I have a 2004 mudbuddy with a 27 hp Kohler on it. I had it out hunting the other night and couldn't get it to turn over when it was time to come home. When I went to start it, there was a click in the starter which I presumed to be the solenoid, and the starter sort of very quietly hummed, like it was trying to rotate but couldn't. So I attached my back up battery to the motor. Same thing. I went down and hand turned the prop a few times, tried it again and it then turned over and started.

I've never heard of a motor "jamming", but it was almost like the position of the internals had things locked up and it needed to be freed up. Anyone experienced this?

I just want to make sure that it isn't a sign of a bigger problem like a failing starter that's going to leave me stranded.

A completely separate issue I had was a couple weeks ago in the severe cold (~10 deg F) is that the motor wouldn't start at all. It cranked, and tried to fire a couple times, but then the battery died and that was it. I read something somewhere about this specific motor being touchy to start in the cold, but there wasn't any advice on how to best go about starting it when its frigid. Any tips? Whats the best throttle position when cold starting? Is starting fluid a horrible idea? Is there an easy way to check choke adjustment? Any one have any good block heating methods?

Thanks!

Scott

Wish I could help, I have the same 2004 MB 27 and it has been great, and yes it is more finicky about starting but we don't get much cold weather here. I would suggest a reputable small engine shop to check the electrical components. I suspect the starter motor. Good luck! I feel lucky that I have not had to touch anything to do with the bearing drive system; my previous GD LT's required sleeve bearing changeouts after a few years. They were all Kohlers, good motors. On one particularly cold December morning, in the upper 20's with the wind, icing occurred and the motor bogged down and I had to wait till sunup till it warmed up. I imagine a shop up your way would know about winterizing these motors.

I thought I might add an update/resolution to this situation. This clicking/lack of starting continued to be an on and off again issue, until one weekend I never could get the starter to engage, I just got clicking, despite multiple freshly charged batteries. I had the local small engine guy look at it, and he thought the starter needed to be replaced. We ordered a new starter/solenoid and I installed it. Same problem. DAMMIT!!! I checked voltages in and out at all the places I could think of (not really that many, pos term, pos cable end on solenoid, ground connection on frame, and negative term) and got ~12.2 v at all places.

What finally let me finally figure it out was that I put a jumper cable on, with one connection from the neg terminal on the battery to the frame, and the other end from the pos batt term to the positive post on the starter motor. It spun right up immediately. I then placed the positive jumper onto the pos post on the solenoid, and it fired up immediately with the key switch.

I replaced both battery cables, and now the starter has much more power than it ever did.

The cable ends looked fine, but I guess somewhere in the process of turning the motor in and out of the boat the strands in one of the cables (I think it was the negative) broke giving me poor voltage.

I used it several times after the fix in sub freezing temps and it started without issue.

Scott

Great! I was going to ask before where your battery is located? A few years ago I moved mine to under the bow for better weight distribution plus I wanted to hookup a bow mount trolling motor and it would be an easier connection. I was told to use heavier gauge battery cables because of the longer approx. 14' run. I was also advised to add 50 amp reset/breaker on the positive battery lead. I have not had any starting issues since I moved the battery up front, I left the six-gallon tank in the back. I had reported no problems with my bearings, but a couple of weeks ago I found the key had slipped in the keyway so I had to find a 5/16" one, slightly grind it, and then tap the shaft back into place and tighten down the set screws (I put Loctite on those) and it has held and after the season I will have to replace the shaft assembly, bearings, and yoke.

Schwar, Glad to hear your remedy! I run a 25 Kohler and was in a somewhat disconcerting situation recently.

I was 8 - 9 miles from camp hunting with my 2 sons in the Gulf 2 weeks ago and I killed my battery on my 25 hp Kohler. (my guess is voltage regulator is bad) I was dead on the water and seriously in a bind. No cell service, no VHF. I had handheld flares as well as aerials in case I couldn't flag anyone close by for a jump start.

After dragging my boat around so the boys could pick up decoys I pulled it as close as I could get to the sound of gun shots (1/4-1/2 mile away).

I keep a pull cord in my dry box, as this was an absolute LAST ditch effort. I've heard it's impossible to pull start a 25 hp Kohler due to something like 200lbs of compression but I had to give it a try. After wrapping the cord around the coupling on the horizontal shaft (I run a straight shaft surface drive) I told my son to hit the starter and pulled as hard as I could and thank the Good Lord she started! The battery had a smidgen of juice to bump the prop 1/32nd of a turn and I did the rest.......we were very, very fortunate.

I will double check my battery cable when I get back down to camp but after changing to a fresh battery we hunted the rest of the week without incident. I'm ready to drop down to a 23 hp just to have the option to pull start my motor if I'm ever in that situation again!

i just bought one of those micro start pps setups just for emergencies like this.

Can you post a link to it?

Does it have enough to jump start your motor?

The difficulty with the 25 and 27 Kohler is without constant battery power the fuel shutoff solenoid will close off fuel supply. My remedy was to remove mine, cut off the "needle" and put the solenoid back in. (that was 6 years ago) This allows me to jump start my motor with a completely dead battery and keep her running after jumping or returning a borrowed starting battery from an assisting boater.

http://antigravitybatteries.com/microstart/

I haven't had to use it yet but it will crank it up no problem. I think it's got like 400 cranking amps. And you should be able to get 30+ starts with it on one charge.

Well it's like anything. If you research it before you buy it, its a good way to know what you're getting. I will test it on my bobcat skid steer this week. The battery is shot in that and doesn't hold a charge.

I bought one of these on the recommendation of a mechanic friend of mine for emergency purposes. He swears by them and uses them often for his business. I had the opportunity to use it once to start our RV which had a completely dead battery. I first attempted to jump start the RV with no luck using my car. After returning with the jump starter the RV (Ford V 10) started like I had a new battery. I now keep it in a small waterproof box in my hunting bag, just in case.