Engine was hot when I turned it off, now won't start

Backfires are caused by unburned fuel, after you shut off the mower, and you try to restart it, if you have any leaks, it will push any unburnt fuel towards the muffler, and that will ignite once it gets in a hot muffler. First try starting it at 1/4 to 1/2 throttle. I also suggest you try shutting down the motor at 1/4 to 1/2 throttle.

What this problem usually means is you need to rebuild your carburetor, with this poor quality ethanol fuel they force us to use these days, it will eat up your gaskets and rubber seals inside your carb.

What I found that helped me with my mower, was using non-ethanol gas. Its hard to find and is usually expensive, but that solved most of the problems I was having with my 10 year old craftsman mower, which has the 17.5 kohler motor.

suggest to look at the carb adjustement unscrew

check spark plug sounds it s heating up to much make sure of oil level and if it has been sitting a while dump the gas in it and fill it with new and buy some sea foam and add a little to the gas

readjust the intake and exhaust valves every 300 running hours to elimanate this problem

Take a look at this tip I wrote on the no start problem. It should help you.

my 15 hp kohler engine backfired while i was using it, now it wont crank and backfires thru carb

I have a duetz-allis mower with 18hp. kohler eng. won't start, have new seloniod, new circuit breaker, getting fire to switch & out. Still won'tstart

Sounds like the float in the carb is leaking by the set.

This model is known for shearing the flywheel key.

1989 Kohler 20 backfires through the exhaust. What are the possible causes?