I have a K341 in an Ariens (sorry!) That coughs and backfires sometimes thru the carb sometimes a fireball out of the exhaust, is a Royal pain to get started in cold weather but starts right up when it is warm out, even when the engine hasn't been started in a couple of weeks. I had to throw points and condenser in it outside last year when it was-10* F out, but I had only recently gotten this machine running after many years of sitting dormant, the previous fall.
I always thought that the popping and farting when trying to start it in the cold was because of how sloppy the exhaust valve is within the guide, something that I discovered when I had the head off for a look see. The Piston and bore are also sloppy as I can see about 1/2 of the thickness of the top ring on the valve side of the block. I know that the whole engine is tired but when running it runs strong and no smoke.
I had thought about replacing the valves back then while it was apart but decided not to as worn as everything else looked, was just interested to see if it would run at all out of curiosity at the time. Being as how I use this machine which last winter was with a back up plow blade and in the rest of the year just to move my trailers around and pull a leaf sweeper in the fall I thought I'd leave it alone for now.
As hard of a time as I have finding 16hp kohlers around here I want to pull it off for an overhaul to put on something else before it does grenade. I have a couple of 301s that I can put on that machine and it will still do what I need it to do.
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