Toro Recycler w/ Briggs and Stratton problems

[FtWorth]

Having recent trouble with my Toro. I loaned it to a friend and now that it's back, I can only get it to start one time after it's been sitting in shade for a good long while. He claims that he didn't do anything to it, and I don't see any differences than when I loaned it out. I pulled it apart yesterday, cleaned the carb, swapped the spark plug and tried to check the choke mechanism. I didn't see anything wrong, but I don't know much about these auto-choke engines. If it does start once, the next time I try to start it, it'll sound very sluggish and bog out. Anybody got any thoughts? I'm terrible at diagnosing these things. Thanks in advance!

 

[chance123]

It sounds like the choke is not opening, causing it to start, but then chokes out. Try starting it and when it starts, hold the choke open with a small screwdriver, and see if it builds up to normal operating speed.

 

[FtWorth]

It sounds like the choke is not opening, causing it to start, but then chokes out. Try starting it and when it starts, hold the choke open with a small screwdriver, and see if it builds up to normal operating speed.

Thanks for the response, Chance. I actually just pulled the spring off of the choke, so that it would easily be pushed to the open position by the flywheel. It seems to start well while doing this. After running for a few minutes though, I'm unable to start it back up. Even with the spring on, the choke stays open (I'm assuming there's some thermal control so not to choke a hot engine). Any idea why I wouldn't be able to start right back up after running?