starter works intermittently on walk behind

[Mkala]

Working on small engines is not your cup of tea... if it is just for seelling something not that good repaired, sold it as is and take money to have a beer, it can refresh mind

Guaranteed to start is for a maintained engine, not for something sleeping in rain with no love (or at least basic maintenance) to give it.

By the way, a throttle is almost useless on a (small) push mower, to idle at 1800RPM and mow at 2800 this is a a more complicated carb control, a cable, a lever for almost nothing but cost.
And as said above unless you have a blade clutch (that cost and wear out too) law need the engine to stop within 3 seconds when releasing handle - basic safety.

Anyway hope you have success with you repair.

 

[bkvanbek]

Lawn King, you know what they say about assumptions....Don't mistake my defense of this mower being a POS, for being ungrateful for the help and I have no reason to question your experience. If it would help you I can get you more info, but I don't see how it would help me. Let me know?

I have not bothered looking for whatever numbers, as I fixed what needs fixing and the choke will have to wait, for warmer weather, apparently, so I will wait or not bother. Although I am interested to see if I can improve the choke, as some have done. The fact that we don't know who makes the engine from the TXP 159 ohv, is not an indicator of good quality. I have an understanding of how the auto choke system should work, but clearly it doesn't. Just because something is require, regulated or everyone else does it, doesn't mean it is good. I stand behind my opinion, this is a POS.

If it helps you, this mower was my mother's she bought it new from a hardware store 150 miles from where she lives, because my cousin worked there. When the electric start didn't work from the beginning, she didn't want to contact them, she thought it would reflect poorly on my cousin. She pull started it for a couple years, but then it wouldn't start anymore. So I got her a small rider. I have had the POS in my garage for a couple years, she had always kept in her shed. It had gas varnish in the carb, not the fault of the mower.

I never said how much I would sell it for, or what I would say when selling it. I think it is a pos, but someone else, people maybe like you, like that kind of thing. After all some people might like the government gas cans. Not sure why you think that reflects poorly on me, what should I do with it? I serviced it well as much as I can, until it gets warmer.

 

[bkvanbek]

Working on small engines is not your cup of tea... if it is just for seelling something not that good repaired, sold it as is and take money to have a beer, it can refresh mind

Guaranteed to start is for a maintained engine, not for something sleeping in rain with no love (or at least basic maintenance) to give it.

By the way, a throttle is almost useless on a (small) push mower, to idle at 1800RPM and mow at 2800 this is a a more complicated carb control, a cable, a lever for almost nothing but cost.
And as said above unless you have a blade clutch (that cost and wear out too) law need the engine to stop within 3 seconds when releasing handle - basic safety.

Anyway hope you have success with you repair.

Not sure why you think small engines "is not your cup of tea..." just because I think this is a pos, or because fixed it before I got responses from this forum. Or because I want to sell this pos for my mother and get it out of my garage. Please enlighten me?

I much prefer the ability to control the choke and the throttle, as well as having a blade clutch. I am free to have my opinion. I had a John Deere push mower with a Kawasaki for 30 years, great mower can't remember a single problem. I also avoid Briggs, Kohler, Tecumseh engines and now Toro. Because of bad experiences, too bad everything doesn't have a Honda. Can't I have that opinion on this site?

 

[Mkala]

Or at least this engine is not your cup of tea. Perhaps is better to just sell it without wasting you time on something you don't like.

Of course you can have opinions; your preferences, I don't say you can't. I just say if you want to control throttle, have a blade clutch, have choke control, you can but you have to choose for and pay for. Ok for this one I understood it was not yours and not really your choice...

If you are happy with Honda buy them Because if you don't like Briggs and all your list - you don't have a lot of choice anymore :wink:
But this is not technical and not interesting for me (endless discussion), so I stop there.

 

[Rivets]

If you would have taken two minutes looking at the deck, you would have seen a black and silver tag on the deck, which has the model and serial numbers. Willing to bet the model number is 20373. With those you could have gone to the Toro website for manuals and parts breakdown. It would also have told you the engine numbers. Like a car, you don’t have to take it to the selling dealer for warranty work. If properly registered any dealer can do the warranty repairs. If you really want a mower with all the options you are looking for, it will probably cost $700+. Just because you can’t fix it doesn’t mean that the unit is crap. Of the hundreds of these units I have sold or repaired, I have yet to have one that has beaten me. Toro has even backed me up when some units are out of warranty, but I am able to show them that the problem was not caused by the customer or normal wear and tear. They make good mowers and use good engines, if customers use good common sense when dealing with problems. As I always told my students, “You can’t help a customer who thinks they have a lemon, but wants you to make it into champagne. You can fix units, but not attitudes”. Read my signature.

 

[bkvanbek]

Like I said, I am done, it works okay, which is better than new. I just can't check the choke operation on the pos because it "isn't designed to run below 40 degrees" so I may have to wait until May.

 

[bkvanbek]

Rivets, Dude, you are not listening. Like I said, I fixed it, no point in looking up any numbers. I am done, it works okay, which is better than new. I just can't check the choke operation on the pos because it "isn't designed to run below 40 degrees" so I may have to wait until May.

This pos is not my mower, I have 5+ acres to mow, and use a simpler 60" zero turn Gravely.

 

[Rivets]

If you really know how the AutoChoke works, you would know that it will work at all temps. The carb jets are designed to work best at temps over 40 degrees. The AutoChoke will stay closed until then the engine starts, then a spring attached either to the governor or throttle linkage will partially open the choke. The choke has a second linkage attached to a thermostatic pot mounted on the muffler. As the engine heats up the pot will cause the linkage to slowly open the choke, until it is fully open and hold it there. Even if the engine is shut down, the choke will not close until the engine cools down. Not really hard to check, even in cold weather. First check to see if it is fully closed. Start engine and check to see if choke is partially open. Watch the choke as the engine warms up and you should be seeing it move to a fully open position. It may take a while in cold conditions. Bkvanbek, this is not for you, as you are done, you fixed it, it works OK, so don’t try this. This is for anyone who reads this thread and wants to learn about AutoChoke systems. I hope you are man enough to tell the person you sell this unit to, that you fixed it and it works OK, but may need to be looked at by a good repair shop.

 

[bkvanbek]

That auto choke, jet combination is a poor design. In the cold weather it runs good until the engine warms and the choke opens. If I manually close the choke it runs good again. But I can't tell if it will run good when the air temp is warmer. Can you? But even if it does, it is a poor design to not run in cool weather. I believe a mower with manual chokes would, my Gravely does, my John Deere did.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Every thing that adds a complication also adds another potential problem.
Outdoor equipment makers are being held hostage by the pollution Nazis
None of them want to fit auto chokes they are a lot more expensive that a few feet of bowden cable and a thumb lever or over reach lever on the throttle control.

Auto chokes give me a lot of grief regardless of what brand or what piece of equipment.

If you remember your physics, liquids get more dense as the temperature drops.
And metals contract as they get colder
Below 40 deg, the contraction in the main jet in the carb can not account for the increase density of the fuel .
This has the same effect as fitting a bigger main jet and allows the engine to run richer, closer to what it should run.
However running at a proper fuel:air ratio puts the exhaust outside the allowable emission limit so you the customer get told not to run the engine below 40 deg.

The engine will happily run down to around -40 by which time fuel will not flow under gravity at -60 the fuel will freeze in a metal float bowl.

But as your mind appears to be closed you will never be happy with the unit so sell it as soon as possible to some one who will appreciate the equipment.