Ditch Witch 1820

[deadman1474]

I am not very good with electrical but I have a ditch witch 1820 with the kohler engine. Now as soon as I turn the key to the run position the gauges go up and then every thing dies and the fuse blows. As far as I can see the problem seems to be in the engine portion of it but I cant tell for sure. My question is there any common problems with the kohler engines or the ditch witch 8120. I thought it could be the CDI (Beleave that is what it is called) so I stripped one off of a spare kohler engine tha tI had laying around so I tried to use that and I had no effect. Thanks

[duaneb55]

I'm not familiar with your Ditch Witch but something tells me it's not a problem with the Kohler portion but probably a short in the gauge/instrumentation power feed circuit.

Edit: On-line manual http://www.ditchwitch.com/pdf/manual...820_Manual.pdf doesn't include wiring diagrams.

[deadman1474]

Originally Posted by duaneb55

I'm not familiar with your Ditch Witch but something tells me it's not a problem with the Kohler portion but probably a short in the gauge/instrumentation power feed circuit.

Edit: On-line manual http://www.ditchwitch.com/pdf/manual...820_Manual.pdf doesn't include wiring diagrams.

I had pretty much eliminated the engine as the problem because there is not melted wires or contacts in the wires any ways. I didnt see any shorts in the wire in the gauge area but that was as far as I got.

[PK.]

What's the model and spec number of the engine? Will the starter spin and when you release the key to the run position it dies or is the fuse blowing when you turn the key to run? Will the engine run?

I suspect you have a wire gone to ground and the easiest way to find it is using an ohmmeter between ground and the key switch. If you can tell me how many wires are going into the key switch and the corresponding letters on the switch I can help you find it. There should be one lead coming in from the battery, it may have more than one wire connected to it, don't ohm that. There will also be another wire that is the kill wire for the ignition. On a lot of Kohlers with CDI's it's white. You don't want to ohm that until you disconnect it as you can damage the ignition. It won't blow a fuse anyway.

There's no particular problems with Kohler engines or Ditchwitch machines other than this is a very harsh enviroment for electrics. I don't know that I've had an 1820 come into the shop so if you can tell me what gauges you have that might help. A lot of times it's the key switch or the plug itself that has gone bad or is corroded so start by cleaning those.