17 horse Kohler gas engine troubles.

The engine on my band sawmill started acting up. It's been popping and fartin and running rough and not turning up as high as I remembered it used to.
Crankcase oil is good .
Then the other day it quit in the cut.
It would not restart. I got the band out of the cut and pulled the spark plugs and could not see Any spark. I got a new set of sparkplugs and tried them. The engine started and ran like normal. I started milling and after several cuts . The engine quit again while I was turning the log. I got the log set for the next cut and took a short slab off. Started the next cut and it quit again about 2' into the cut.
I ( think it's electrical )
The engine has a coil , at least I think it's a coil . And it has what I think is a resistor block and one other thing that is brass kinda finish looking thing that is about 1" tall x2 " long. It has some wires attached to it.
The reason I think it's electrical is it acts like a chain saw that has a bad coil thing. When it warms up it quits and won't start. Once the saw cools off it will start and run fine sometimes. Till it warms up.

Would anyone have any ideas where I should start looking/replacing parts ?

Thank you in advance.
I'll get some pics today of the engine and parts I described.

 

Sounds like a coil...if you have a resistor block then it must have points too, and those are always apt to cause trouble...

 

Only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is check the valve clearance. Had about the same size Kawasaki motor on a zero turn with the same symptoms except it did not cut off unless it was under extreme load. Anyway turned out the valves needed to be adjusted. May not even be adjustable on that motor though I don’t know. Good luck keep on it and you will get it.

 

What Kohler? If it's a kt17 series 2 opposed twin i might have what you need.

 

It is a .
Model # KT17S.
SPEC # 24327

 

It doesn't have a series # on the tag .
But it does say Series 2 on the cowling .

 

Yep, series 2. You can still buy parts online of you want new https://www.ereplacementparts.com/kohler-kt17-ii24302-engine-parts-c-106503_106533_110581.html

 

WOW, Thank you !
The points are available. But not the condenser or the coil.
Hopefully a guy that I met yesterday at church can figure out which part it is that isn't working. He's a mechanic !
In the mean time I'm going to call Mighty Mite and see if they have a reccomended replacement engine.

 

And look around to see if anyone has a coil for it. Some of the things on there are Very expensive !

 

I do have a coil, condenser and all the ignition related stuff. They worked on my kt17 s2 until a rod broke, and even then it was still running on 1 cylinder. I went to a magnum 18 which is essentially a more modernized kt17 with improved heads, and electronic ignition. They will literally bolt right in place of a kt17. Magnum 18-20. Just need to pay attention to horizontal or vertical mounting and the output shaft size.

What sort of timeline you working with? I'm about 2000 miles from home

 

Found another place that may have the right coil https://www.jackssmallengines.com/jacks-parts-lookup/part/universal/460048

 

Horkn; I did not see your post this morning before I posted the other parts site I found. . In a rush to get to work before I was late at the time clock.
It will be at least Monday. Next week before I can do anything other than take parts off.

 

But , ya that sounds great. I'll on u this evening.

 

That should have read, “I'll PM you this evening.”

 

What was the engine on ?

 

Ariens GT17 garden tractor repower

 

Yep. But the coil and any ignition parts won't be any different if it's a horizontal or vertical engine. You can swap an engine from one orientation to another with a few changes. Mostly the carb orientation and the oil pickup.

 

What about having spray lubrication for the rods is a concern?

The series 2 had full pressure lubrication for the rods, a big and great, if not a necessity which Kohler should've had from the get go. Our 84 gt17 garden tractor had a series 1 and didn't last a season when new. A factory installed series 2 fixed it and it lasted for 30 or so years.

A repower will cost a lot of $$. Unless you can find a used good engine.

 

Or find a cheap donor mower like some do...