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Just because the battery is new does not mean it is GOOD. I have seen an increasing number of bad batteries right off the shelf lately. It is best to take the battery in for a load test to be sure it is good when called upon. Once you have a known good battery, you can examine the connections. Corrosion at any point will prevent juice from flowing. Be sure to check the ground wire, too. Make sure they are clean and bright. If you still have a problem, then it is time to examine the starter. A starter rebuild shop can bench test it for you, or if you have a spare starter you can swap them to see what happens. Worn brushes and/or bad coils in the starter can cause weak starting. Lastly, if the starter is OK, you might have to examine the compression release operation. Remove the valve cover and rotate the engine by hand. You should see the intake valve open and close, then compression stroke comes up. As you rotate it up on compression, you should see the exhaust valve just nudge up a bit and then close. That is the compression release. If it does not nudge up, you need to remove the cam cover (near the points cover and carb), and you can view the cam. The cam has a fine V-shaped wire on it, one end of each side of the V must hook over the counterweights on the cam. The wires sometimes break or get disconnected (rarely). The only thing to do if they are broken is replace the cam. If the wires are in place and OK, but you do not see the exhaust valve nudge up, the tang that the valve rides on is likely worn. You can access this tang with a small screwdriver through the cam cover, and very gently bend it up slightly. This is a delicate operation (not recommended by Kohler), as the tang can bust off in there and require a new cam be installed, so go easy on it. You want it to nudge up that exhaust valve, is all. It is best by far to own a Kohler K-Series repair manual if you are unfamiliar with these engines, so you can see what I am talking about. They run about $10 at Kohler dealers, and are more than worth the money. Good luck.
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