3204 Running Wide Open

[cyblood]

Was mowing the grass last week in an open area of field when suddenly the engine started running like it was wide open at extremely high rpms. I shut it off and have spent the last week off and on researching possible causes.

It is a Kohler Command 20 engine. All springs, levers and cables are intact in the governor/choke/throttle assembly and are free moving. Nothing is disconnected or missing.

It revs extremely high even when the throttle cable is set to low. The governor seems like it's it in a wide open throttle position even when the engine is idle.

I have verified that the governor cross shaft and arm are in the right position per the CH20 service manual. As a test, I manipulated the governor arm to induce normal engine speeds by moving it's position on the cross shaft and tightening it down. But when running the engine under any kind of load it just bogs down.

Any suggestions out there as to what may be happening?

 

[cyblood]

Well, it definitely turned out to be the governor mechanism inside the engine. You can buy the repair kit for $31 but I decided to just let the local dealer fix it along which some much needed periodoc maintenance on the deck and engine. Anyway, it's back up and running much better than it had been in quite awhile.