Should I be concerned? My new Honda backfired then wouldn't start

Hello all, this may be a total newbie thing but I have no clue. This is my first mower so cut me some slack.

I have a 4 week old HRR216VKA which I love to death. It's fired up on the first pull every single time and cuts my lawn like a champ.

Today I started to mow and after about 45 seconds of the engine running my son came running out of the house yelling something at me so I turn off the mower to listen, I was talking to him for maybe a minute and then went back and tried to start my Honda again. Immediately after pulling the cord there was a big backfire and the mower didn't start. I didn't quite know what to do so I pulled the cord again and the motor kinda started. It was really quiet and going really slow sorta doing a

puuuhh---------puuuhh----------puuuhh

So I stopped it again, let it sit for a little bit and tried to start it again. Same thing.. really slow and quiet

So now I'm thinking it's broken but I'll give it one more try. I pull the cord and it starts off really slow and then quite a bit of smoke starts to come out of the exhaust and the more smoke that comes out the better it's running until eventually it's back up to speed. So I go ahead and mow the entire lawn and afterwards I'm able to stop and start it again no problem.

So what's going on? Did it get flooded? Should I worry, not worry?

Thanks in advance

Jon

When you say smoke, do you mean black smoke..? which will be too much fuel (rich) this could be down to float, float valve and or choke, does it have automatic choke.? is the air filter clean.? take out the air filter to see if it runs a little better, if so clean or renew it but do not mow without one in. post up the engine make and numbers that are on the engine, but before you do anything to it remember its new so have a word with the dealer.

Ill bet it choke related.

http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/honda-forum/19505-hrx2174hya-gcv190-choke-issues.html

EngineMan said:

When you say smoke, do you mean black smoke..? which will be too much fuel (rich) this could be down to float, float valve and or choke, does it have automatic choke.? is the air filter clean.? take out the air filter to see if it runs a little better, if so clean or renew it but do not mow without one in. post up the engine make and numbers that are on the engine, but before you do anything to it remember its new so have a word with the dealer.

Click to expand...

Yes it was black smoke, not super thick but you could see it. Yes it has automatic Choke, the air filter looks brand new, I have maybe 2 hours on the mower in total. The label on the motor says GCV160LAO MY1 R280.

So it sounds like the choke was open, I didn't let it run long enough to warm up before shutting it off and it went rich?

Run it up a few times until its reaches the right temperature, if you are still unhappy with it phone the dealer has its new...!