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I have a Toro Recycler 22 that is about a 2013 vintage with a Briggs and Stratton engine. It is the model with the blade brake.

It requires about a 5 min warmup before I can engage the blade without killing the engine. I replaced the carb previously with no change. At $20 on Amazon, I can’t justify spending the time fiddling with an old carb. I’ll play with it and put it in the sonic cleaner when I have some time to kill.

After the 5 min warmup it runs like new. Restarts and takes a load with no issues.

I have about 3/4 acre of grass that it has cut for 10 years. Could the piston rings be worn and cause this symptom?

Have you ever adjusted valves on your B&S engine with engine cold?

maybe loose head or tight valves. Could be too lean also. Engines need more fuel when they are cold.

any strange orbs circling overhead? Live near a known UFO site.

Always strange phenomenon lurking about, however I’ve never adjusted the valves.

I have had the head off so I’ll check that.

JGK said:

It is the model with the blade brake.

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Narrows it down.

JGK said:

I replaced the carb previously with no change. At $20 on Amazon,

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More evidence to the crime. Boil clean the OEM carb.

JGK said:

Could the piston rings be worn and cause this symptom?

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Rings worn yes, cause this no, unless she is a smoker with low compression.

My guess is a dirty OEM carb and now a Chinese Amazon Special. Probably a filthy fuel tank and cracked lines.

Valve adjustment, I would.
Clean cooling fins, a must do done yearly.
New fuel lines, shutoff valve and filter if you have room.
Dump fuel tank. Blow with compressed air. Super clean the little guy.

Before doing of that, post all engine and unit numbers. That way we will know what you are talking about. Without them everything stated is just guessing.

Rivets said:

Before doing of that, post all engine and unit numbers. That way we will know what you are talking about. Without them everything stated is just guessing.

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Yeah, post the numbers before doing what it most likely needs anyway.

The mower is a Toro 20333
The engine is a B&S 190cc
128M02 0001-F1

Rhe carb is OEM 799866

The gas tank is clean. I always put Pri-G stabilizer and Lucas Upper Cylinder lube in ethanol free fuel.

What does it do during that 5 minute warmup? Blowing any smoke? Runs slow? Slowly comes up to speed? Any surging? Just suddenly jumps to full speed? Remember we aren’t standing next to you, with a strong drink you provided, to see what you are seeing. Can you paint us a better picture of what is going on.

Rivets said:

What does it do during that 5 minute warmup? Blowing any smoke? Runs slow? Slowly comes up to speed? Any surging? Just suddenly jumps to full speed? Remember we aren’t standing next to you, with a strong drink you provided, to see what you are seeing. Can you paint us a better picture of what is going on.

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It starts on the first pull, then there is a subtle sense of roughness. No noticable smoke. Probably not full idle RPM. If I engage the blade on the driveway, it may or not keep running but will sputter and struggle. It definitely won’t handle the load of mowing a normal height lawn until after the warmup period. Toward the end of the warmup it becomes obvious as the engine starts to sound smoother.

3/4 acre of grass that it has cut for 10 years.

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Push mower best guess is valves need adjustment and head needs new head gasket or at least retorque.

Before tearing into the carb, I would start the unit with the air cleaner off and see if the choke was fully opening. If it is this may sound stupid, but I would dump all the fuel and just run the unit on straight gas, no additives. I would also make sure I was using the correct spark plug for that engine. If you are running a cold plug it would contribute to the problem.

Your choke is not working proper. This engine has a thermostatic choke lever on the muffler.

Clean all the muck off the top of the block. Oil and dead grass... Remove carb and check for a cracked intake manifold cross over tube. I've had one that broke at the far end and dumped a couple hard pieces of plastic off this tube into the engine behind the valves. It was the air smoothing horn deal inside the far end intake tube. Plastic pieces got between the piston and bore. Now she's a 3 pack a day smoker.

Make sure the choke and the thermostatic lever (Briggs part 593208) are working. That black plastic lever that crosses over the block needs to swing freely.