My Kohler SV 740 begain running intermittently on the lleft cylinder first, then finally failed. A few days later while troubleshooting, running on one cylinder, the right cylinder failed. Checking for ignition, i had no spark at all on either cylinder. Thought it might be coils, although unlikely that both would fail together. Purchased replacement coils (CDI) installed, gapped at .010, still no spark. Tried 3 other gap settings, no spark. Checked kill wire, other links, etc. All OK. Is it possible that the flywheel magnet is at fault ? Rare I guess, but is it possible ? Any thoughts ?

Since you state you have the same issue, everything is identical except for the serial number of your Craftsman tractor. Here are my comments on your issues: Forget about watching the fuel filter and thinking that it is somehow starving for fuel (the filter itself), it is not. No matter what you think you see, it is not indicative of a problem. The "empty filter" subject has been debated ad nauseum and no matter what you say or do, the filter is not going to abide by the notion that it should be full of fuel. Going for a larger diameter fuel hose will not help you out either. The hose nipple at the tank, the filter, and the carb inlet will still be the same size, so you will not realize any increase in flow or availability of fuel. If your Craftsman with the 17 HP Kohler is a gravity fed fuel system, you may be able to improve the OEM configuration by adding a fuel pump. In lieu of adding a fuel pump, you may try routing the fuel hoses away from any direct heat sources and/or insulating the hoses. If the filter you installed is a much larger automotive type of filter than the OEM Kohler filter, you should be OK in that respect. But if the clear filter you chose is a small one, near in size to the OEM Kohler filter............that could be the whole problem. Kohler engines are very finicky about wanting a Kohler brand filter (and it has to be the CORRECT Kohler filter even then). But if the clear filter you have on there now is much bigger than the OEM filter, it is not your trouble.

Old thread, let us fast forward to update it: Briggs now intentionally makes plastic carb throwaway small engines called Briggs EXi or "Just check and add oil" engines... No small Briggs for push/self propelled mowers have an iron sleeve now, not even Pro model engines have it anymore.. According to Briggs site there is none being built today, what iron sleeved engines left on the shelves is all there is left!! Pro 850 was the last to have it. All Kohler engines are made China. Briggs Vanguards are made in China. Kohler's head gaskets still fail (fixing my sons 3 yr old cub now) & also suffer oil seal leaks from poor machining today, all are made from cheap grade materials in China and won't last long anymore! Very soft aluminum & plastic abounds them. Regardless where anything is built it's made by people who never even knew nor do they care about our American pride or our history of quality or about the products longevity! Anyone 30yrs old and under today simply grew up replacing products not repairing them unless they were dirt poor like I was and always tried repairing first but hey it was the 60's and everything had nuts/bolts/screws then and was steel. So why would today's engines have so many problems only after a few yrs running when they once ran for many decades without majors? Well' it's called "Planned Obsolescence" and its a fact most corps have now adopted this. Google it to really understand it well if you never heard of it, you'll be so thrilled. So everytime I read about engines online I'm really glad I'm a pack rat and keep everything. Well' I keep stuff until problems show up so I still have my 76 B-100 8 speed Wheel Horse tractor with the cast iron Kohler K series engine. It's engine/trans has never been apart once and not reached its first ring job yet & if it ever does I'll never worry about it again in another 30+ yrs or in my lifetime at least. It still burns no oil and cuts just as good as anything today without any of the mechanical problems. Why people keep buying these junk newer mowers again & again instead of buying the old brutes for a fraction of the cost that have outlasted them all by several decades idk? Restoring these if needed, is a lot cheaper than new mowers now days and it's an all new cast iron brute again ready for decades of service! I see some very nice cast iron garden tractors on craigslist all the time. Real garden tractors because GT used to actually stand for Garden Tractor but now it's just a sticker slapped on them and they can't even run anything, example: My Wheel Horse runs 23 different implements including Generator, side sickle, snowblower, tiller etc... Visiting websites about old Wheel Horses, old JD's & old Cubs (non MTD) tractors etc..and everyone is bragging & very proud of their mowers longevity and still use them regularly, sold or scrapped their newer ones they bought just after a few yrs usage. Been there done that with a Husqvarna myself! Visit any site like this one about newer mowers and what you'll always find is its junk, its in the shop, motors bad after 3 yrs, hydro rear ends out second time around. I'll sue them all! Lemon Laws anyone??..ect.....lol Even the expensive Zero turns have very costly engine/hydro repairs I read about them and have friends who own them too. In fact I'm good friends with people who care for football fields and cemeteries here so I hear first hand but they are very fast cutters while they are problem free, rarely make a complete season without a shop visit though. Expensive upkeep no doubt. Sorry but its just ignorant to me to pizz away money for landfill delight. Simply amazing and very sad for the old crying indian too. Now that really shows my age huh? *Peace

I think I have found the problem with my mower clutch not engaging properly. The original PTO switch was indeed bad, but with the new switch, the clutch would engage properly sometime and would sometime disengage for no reason. After having replaced the battery (needed to be replaced anyway), the PTO switch, the ignition switch and the electric clutch, I discovered that the positive wire post in the formed electrical contact plug that connects to the PTO switch was not making good contact with the blade of the switch. I reshaped the contacts with a narrow blade screwdriver and the clutch works now. I have spent a lot of money on a small problem. The switch cost under $20.00 (I don't even want to think about what the rest of the parts cost). Thanks for the posts, they were a great help in eliminating possible sources of the problem.