The flywheel has seized on my Kohler M18 and will not move in either direction. Prior to seizing I replaced the starter & solenoid and charged the battery. In addition I have gone through the checklist of things to check in both the CC & Kohler service manuals. Today I determined the key switch is faulty with continuity present on the A & M terminals only. Would replacing it free the flywheel or am I looking at an engine rebuild? Or is there something else that could have caused it to lock up? Any ideas or comments would be appreciated. Thank you.
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CC #1872
- Thread starter lrevelle
- Start date
Help Support IH Cub Cadet Tractor Forum:
Roland,
Thanks for your interest in helping me. The time line for my problem began when I started preparing the tractor for this season. After finishing the normal services to bring it out of hibernation I tried to start it. The engine would crank, but not start. After a few attempts I got nothing. I then tried jumping the solenoid to determine if was faulty or if the starter was bad. It cranked a couple of times but did not start. After that everything was dead. I did the service manual checks and determined both the starter & solenoid were bad. I ordered the parts and installed them and attempted to start the tractor. When I turned the key to "run" I heard a "clunk" (kind of metal to metal) sound and immediately turned the key to off after only one attempt. When I investigated I could see that the drive pinion on the starter could not engage the flywheel because it would not move. As I mentioned, I have tried all the testing methods offered in the CC & Kohler service manuals looking for a reason for the lock up. By the way, the oil level is normal. I have just about come to the conclusion that the engine has seized and either needs to be rebuilt or I need a new CC. Any insight you can provide would be helpful. Thank you.
Thanks for your interest in helping me. The time line for my problem began when I started preparing the tractor for this season. After finishing the normal services to bring it out of hibernation I tried to start it. The engine would crank, but not start. After a few attempts I got nothing. I then tried jumping the solenoid to determine if was faulty or if the starter was bad. It cranked a couple of times but did not start. After that everything was dead. I did the service manual checks and determined both the starter & solenoid were bad. I ordered the parts and installed them and attempted to start the tractor. When I turned the key to "run" I heard a "clunk" (kind of metal to metal) sound and immediately turned the key to off after only one attempt. When I investigated I could see that the drive pinion on the starter could not engage the flywheel because it would not move. As I mentioned, I have tried all the testing methods offered in the CC & Kohler service manuals looking for a reason for the lock up. By the way, the oil level is normal. I have just about come to the conclusion that the engine has seized and either needs to be rebuilt or I need a new CC. Any insight you can provide would be helpful. Thank you.
rbedell
Well-known member
Lynn:
Thanks for the better explanation.
A couple of things come to my mind.
Sometimes, a starter has to be "shimmed" in the mounting to allow the proper clearances for proper engagement. BTDT. I have had new/rebuilt starters bind against the flywheel.
Another thing if you have a sluggish "roll over" would be the grounding of the motor to the battery negative terminal. In a my case, I have added an extra cable to assure grounding.
As previously stated, pull the starter and see if the flywheel rolls over and if the new starter works outside of its mount. If everything is free moving, you either have a bad starter or a mount that is too tight.
Thanks for the better explanation.
A couple of things come to my mind.
Sometimes, a starter has to be "shimmed" in the mounting to allow the proper clearances for proper engagement. BTDT. I have had new/rebuilt starters bind against the flywheel.
Another thing if you have a sluggish "roll over" would be the grounding of the motor to the battery negative terminal. In a my case, I have added an extra cable to assure grounding.
As previously stated, pull the starter and see if the flywheel rolls over and if the new starter works outside of its mount. If everything is free moving, you either have a bad starter or a mount that is too tight.
Roland,
I removed the starter and the flywheel will still not move in either direction. The only other info I can provide is this. As Paul Harvey the newscaster would say "now for the rest of the story--page 2!!". What I haven't shared with you is that when I went to do my spring services I found that something had used the engine for a winter den. I found some debris and hickory nut cuttings. I explored this further and thought maybe some of the nut hulls had fallen inside the blower housing and had become lodged under the flywheel and in effect chocking it. I did find a couple but after removing them still no luck. The only other thing is it looks like that now that I have the blower housing off I can see that there appears to be some caked dirt between the stator and the block and also covering some of the stator. I don't know if any of this makes a hill of beans difference but I am losing faith that there is a simple answer and the engine has indeed froze internally. Thanks again for your effort in helping me.
I removed the starter and the flywheel will still not move in either direction. The only other info I can provide is this. As Paul Harvey the newscaster would say "now for the rest of the story--page 2!!". What I haven't shared with you is that when I went to do my spring services I found that something had used the engine for a winter den. I found some debris and hickory nut cuttings. I explored this further and thought maybe some of the nut hulls had fallen inside the blower housing and had become lodged under the flywheel and in effect chocking it. I did find a couple but after removing them still no luck. The only other thing is it looks like that now that I have the blower housing off I can see that there appears to be some caked dirt between the stator and the block and also covering some of the stator. I don't know if any of this makes a hill of beans difference but I am losing faith that there is a simple answer and the engine has indeed froze internally. Thanks again for your effort in helping me.
mgonitzke
Well-known member
I may have missed something here, but did the engine actually ever start before "locking up"? If not, I think there is something external keeping it from turning. There needs to be a lot of heat to make an engine seize, and cranking will not generate enough heat to seize it up. It's possible one of those nut shells got under the flywheel and broke the stator and/or magnets on the flywheel. At this point, it might be a good idea to pull the motor and remove all the tinwork and see what's going on.
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