Mower is a couple years old, pretty low hours. It has the toro 24.5 v-twin engine. It has always started well with throttle at idle, choke, and started right away. Now it won't start cold, but does restart fine once warm. That first cold start it tries to fire and idle but just won't quite take off. I start it (cold only) with starting fluid and it starts right away and runs great. So,....I was thinking fuel problem. The in-line filter looks fine so I thought fuel pump. Before changing it, I did the following.
New battery (needed it, only had one chance to get it going).
New plugs (didn't need them but why not)
New air filter
Check fuel lines for cracks/holes
Check plug wires for arcing
Check that the choke was closing completely
Removed in-line fuel filter and hooked hose direct to pump (just to check, I was sure the filter was fine, and it was).
No change after these items, yep, still thinking fuel pump. Replaced the fuel pump, no change. Still starts immediately with starting fluid and runs great, will restart just fine once warm.
Dirty carb? Valves out of adjustment? I am lost. Any help is appreciated!
Well I did a check of the valves and they are in spec. They are .006 and .008 on each side. I did notice that if I give it full throttle and crank, then go down to idle and crank, it will try to idle for a few seconds but won't quite do it. Still runs fine/idles fine when started with ether, and will start and idle perfectly once warm. Choke is working right, closing all the way. Not sure where to go from here other than pulling the carb and cleaning it.
In 2008 I had a John Deere LA 135 with those exact symptoms. Fine tuned the choke adjustment several times without success. It was so aggravating to remove the air filter to prime with gasoline I finally constructed a primer port using a tire valve stem so about a half of a eye dropper of gasoline could easily be placed in the carb throat. Rather than a drink cup in the cup holder the cold start inventory was stored there. Cold start problem solved. A couple years later it wouldn't start at all and that problem was solved by replacing the carburetor's plastic needle valve with a brass valve.
There is discussion on this forum about the 2 different types of primers. I have no idea which would be required and that's why I did the old fashion priming system that takes absolutely no thinking :laughing: and I know exactly how much gasoline I put in the air intake.
Good luck with your decision to out wit the EPA, Government regulations, the corporate world and china, whichever you choose.
