I can tell you this much, I had a 420 with an Onan that had been "Worked" on by the PO and he had the wrong length governor rod on the carb. No matter how much I played with it, I could not get the governor to work. Boomer sold me the correct length rod and that solved the problem. One thing I found out on the Onan is that there is a preload on the rod. It is not just an A to B type length. The preload is what makes the governor respond at the correct time. Research it and find out the correct length rod. I used coat hanger wire and made different lengths and realized that length was the critical factor. There is a guy I know who is trying to sell two 400's and he might be able to tell you the correct length on his 400. If you PM me I will give you his number.
John Deere 400, Kohler engine problem
I just acquired a John Deere 400; and it has relatively low hours. Actually the mower deck looks almost new; as the machine had a snow blade on it, when I got it. Even at that it had not been used in long time.
Tractor look good and runs good; until you try to mow with it. To rule out the mower deck, I installed another 60" mower that I used on another JD 400.
Somebody had been working on this problem and obviously, could not fix it.
Problem: K-532 runs at idle fine, actually a very quiet engine, for a K series. But when you mow and come to an area with heavier grass, and the governor should kick in; it just doesn't run right. It seems to bog down.
New coil and tested good too, new spark plugs, new point to .020", plug wires good. New ethanol Free gas. Compression good. It did have a bad coil and one bad spark plugs wire (completely open) when I bought it. So it was running on one cylinder. Previous owner obviously didn't diagnose the problem correctly and started messing with the governor. You can see the finger prints and dust wiped clean on the parts they touched. So something is messed up now.
Somebody has been adjusting the governor to carburetor linkage. They have not gotten into the governor (still dust on the governor bolts).
I checked all the Kohler manuals, and nothing is printed on how to adjust the above mentioned rod. I did take a rod off of another know good engine to try, it didn't make it any different. I will say the replacement rod was 3/8 of an inch shorter.
Carb is set to specs, air filer is clean; but it seems to go rich when the governor kicks in.
I feel this is the reason for the low hours and not being run in years.
Any ideas?
motobike
Tractor look good and runs good; until you try to mow with it. To rule out the mower deck, I installed another 60" mower that I used on another JD 400.
Somebody had been working on this problem and obviously, could not fix it.
Problem: K-532 runs at idle fine, actually a very quiet engine, for a K series. But when you mow and come to an area with heavier grass, and the governor should kick in; it just doesn't run right. It seems to bog down.
New coil and tested good too, new spark plugs, new point to .020", plug wires good. New ethanol Free gas. Compression good. It did have a bad coil and one bad spark plugs wire (completely open) when I bought it. So it was running on one cylinder. Previous owner obviously didn't diagnose the problem correctly and started messing with the governor. You can see the finger prints and dust wiped clean on the parts they touched. So something is messed up now.
Somebody has been adjusting the governor to carburetor linkage. They have not gotten into the governor (still dust on the governor bolts).
I checked all the Kohler manuals, and nothing is printed on how to adjust the above mentioned rod. I did take a rod off of another know good engine to try, it didn't make it any different. I will say the replacement rod was 3/8 of an inch shorter.
Carb is set to specs, air filer is clean; but it seems to go rich when the governor kicks in.
I feel this is the reason for the low hours and not being run in years.
Any ideas?
motobike
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
Sent PM
Thank You for replying
motobike
Thank You for replying
motobike
Moto, I cleaned out my message box in case you want to send me one.
Here is the carb rod to governor adjustment.
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Just to update and close out this post:
I had gotten busy with other farm issues and got back to this machine.
The governor was the final thing I checked; and that was the problem. I changed out the governor(insides chewed up); and added the oil lubrication line. Why did Jhn Deere think they could save money, by eliminating the oil line?
This tractor was bought and sold by at least two (2) previous owners, because of this problem.
I had gotten busy with other farm issues and got back to this machine.
The governor was the final thing I checked; and that was the problem. I changed out the governor(insides chewed up); and added the oil lubrication line. Why did Jhn Deere think they could save money, by eliminating the oil line?
This tractor was bought and sold by at least two (2) previous owners, because of this problem.
Thanks for doing this update...
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
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