Kohler 301 points float

doggone

New User
Hello, new to this forum, not great at intros. So here goes. I'm a wannabe farmer, I raise a couple beef, make 15 acres of hay to feed em, and have a small machine shop for the farm and my other hobbies. My question is about a kohler 301 12 hp on an air compressor that I picked up. It has a magneto with points ignition. I replaced the coil, points, condenser and head gasket. It started and ran ok but not great then got worse and would not start. Weak to no spark. I checked and rechecked, every thing seemed fine. I tried starting it with the points cover off and lightly used my finger to assist the points spring. It runs! The points are floating. The steel rod to open them is free and smooth. I straightened the points spring for more tension but they still float. This motor is no virgin so is there something I'm missing. If I have to I'll rig some more spring tension but I was hoping that I'm missing some part or simple fix. Thanks for any help.
 
Are you talking about a conventional "K" series Kohler cast iron block engine? Something sounds really squirrely. Those points right out of the box need to be cleaned. I Gently give them just a whisper of a pass with 1000 grit paper. That ultra fine stuff with a little spray of carb cleaner. The points need barely a drop of lite weight sewing machine oil. NOT motor oil. Same goes for that little push rod. Just a tiny dab will do. You also need to down load the service manual PDF file. I have the 137 page book in my smart phone and don't know how to load it.
 
Go to page four in this section. Look for " How much fuel is enough on K-301 pump" Bob posted a reply and there is the PDF ...Factory service manual. Hit the button and download the 137 page book.EVERYTHING is in there.
 
Are your points Original Kohler parts? I never saw what you describe with Kohler points.

What rpm is the engine turning? I don't see how the points could float since the trigger off the camshaft and the cam is turning 1/2 the speed of crank. so at 3600 rpm the cam is only turning 1800 rpm.

One thing I have seen is the wire shorted in the clips that lead to the points. I have also seen engines that would not run with the point cover on because the point wire was shorting to the cover.
 
Years ago when I was racing 2 cycle go-karts we used to hunt for points that had a very light spring tension to create a condition known as maverick ignition. The points would start to float around 8-10,000 rpm and give a tremendous advance to the timing and it would really make the McCulloch engines scald the dog for a short burst of speed down the straight away. Couldn't be sustained for long as it would burn a hole though the piston with the wild timing advance if ran too long. Sounds like you need a set of points with a stronger spring. There are spring scales for measuring the tension,I got rid of mine when I got out of racing many years ago<(1974) Gene Davis
 
The only explanation that I can think of is defective points. New ignition parts are not near the quality they used to be. Maybe a pivot pin/hole are too tight or have a burr or something hanging them up. I'd try a small drop of light oil on the pivot after removing them and checking it out.
 
Kohler had problems with the pin that pushes the points open. Believe the original was steel and then went to aluminum. I think the aluminium would "swell" with heat and stick. Make sure your pin is really free.
 
Thanks all for the replies. OK with the points off, indicator against the steel rod, I only have .018" lift. I set the points at .010" and it runs fine. I have the manual and I've looked at the parts breakdowns on line. Is it possible there is something keeping the rod from following the cam? Could the cam be worn away? What would be the long term effects of a .010" point gap? I am going to try tapping on the rod at the low point of the cam and see if there is anymore travel to be found. Thats it for today.
 
The point push rod gets worn shorter over time. This will result in having to set the gap out of the specified range for the engine to run and then the timing will probably be off . I don't remember the specified length for the push rod but it should be in a factory service manual.
 
This engine is a K301S ser# 47629. I can only adjust the points the amount of travel I get from the cam. As best as I can tell the rod is following the cam and there is only .018" lift. If I set them at .020" then they don't close because the rod is touching the points all the time and I only get a week or no spark. The rod is free and smooth and does not show much if any wear on its ends. For now I am going to run the points at .010" until I find something out, unless you think that might damage the coil. Thanks for any and all ideas.
 
I asked around on another post and was told to set the timing with a light and go with the gap you get. It was not far from the static timing and now I have a .012" gap and the motor runs fine, idles down and revs up under load. Thanks for all the help.
 

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