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17.5 hp B&S.

My new to me LT1000 starts immediately and settles into a perfectly smooth idle. It does this stone cold with the throttle set to idle, no choke.

The previous owner says its always started like that.

Seems kind of odd to me. My experience with small aircooled engines is that they need choke for cold start. This damn thing starts like it has fuel injection.

Is this normal?

In my reading on this forum, I have read at least one case where people have blown motors because they ran rich which diluted the oil until eventual engine failure.

My guess is this thing may be running rich which would explain why it starts perfectly without choke. I am not getting any discolored smoke.

FWIW: Look at the spark plug(s) & air filter.

& does the oil smell like gas ?

My Craftsman LT2000 acts the same way and has been for ~20 years.
Cross-hatching is still visible.

I guess you can take a screwdriver and readjust to make it start harder :laughing:
If it's working good cold/hot, choke no choke , I'd break someone's fingers if they tried to " tune it up"

pete c said:

17.5 hp B&S.

My new to me LT1000 starts immediately and settles into a perfectly smooth idle. It does this stone cold with the throttle set to idle, no choke.
The previous owner says its always started like that.
Seems kind of odd to me. My experience with small aircooled engines is that they need choke for cold start.

Click to expand...

After a few years with my own LT1000, I noticed that the choke was stuck in the "start" or "rich" position. I added a spring from the hardware store to fix it.

Most of the newer OHV single cylinder Briggs engines will do that. Rarely have I had to use the choke on one.

Kohlers and Kawasakis are a completely different story.

I've heard of dilution issues is vehicles but not mowers. Options to counteract possible dilution could be by using a heavier oil or changing the oil a little more often.

Oil dilution is a very real thing on mowers, especially if the air intake is higher than the cylinder head. If the needle valve malfunctions, gas will leak into the carburetor throat and the only place for it to go from there is into the engine.

Adding a fuel cutoff and making use of it will prevent this from happening should your needle valve fail.

I have a 24 hp Kawasaki that's the same way--will usually start with no choke.

pete c said:

17.5 hp B&S.
It does this stone cold with the throttle set to idle, no choke.

Click to expand...

With the throttle set to idle the carb butterfly is wide open at cranking rpm.

As mentioned keep an eye on oil level, gas smell and black exhaust, then consider yourself fortunate. I had a J D LA 135 twin cyl that would never, i mean never start cold without priming with a dribble of gasoline into the carb throat. Yep, choke adjusted to the best of my ability several times.

cpurvis said:

I have a 24 hp Kawasaki that's the same way--will usually start with no choke.

Click to expand...

My 21.5 hp Kawasaki is about the same.