That old Kohler is Very Similar to our old Tecumseh engines, they're in alot of our small engines at the farm, our old Argo has an over head valves style engine and the rest are flat heads, my grandfather has used Nothing but SAE 30 NON Detergent oil in All of them for the passed 40+ years along with mixing Lead Substitue with High Octane Non ethanol gas, and those engines get worked hard in +30°C Summer and -5°C winter, I'm an expert by no means and i just wanted to share what i know, my dad (the engineer) suggests during the rebuild; if you go that route, try covering Graphite spray or paste on all the Bearings and Journals before putting assembling oil or instead of using assembling oil. Sorry to hear about the engine crapping out mid season good luck with everything.
Thanks for the comment Hoover! Some of these guys are indeed running SAE30 and I have help try and start them at -15 and its a real challenge. They drag them into heated trailers, heat guns, etc..... to get them to fire at that temp on SAE30. I can see maybe 2-3 times this would happen on this particular sled and even then, I can heat up the trailer for it if needed. I am going to be changing up the oil for sure after the rebuild. All good points for sure. Thanks again for the comment.
Oh no!!!! Man that sucks! You said it though: 54 year old engine + didn’t open bottom end… The problem was already there waiting to happen. I doubt idling all day made any difference. Its a 4 stroke, idling is what it loves! Lol! If the bearings seem rough, the connecting rod must have been in the same shape. Good call for a full overhaul (or at least full teardown and inspection). Good vid, sad situation….
Thanks Matt. Keeping a good attitude and just gonna fix it and move on. There’s another sled You Tube guy who gave me that advice when his Kohler crapped the bed. Just find another and give er!! I fully support his attitude on this stuff. Thanks for the comment
Yea, this is the first engine I have not gone down to the crankshaft on, but as you can see it bit me in the rear. It will be back online for next season. Time to have fun, not run around town trying to get stuff done.
All rolling element bearings have finite service lives. the longer or faster it turns, the shorter the life. Having an engine idle for hours makes no sense from any viewpoint. It's a waste of fuel and metal.
As mentioned, you pull up to Pequot lakes show and the kohlers are all sitting there running. Oh well… onward. Overhaul kit identified. Just need to find a shop to rework crank. Thanks for the comment.
I think we owned one of these not fast or glamerous and very difficult to pull so tons of compression a good beginners snowmobile but it was slow as molassas top end maybe 20 mph urs is the first mention of a single cylinder 12hp panther that I remember as a kid n we replaced it with a 20 hp engine though I forget what brand engine. But you didnt have to be a gorilla to turn it over compared to the Kohlar 12 hp. N maybe like you say it wasnt designed to just sit and idle to keep it cool and it over heated. You needed some type of air flow not just sitting to help cool it down. For us if we got it started and it was a bitch we were going snowmobiling so it wasnt just sitting around if it was running it was moving for a large family of 6 boys.
James, thanks for the comment. The kohler has a decompression tab on cam that holds open the exhaust valve. I could imagine that thing being a bugger to pull if that wasn’t working. It’s weird.. I was in Pequot Lakes MN over the weekend and those kohlers ran all day and some never shut off. Dunno. Oh well, fix it and move on. Thanks again for the comment.
Im assuming i was on its way out as long as you know your oil level was good. Part of me wants to think maybe clutch vibration could have been a issue. Ive heard of that but never experienced that problem first hand. Like i said before im guessing it was on its way out the door and now you can rebuid and make it good as new again.
Could be, hope so......... I have a repair plan for spring on it and will bring you guys along for the repair. Nothing money can't fix....... unfortunately. Thanks for the comment Andrew!
Those are a difficult thing to find these days. If you join various FB groups for your particular snowmobile, it’s probably the best place. I needed a CDI myself and had to beg one from a guy. There are a few after market CDI’s out there but I’m not very familiar with their conversion. Good luck sir!
Absolutely. If you see me, flag me down. I’ll be on my Free Air Puma or Rat Cat! And if all hell breaks loose, the 73 panther. AKA “the Pequot back up” and “the back up to the back up”. A man has to have plan B, C, aaaaannnnnnd D!!
If you know your oil level was good, I'd say it was just on its way out. Someone in the past could have ran it low on oil for too long and now its finally showing its problem. Had the same thing happen to my dang 200x.
I checked it in the AM and it was right to top. It was either damaged prior and just sitting there waiting to start self destructing or that 5W20 oil was so thin that it was not slinging properly. Either way I will probably never let one idle for more than a few minutes ever again. Like I mentioned, there are Kohlers, Wisconsins, and Onans at antique shows idling for hours and hours and hours without issue. Dunno. Gonna stay positive about it and just fix it. After all, its the name of the channel. Thanks for the comment. AND SUBBED to your channel. Looks like you have a lot of work going on there. Nice to meet you!
Gerald, fraid so. The oil level was perfect, so it either didn’t like the 5w20 it the hill it climbed. Either way it will be getting torn down shortly for rebuild.
@@geraldgerthofer3603 a lot of these guys run SAE30. Starting could be an issue with that thick stuff. This thing started 1 pull warm and 2-3 cold. Lowest overnight cold soak was like 15 degrees. Popped right off. Dunno, not gonna think about why any more, fix it and move on I guess.
Yea..... I am not that smart, or patient to do one of them. A guy I know just turbo'd his. I hope to get some footage of it and may post a video of it with some particulars once he has it dialed in. Hopefully...... more to follow on that one. FOR SURE, I am NOT doing that conversion.
@@Letsfixsomething26 kohler school said always a straight weight in a kohler. some of the old polaris instructions would actually say to warm up the engine with a heater on a real cold day. 30 w and 20 was their recommendation. usuall 30 w straight . they get hot when they run a while. also could be the formet owner
That old Kohler is Very Similar to our old Tecumseh engines, they're in alot of our small engines at the farm, our old Argo has an over head valves style engine and the rest are flat heads, my grandfather has used Nothing but SAE 30 NON Detergent oil in All of them for the passed 40+ years along with mixing Lead Substitue with High Octane Non ethanol gas, and those engines get worked hard in +30°C Summer and -5°C winter, I'm an expert by no means and i just wanted to share what i know, my dad (the engineer) suggests during the rebuild; if you go that route, try covering Graphite spray or paste on all the Bearings and Journals before putting assembling oil or instead of using assembling oil. Sorry to hear about the engine crapping out mid season good luck with everything.
Thanks for the comment Hoover! Some of these guys are indeed running SAE30 and I have help try and start them at -15 and its a real challenge. They drag them into heated trailers, heat guns, etc..... to get them to fire at that temp on SAE30. I can see maybe 2-3 times this would happen on this particular sled and even then, I can heat up the trailer for it if needed. I am going to be changing up the oil for sure after the rebuild. All good points for sure. Thanks again for the comment.
Oh no!!!! Man that sucks! You said it though: 54 year old engine + didn’t open bottom end… The problem was already there waiting to happen. I doubt idling all day made any difference. Its a 4 stroke, idling is what it loves! Lol! If the bearings seem rough, the connecting rod must have been in the same shape. Good call for a full overhaul (or at least full teardown and inspection). Good vid, sad situation….
Thanks Matt. Keeping a good attitude and just gonna fix it and move on. There’s another sled You Tube guy who gave me that advice when his Kohler crapped the bed. Just find another and give er!! I fully support his attitude on this stuff. Thanks for the comment
Good luck with the rebuild.
Thanks. I need to find a crankshaft shop that will take on a single cylinder crank first, then will get everything measured up and pull trigger.
I'm gonna be keeping my eye out for you at erx
I’ll be on Rat Cat or the free air puma. Dragline is down for surgery. Flag me down and say hi!!
Well at least you can rebuild it and know it’s perfect again.
Yea, this is the first engine I have not gone down to the crankshaft on, but as you can see it bit me in the rear. It will be back online for next season. Time to have fun, not run around town trying to get stuff done.
Well this sucks! Was hoping to see it at ERX, always liked those four strokers. But I'm sure it will live again.
It will live again. No worries there
All rolling element bearings have finite service lives. the longer or faster it turns, the shorter the life. Having an engine idle for hours makes no sense from any viewpoint. It's a waste of fuel and metal.
As mentioned, you pull up to Pequot lakes show and the kohlers are all sitting there running. Oh well… onward. Overhaul kit identified. Just need to find a shop to rework crank. Thanks for the comment.
I think we owned one of these not fast or glamerous and very difficult to pull so tons of compression a good beginners snowmobile but it was slow as molassas top end maybe 20 mph urs is the first mention of a single cylinder 12hp panther that I remember as a kid n we replaced it with a 20 hp engine though I forget what brand engine. But you didnt have to be a gorilla to turn it over compared to the Kohlar 12 hp. N maybe like you say it wasnt designed to just sit and idle to keep it cool and it over heated. You needed some type of air flow not just sitting to help cool it down. For us if we got it started and it was a bitch we were going snowmobiling so it wasnt just sitting around if it was running it was moving for a large family of 6 boys.
James, thanks for the comment. The kohler has a decompression tab on cam that holds open the exhaust valve. I could imagine that thing being a bugger to pull if that wasn’t working. It’s weird.. I was in Pequot Lakes MN over the weekend and those kohlers ran all day and some never shut off. Dunno. Oh well, fix it and move on. Thanks again for the comment.
Im assuming i was on its way out as long as you know your oil level was good. Part of me wants to think maybe clutch vibration could have been a issue. Ive heard of that but never experienced that problem first hand. Like i said before im guessing it was on its way out the door and now you can rebuid and make it good as new again.
Could be, hope so......... I have a repair plan for spring on it and will bring you guys along for the repair. Nothing money can't fix....... unfortunately. Thanks for the comment Andrew!
Oh no!
Very good vidio what main jet did you use in the single carb 399 i couldnt read the small print thanks
Eh… I didn’t do any jetting in this video. I have another video that I did a DUAL carb swap and those jets were shown.
Moro no Brasil é preciso do CDI e bobina de ignição do motor kawasaki
440 2A o que eu faço. No Brasil não tem para vender
Those are a difficult thing to find these days. If you join various FB groups for your particular snowmobile, it’s probably the best place. I needed a CDI myself and had to beg one from a guy. There are a few after market CDI’s out there but I’m not very familiar with their conversion. Good luck sir!
See you in Pequot.
Absolutely. If you see me, flag me down. I’ll be on my Free Air Puma or Rat Cat! And if all hell breaks loose, the 73 panther. AKA “the Pequot back up” and “the back up to the back up”. A man has to have plan B, C, aaaaannnnnnd D!!
☹️ Ruh Roh
I had different words I put together on that day. Sigh….
If you know your oil level was good, I'd say it was just on its way out. Someone in the past could have ran it low on oil for too long and now its finally showing its problem. Had the same thing happen to my dang 200x.
I checked it in the AM and it was right to top. It was either damaged prior and just sitting there waiting to start self destructing or that 5W20 oil was so thin that it was not slinging properly. Either way I will probably never let one idle for more than a few minutes ever again. Like I mentioned, there are Kohlers, Wisconsins, and Onans at antique shows idling for hours and hours and hours without issue. Dunno. Gonna stay positive about it and just fix it. After all, its the name of the channel. Thanks for the comment. AND SUBBED to your channel. Looks like you have a lot of work going on there. Nice to meet you!
Starved, oil !!!!!
Gerald, fraid so. The oil level was perfect, so it either didn’t like the 5w20 it the hill it climbed. Either way it will be getting torn down shortly for rebuild.
@@Letsfixsomething26 that's possable stayed dry hair too long
@@geraldgerthofer3603 a lot of these guys run SAE30. Starting could be an issue with that thick stuff. This thing started 1 pull warm and 2-3 cold. Lowest overnight cold soak was like 15 degrees. Popped right off. Dunno, not gonna think about why any more, fix it and move on I guess.
@@Letsfixsomething26 30 weight too thick like grease at these cold temps straight 10 weight put in !!!!!!
303 swap ;)
Yea..... I am not that smart, or patient to do one of them. A guy I know just turbo'd his. I hope to get some footage of it and may post a video of it with some particulars once he has it dialed in. Hopefully...... more to follow on that one. FOR SURE, I am NOT doing that conversion.
oil too thin
I’m gonna agree. It will never have 5w20 in it. Data plate says ok, well I’m not buying it. Thanks for commenting!!
@@Letsfixsomething26 kohler school said always a straight weight in a kohler. some of the old polaris instructions would actually say to warm up the engine with a heater on a real cold day. 30 w and 20 was their recommendation. usuall 30 w straight . they get hot when they run a while. also could be the formet owner
i use 30 in my kohlers
@@joelhhall Cripes… Kohler School??!?!?! That’s awesome. I’m attending school of “FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF KID”