I was riding my Hustler the other day when all of a sudden the Kohler 440 2-stroke engine died. There was a fair amount of smoke coming off of the heads. I noticed that the v-belt driving the cooling fan had broken. The engine still cranked normally but wouldn't turn over at all. I tried cranking it for a few minutes and then just towed it home. I haven't tried to restart it since it cooled off and I haven't checked the compression yet. Did I cook the heads or pistons on this thing or is the ignition system somehow tied into the cooling fan so that you don't get a spark unless the fan is turning?
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There's no switch to cut off the ignition when the belt breaks- probably not what you wanted to hear. If you pull the plugs out and have a look at them, then look at the top of the piston through the plug hole, it can give you an idea of what did or didn't happen when it got hot. It still turned over and that's not a bad sign.
Good Luck.Stuck in the seventies- not in the swamp.
(6) Attex, a Hustler, a Super Swamp Fox, (2) Tricarts, (3) Tri-sports, a Sno-co trike, 3 Dunecycles, and a Starcraft! ...so far
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Just wanted to close the loop on this as there's a lesson to be learned. The engine had overheated as a result of the broken fan belt. Zero compression in the right side cylinder. When I pulled the head I saw that the piston had a nice hole melted in it.
LESSON TO ALL: CHECK THAT FAN BELT!! A little preventative maintenance can save you a lot of work and $$.
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