Jump to content
Alrashid2

Kohler K301 - Idle screw moving/loosening?

Recommended Posts

Alrashid2

Hey guys, any of you seen this before? I fine tuned my idle months ago to be exactly at 1700 RPM. I was idling earlier today and walked away for a few minutes, and when I got back heard the Kohler sputtering and almost stalling out! Tach said it was idling at 650 RPM - yikes!

 

No idea how that happened. I adjusted the idle screw on the carb and a few turns later it was back at 1700 RPM. 

 

I'm thinking the idle screw was loosening with vibration, as it was really easy to turn with a screw driver and there was no tension or real force needed to turn it. Anyone seen this before? I put a witness mark on it with a metallic sharpie so hoping to keep an eye on it. Figured worst case I could put a drop or two of clear nail polish to maybe hold it in place but we'll see...

 

Thanks for the input!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
Achto
22 minutes ago, Alrashid2 said:

Figured worst case I could put a drop or two of clear nail polish to maybe hold it in place but we'll see...

 

There should be a spring around the idle screw. Remove the screw, stretch the spring out so that it will keep more tension on the screw. A little blue or purple Loctite on the threads will add some resistance as well.

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
Alrashid2

Oh wow I didnt even see the spring, as it's fully compressed on my carb... wonder if that is normal haha! Looked like a washer until i grabbed a flashlight

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
wallfish
11 hours ago, Alrashid2 said:

it's fully compressed on my carb... wonder if that is normal haha!

No it isn't. Something else is going on if the idle speed screw is turned all the way in and it's still running at 1700 rpm idle. (Unless the screw was changed to a shorter one)

Clean the carb thoroughly and do the settings according to the manual, then do slight adjustments from there to tune it to that engine. There's some pretty good instructions in the Kohler manual for setting all of the carb adjustment screws and governor.

Make sure all of the control cable connections are tight and solid.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
Alrashid2

Everything else seems to be in order and the tractor runs perfectly otherwise. I had tuned the carb as per the Kohler manual previously.

 

Here are some photos of my idle screw from various angles. 

PXL_20250302_180830509.jpg

PXL_20250302_180837699.jpg

PXL_20250302_180852008.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...