# John Deere 316 with Kohler k341 won’t start



## Sswadling (Mar 21, 2021)

Hi
I have an old John Deere 316 with the kohler 16hp k341 engine. I have replaced fuel tank, fuel pipes fuel filter, carb, coil, starter, condenser, points, ignition switch, coil lead to spark plug air filter and fuel pump. But I cannot get it to start. Had problem with spark also but got that fixed now it turns over and has a spark at plug and has fuel to engine but won’t fire. Please help.....


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## bontai Joe (Sep 16, 2003)

Welcome to the forum, glad to have you here. I own the same tractor and it seems you have replaced everything I can think of that might cause a problem. So I'm gonna think a little outside the box here. Are your points set at the correct gap with the piston at top dead center? Is your fuel fresh and not contaminated with water? Have you checked your engine's compression? That is a little tough on a one cylinder motor, but with a strong battery, you should be able to crank the engine over fast enough to get a good reading. I mention this, because I used to have a push mower that had good fuel, air and spark, but after eliminating all possibilities, I discovered it did not have enough compression to run. Those are the 4 things needed, air, fuel, spark and compression.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

You have one on the really old 316's.... They built them from 1978-1983 with the K341. In 1984, they switched to Onan engines, so you're dealing with a 40 year old engine. I've come across this several times and a lot of the time the culprit was a valve problem. Pull the breather cover to get at the valve adjusters. Valve set is .009 intake, .018 exhaust, with the engine at TDC on compression. If you've got a huge valve gap, it's a pretty good indicator one of the valves is hanging up in the valve guide. The older K341's also had adjustable compression releases and those can be a problem. K341's also had replaceable valve seats that can come loose. If you do a leak down test , rather than a compression test, it will narrow down to which valve is the problem. Here's a link to a cheap link down tester at Harbor Freight.....
Cylinder Leak-Down Tester


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## Sswadling (Mar 21, 2021)

Sswadling said:


> Hi
> I have an old John Deere 316 with the kohler 16hp k341 engine. I have replaced fuel tank, fuel pipes fuel filter, carb, coil, starter, condenser, points, ignition switch, coil lead to spark plug air filter and fuel pump. But I cannot get it to start. Had problem with spark also but got that fixed now it turns over and has a spark at plug and has fuel to engine but won’t fire. Please help.....


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## Sswadling (Mar 21, 2021)

bontai Joe said:


> Welcome to the forum, glad to have you here. I own the same tractor and it seems you have replaced everything I can think of that might cause a problem. So I'm gonna think a little outside the box here. Are your points set at the correct gap with the piston at top dead center? Is your fuel fresh and not contaminated with water? Have you checked your engine's compression? That is a little tough on a one cylinder motor, but with a strong battery, you should be able to crank the engine over fast enough to get a good reading. I mention this, because I used to have a push mower that had good fuel, air and spark, but after eliminating all possibilities, I discovered it did not have enough compression to run. Those are the 4 things needed, air, fuel, spark and compression.


I will give that a try when I get back home in a couple of days and post how it went thanks


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