How to Test Kohler Charging System 

Well done. Good camera work. Easy to see and easy to hear and understand

your videos helped us diagnose my son's Troy-Bilt. I've been working on engines for 50 years and I was stumped. It is now running well.

Thank you sir for your great charging system videos, I watched both. They helped me track down a charging wire that was hooked up wrong for an 1999 xmark zero turn. I replaced the engine with a new carbureted 25hp Kohler, I didn’t want a new machine and try to stay away from ecm controlled machines. They had the charging wire from the factory/distributor running to the starter solenoid ? So I put an end on the wire and put it in the harness plug to the switch and now charging good! You speak slowly so I can understand and I appreciate you helping us all, thanks again!! Ron Smith

Your video just helped me fix my e mark with Kohler engine. Wound up being dirty ground on voltage regulator. Awesome video!

Great video. Also a good idea to test all the relays. My older Craftsman lawn tractor wasn't keeping the battery charged so I followed your procedure. I had voltage at the stator but not the rectifier. Was going to order a new rectifier but figured while I'm at it I might as well check the relays too. I found one bad one and replaced it, tested the rectifier again and got 14 volts. Bad relay was the one with a red wire going into it. I didn't trace all the wiring, just happy the battery is charging again.

Great demonstration. I just checked the charging system on my John Deere with the Kohler Command 23 engine. The engine would not turn over fast enough when attempting to start it. I did what you said and found out the stater and the voltage regulator both gave the correct outputs. In conclusion, the battery was not charging to the capacity it needed. So, I replaced the battery. A few years later, I replaced the battery when it turned out the problem was the voltage regulator. I am sure many people blame the battery like I did.

This totally helped me, thank you. My Kohler V-Twin 26hp was weak charging and couldn’t keep up after I added an electric fuel pump. I tested like you demonstrated and found the stator was good. I just head to clean connections like you mentioned, and now it’s back to 14v. Whew. Glad I don’t have to replace the stator.

He laid out very easy steps to follow. One of the stater wires slipped out of the plastic connector housing and was not making a good connection with the voltage regulator Did the test (s) like he showed everything tested good. Got the white wire locked back into the plastic connector housing plugged back onto the regulator. Putting out 14.5 volts! Thanks for the info probably saved me $100 + service bill at the shop !!

Thanks for the video. Been charging my battery for 2 years once a month. Checked for voltage back to the switch and nothing. Verified the charging system was working. Checked the purple wire and it was broken off at the second plug. No voltage due to corrosion, so I stripped the wire and checked again. It was hot regardless of the key position (I decided to cut the wire off and insulate it, didn't like a hot lead all the time). I found another purple lead with a female blade connect that was only hot with the key on and cut the purple lead at the plug. Crimped on a male blade and heat shrunk some insulation, and pressed it into the female blade connect, bypassing the second plug altogether. No more dragging out the battery charger and 100' cord every 3-4 weeks to cut the grass.

My battery went dead today, and your video gave me the fix to ground the unit. Working now!

Good video, helped fix my scag that wasn’t charging. Sure enough it was a bad ground at the reg.

You did a great job explaining this. A neighbor gave me a John Deere L130 and it is a Kohler CV23S. It will not stay charge. I am definitely going to try this.

Thank you. Helped me diagnose and fix the charging problem on my kolher 20hp rider. 👍👍👍

Great video. Step by step,, Boom!!!! Thank you sir.

My son's Kohler 25hp wouldn't charge. I checked the stator output and was a whopping 44v. It was in fact a bad ground on the voltage regulator, easy fix. Thanks a LOT for the video.

Thank you. Great walk through. Helped me save a lot of time and money!

Great video. You were straight to the point and explained the process so the average guy like me who isn’t a Master Tech could follow along. My Kohler C18 regular has a hole melted in in behind one of the stator wires. Thanks for the video!

thx for your video. very helpful and timely. my voltage regulator just crapped the bed...

Thank you for this video! I stopped at 3:36, checked the ground wire and Viola! fixed. I've been dealing with this glitch for over a year. Thank you so much!

Very clear! Thank you!

There is no better explanation that what you have done. THANKS

Thank you sir. Exactly what I needed

very good video so informative and easy to understand --good job

Thanks very helpful very helpful and imagine a little ground wire to mess up your whole charging system thanks again

YOU JUST SAVED ME HOURS, DUDE....!!!!

Great video, easy to understand. Thanks

Thanks for posting that video it was very helpful for me and my Kohler engine certainly make a difference a Ground wire to mess up your whole charging system thanks once again thanks ✅✅✅

Thanks, great video!

Thanks, very clear! Understand now. Thanks

thank you for your help the video was very good hopefully ill get my L. mower going

Thank you very much, will check my engine soon :).

Very Helpful, thanks

great vid ps thanks for detailing the settings on the multi meter

Very good explanation

This solved my charging problem. I had accidentally left the grounding strap off whilst replacing the two ignition modules. Unfortunately, I found this video after I had ordered a new regulator-rectifier module and waited for it to come in.

Thank you very much. This was very helpful.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

Thanks. This really helped!

Thanks that was a big help.👍

Thanks for sharing.

Well done!

Thanks for the the help

Thank you very much!

great job

Excellent video troubleshooting a Kohler. My issue was exactly as you described. The yellow right terminal to the block ground, the screw face and inside was corroded with rust. Also, the left side yellow terminal was sparking intermittently . Looks like a poor engineer design, the left terminal going the the rectifier is threaded through and secured by the plastic shroud only, and stripped out if you tighten it. Kohler needs a more robust mount than a screw through plastic fastening method. Thanks again, you earned a new subscriber here.

Very informative

Good job 👏

I was hoping you might go one more step. I found the video very good , My stator was putting out over 45, The rectifier was putting out 14-15 yet when I check the battery terminal, it was 12.7 which isn't enough to keep my battery charged. I welcome your thoughts as well as others that might have some insight. I checked the bottom fuse on my Exmark 60 Turf Tracer 23hp Kohler . Many thanks

Thank you

Good vide my amigo

Thank you sir. Was able to fix mine. Went through 2 batteries in a year. Now it’s charging properly. Mine must have been built at quitting time on Friday. Didn’t have a ground jumper at all.

helpful! thx

Fantastic!

I have a kolher 18 craftsman riding mower with a electric powered hydraulic front bucket loader that’s not charging I hope mines simple as a bad ground going to mess with it today thank you didn’t know witch wires went to the stator

Thanks, that was a great help . When checking the purple wire part of the metal tab that makes a connection to the voltage regulator has fallen off. This may be the problem that has plagued me for months . Is that whole wire assembly to the voltage regulator easily replaced ? And if it's not too personal , which part of the U.S is your accent from. Cheers from Australia.

Thank you...

Thanks

Thanks for the video. Getting ready to apply this method on my Kohler Command 20. It's 20 years old and just had it serviced. The guy installed a new seal as it was leaking oil so I think he would have noticed any stator issues? Probably some rusty connections.

Thank you sir

I have a nice running k181 a on a go cart I’m finishing up. Quick question with a generic eBay rectifier does it matter witch way I connect the two white engine wires? As long as the middle post off the rectifier goes to the correct post on the key switch right? Also an amp meter can be spliced directly into the wire that powers the key switch without problem?

Alguna herramienta que recomiende para la recharge de bateria. Muy buen video e informativo manita arriva.

Thank you for the kohler video it helped me a lot. Turns out my kohler is putting out 14.5 volts but its not getting to the battery can i just run that purple wire straight to the battery? Instead of messing with the switch?

Thanks for this video! I have a Scott's by JD, 2348 Kohler 23hp engine very similar to your video. Any idea why the battery would not charge (batter light comes on) when the mower (PTO) is engaged?

My Cub Cadet just up and died this evening while it was in low-idle. I thought it ran out of gas but it ran out of lightning. I just put a new bat. In last summer. It was flat! Apparently I have a charging system problem. Hope it's just a regulator. Thanks for the video

Is it possible to put the connecter that plugs into the voltage regulator on backwards? Mine was just unplugged and it’s hard to tell which way it was plugged in originally. And it well plug in ether way

Great videos and thank you for them! I have a question about my John Deere Sabre 1948hv. When I turn the tractor on my battery light has been coming on. What are the scenarios that make that light come on?

You just saved me from buying a stator that wasn’t needed! Thank you for saving me time and money. It turns out that my connection to the regulator was loose. Thanks again!

Great video. One question though - couldn't you start by checking the regulator dc output first. Can't we assume the stator is good if the volts out are good?

The mower your working on in another video looks like my Husqvarna Z246. I have been having trouble with the safety switches . Could you do a video on testing all the switches ? Thank you, Wayne.

Hi I have a Koehler 7000 that keeps popping the fuse as soon as I turn on the key. I have traced it down to the charging system. I have removed the rectifier thinking it was the problem, installed a new one and I get the same results, popes fuse. I also found out that I can turn on the mower and cut grass without the rectifier. I turned i5 on and tested the stator and it is giving me 34 or so AC. I am thinking it is the blue wire between the two white ones. What long term harm will I have if I run it without a rectifier and just place a charge every time I finish mowing.

Will you damage the diodes in the regulator if you hook up a battery charger to the battery without removing the battery leads?

Hello!! My mower only runs as long as I have my jumper cables connected from my car, so when I check the output from the mowers regulator am I just reading my cars regulator and not the lawn mower? As soon as I disconnect the jumper cables the mower dies.. all the connections are clean and the voltage regulator ground is good. Thanks!!

This was a great video, I don’t have a connector with 3 wires on my voltage regulator, I have the 2 wires and I did what you said and put them on the outside terminals on the regulator however there isn’t a purple wire on the center terminal of the connector but on the other side of the motor there is a purple wire along with a green wire. Do you think the person I got the motor from cut the wire off on the regulator side or does the purple wire connect somewhere else inside the shroud? Your videos are so good thank you for posting them!😊

I have a 26.5hp Kohler horizontal engine. It quit charging. Cleaned up all connectors and put a new regulator on. I'm getting 43vac to the regulator but only 1vdc coming out. Any ideas. New battery. Even ran a separate jumper ground from battery to regulator housing and no change. Thank you

i have a courage 19, stater and dc volts are correct. should the engine once running, continue running with battery disconnected? if not what would be suspect?

@Sartin Garage I've got Kawa fh680v with 31 acv coming out of the stator, 14.6 dcv coming out of the regulator, and battery charging voltage showing 14.6 at full throttle. The excessive voltage isn't blowing fuses but is boiling a new battery in 3-4 days. Not sure why this is happening? Please help. Thanks!

Nice walk through on the Kohnler charging system. I have a similar setup, but with a Tecumseh twin 25 hp w/elec. PTO that uses a 2 terminal voltage regulator instead of the 3 terminal your Kohler has. I've been nursing along a low/no charge battery for the summer, keeping a 3A charger/maintainer on it between mows, just getting around to taking a look today. Figured I'd share. I initially suspected the alternator winding (stator), but confirmed it's putting out just under 30v AC in to the regulator. When checking the B+ side of the regulator, it's only showing batt voltage at WOT. Two questions; 1) is there a bench test I can do/measure the voltage regulator before condemning it bad, even thought I'm pretty confident it's the root cause? It shows open on continuity and about 15 ohms resistance, but the longer I wait,t the lower the resistance creeps. I thought it should have a reading much higher, but not really certain? 2) the voltage regulator I need (1A183-164) is NLA on all the sites I've checked so far, any ideas where to find an old part that's been discontinued like this? Don't know if I want to trust a used one. Thanks!

Thank you for your video this is my beginning stages of trying to fix my Kohler CV 22 hp engine. When I tested the two white wires my engine would not stay running to complete the test so I just held the key on and it looks like on my meter I got around 45 to 50 V. Would you happen to know why the engine would not stay running with the connector disconnected? Then I proceeded to check the sea vault on the purple center wire on the connector to ground and did not get any voltage there at all so would that mean it is the stater I am to replace which is under the shroud?

I know theres a problem with mine cause i took each drained battery off my zero turn mower and used them on my other mowers and charged it a little then started it up and let it run on my Briggs engines and their staying charged on those. but gets drained on the Kohlers i figured its probably the rectifier not sending juice back to the battery while its running is why the batteries dead each time after using the mower the person i bought that from didn't even have the valve covers screwed down all the way and had to low of a amperage fuse put in had a safety button wire plugged in that kept blowing the fuse had some other wires taped up i took all those out that didn't need to be their I've been needing to check its rectifier but am working on a bunch of other different mowers

Very good video My issue in Kohler kt735 Stator reading 30at3600rpm Regulator reading 1v I changed stator become reading 40ac volt And change regulator become reading 8.65Dc volt

I did everything you say on one of your videos about charging problems I even change the stator, en I'm Still getting 14v ac switch is working fine what else can be?? 60" ex mark z

yep tks...

I'm getting 30.6 from sator and 12.4 from voltage regulator. Does that mean voltage regulator is weak or bad? Mower shows low voltage 11.7 when mowing .

Hi, thanks for your video... I'm getting 30V AC from stator but nothing from regulator...with engine off, using a multimetter i probed the center pin and neg post on battery and had no DC voltage... I was told there should be 12V when doing that. So do I have an open circuit on the positive side?.. what is my next step? Thank you.

I have a 27 hp Kohler and I checked the regulator and have 42 volts ac and then I checked the B terminal and I have 0 volts. I made sure that the regulator was grounded and checked the B terminal with one lead on it and the other lead on the battery ground and the motor and don’t have any voltage at all. This is a new regulator.

Very informative. I have 45vac at the two whites with the connector unpluged from the regulator, but only 9.5vdc at the purple when connected to the regulator. Both checks with Kohler running wide open. What's my problem or next check to be made. Thanks

Nice

Great video.. I have a question. If ur stator is working (30-50vac) but ur regulator output (center pin) is under 12vdc with engine running. Would u say the regulator is bad?

Hi If stator out but 30.2ac V At full throttle Regulator 1DCV Kindly your advice

What spade on switch dose the purple wire go to can't get a kholer cammand to charge

Hello, my vintage tractor from the 1970s has a 10 HP iron block Kohler engine that stopped charging the battery. I replaced both the stator and voltage regulator and it still doesn't charge even though the new regulator is properly grounded to the frame. Could it be that the flywheel magnets are too weak to produce voltage? The ohm meter reading shows fluctuwating numbers on the readout from the regulator with the engine running at high speed. Thanks

So I know I need a new battery for my Scag as I've had to put the battery charger on every time I start the mower. Today I started mowing and probably mowed 30 minutes and had to stop and move our trampoline, pushed in electric PTO, set brake and got off mower to moved trampoline. Got back on mower released brake and engaged PTO and the engine started missing bad, disengaged PTO and missing went away. Idled engine down engaged PTO and the missing was gone, gave her full power and and was able to mow another minutes and she died right there in the yard. I would like to know your thoughts on this matter. Tomorrow I will be replacing the battery for sure to start with.

My Kohler 25 hp PS-SV730-3022 Husqvarna riding mower is giving me grief. I went to start it, the battery was completely dead, and it my battery charger advises that there isn't a battery hooking up to it when I tried to charge the battery. I suspect that the voltage rectifier/regulator has failed and allows AC current into the battery. Two brand new batteries, no idea. Would this be a possible solution? The tractor will not turn over, even with a booster battery. Any ideas?

My kohler 30hp runs as long as the key is engaged in the start position, when I release the switch to run mode, it dies every time. I replaced starter switch, and checked all the safety shutoff things like the emergency brake, seat switch, etc. Any ideas why it quits when I release the starter?

My Kohler 23hp is only getting around 20-23 volts ac from the stator even though just replaced it with a new unit. Any idea what else the issue could be?

To add to my previous comment, the first A/C test test was only showing 26 volts. Is that a problem ? as the second test was showing 14.5 volts on a fully charged battery.

I have a kohler engine and it is putting out 19.7 V is that still fine

I don't have no meter so I'll just clean the stuff up or plug one on from one of my other Kohlers shoot a little oil on after cleaning then see if the battery has charge in it after its all cleaned is the best way i can do without a meter for right now any battery put on it is not enough juice to start it without a charger hooked up The batteries are new they do fine on my tractor mowers without a charger hooked up

I need a little bit of help. I've engine swapped mowers before, but just the other day my dad blew the briggs engine in his AYP craftsman, then got a 16.5hp kohler engine that says craftsman on it but was on a MTD when we got it. The regulator was completely bypassed. I got to looking at the stator wires, yellow and black, and noticed that there was a factory installed diode or what I assume was a diode on the black wire that had blown and melted. So my question is, do these kohlers need both a diode and rectifier on the charging wire, or are we dealing with mixed up parts? Can I wire it up using the diode from the briggs or do I need to use the regulator that wasnt hooked up? This mower has manual deck engagement and AC headlights.

I’m getting 15.62 volts at the battery and voltage regulator when the engine is off. Brand new battery. Engine runs, but the key won’t start it. I can hear it click in the on position but the start position does nothing. I have to put a jumper in the starter and it fires right up. Turning the key off shuts it off. When running, the voltage at the battery and at the regulator is 17.6-17.9. I replaced the voltage regulator and get the same exact readings. I tested the stator from a Koehler video and it showed to be good. Is the high voltage (17.6+ volts) when running a sign of something else or are my switches just fried? John Deere stx38 yellow deck, about 25 years old. Thanks.