneto no battery required to run so if there are no grounded switches it sould have spark. The points may have a film of corrosion to them after sitting for a while too.