23 hp kohler

[Mr Dane]

when the motor sits and runs the battery is ok but when i turn the blades on the volts on the battery start going down until it kills the motor i have put 2 new clutches on to see if it was a faulty clutch but i dont think that is the problem please help:(

[jrainw]

3 wires come out from under the engine cover and go to you voltage regulator/rectifier. Use a voltmeter set on the AC scale and (Kohler) check across the two outside wires. You should see 20-40 volts AC, now set your meter for DC and put one lead on a good ground and the other on the center terminal of the voltage regulator and you should see 12-14 volts, the trick here is to check batt voltage before you start the engine and see if it comes up when the engine starts. If you didn't see any AC volts your stator is bad, if you had AC but didn't charge your reg is bad, if you have AC and charge comeing out of the center term. then it's not connected to the battery so you will have to check your wiring.

Good luck!
ps same procedure for kaw but charge is one of the outside terminals

[fixer67]

Check all the fuses.

[AirCooled]

jrainw is correct. The only thing I would add is to make sure the regulator/rectifier is grounded good. Its mounted to a plastic housing and needs a ground wire from the reg/rect to the silver screw on the shroud.
With engine "off" check battery voltage at center B+ connector on reg/rect. Start engine and check it again. The voltage should go from around 12vdc to about 14vdc.