I have a 1997 legend with 1600 hours that won't run full throttle. It is getting plenty of gas but it just won't run at top speed. It ran fine yesterday but gave me trouble today. I recently changed the engine oil and used synthetic because the manual said that it would be okay. Can anyone help?
When was the last time you changed your air filter? If it is a kohler engine check the throttle screw at the back of the engine. It may have come loose not letting it go to full throttle. if that fails start the engine and remove on eside of the spark plug wire. if the engine still runs ,turn it off put the pulug wire back on and then do the same on the other side. good luck
Hi Nick, I really appreciate your help on this. the throttle screw is okay. I removed the east side wire, engine still ran, I removed the west side wire and the engine quit. Now what do I do?
Well it sounds like its a coil pak. Call kohler or goto you lawnmower reapir center in town. Give them the spec number and model number of the engine. should be on the oil filter side of the machine. You can most llilky install this your self. However it may not hhurt having the lawn mower place install the part. call me if you have any questions. NICK
Nick, correct me if I'm wrong, but that engine should have a Magneto. Pat I have the Kohler. Dont use synthetic. Your hydraulic lifters will leakdown at high RPM. If they leakdown you hear a chattering sound at high RPM similar to a very loud sewing machine. This also happens when you put too much oil in as well. However, this may not be your problem if its cutting down when you pull one plug on a cold engine.
Ara your right it is a magneto. However the magnet/coil is waht kohler calls it. The plug wire is connected directly ot it. It could also be a bad valve lets hope not. best bet is have a kolher rep look it over. get more than one opinion some of these places are not so honest.
Thanks Nick & Ara, I am back at 100% power! I changed the oil back to conventional 10-w30, new filter and noticed an immediate difference in the noise it was making. I then tried removing the plug wire again and the engine died. I replaced the spark plugs and boy what a difference that made. So I hooked up some hose and the wand an ran it for a while and it really worked well. I never changed the plugs on my unit until today. Now that I realize how important something as simple as that is, I will be more careful from now on. I was thinking that I'll have to reschedual all my jobs next week, what a relief.
Cool Deal Pat! Yeah, Kohler says you can use sythetic but it didnt work for me. Even after it was broken in. Go make some money Pat. Have a great week!
