# Tiller runs wide open only



## cjones (Mar 10, 2014)

Troy Bilt Bronco Tiller (Lowe's version).  208cc 'Troy Bilt' engine (not sure who actually makes the motor for TB).

When I got the tiller a little over a year go, I would go full choke, pull once.  Half choke, pull and start right.  Go choke off and it would run like a champ.

The last time I used it last fall, it was a bear to start.  I had to fiddle with the choke and it would run wide open for two seconds and then immediately die.  I got it to run enough to get it back to the shed and left it over the winter.

Got it out yesterday and at first it started right up with the old method (3-4 pulls at most).  Then about 15 minutes later, as I was working a part of the garden, it just died on the spot.  I could fiddle with the choke and get it to start, but it would run two seconds and die.  I took the breather off and checked the linkages to the carb, etc. and everything seems fine around the controls themselves.  I wiggled all of the controls on the carb itself just to make sure something wasn't gummed up.  Then I started it up and it runs wide open.  It seems like the throttle control doesn't do anything at all now - it's "off" or "wide open" or "SUPER wide open" (as in, "Is this thing going to throw the piston at me?" super wide open).

I'm at a loss at this point.  I don't mind doing a carb rebuild on it if that's what it needs, but I just wanted to check and see if there was something 'external' that I should check first to help pinpoint the problem.

Any ideas on where to look?

BTW - Those little Bronco tines were beating the snot out of that red clay running SUPER wide open.  Too bad it only has a short life running like that. ha.


----------



## lonewolf247 (Mar 10, 2014)

I'm not familiar with that particular unit, but it sounds like maybe you did something to do with the way it governs itself? Take a close look and make sure a spring didn't come loose or something?

Sounds like the original problem, was maybe the carburetor stopping up ?

Don't try and run it that way...


----------



## cjones (Mar 10, 2014)

lonewolf247 said:


> I'm not familiar with that particular unit, but it sounds like maybe you did something to do with the way it governs itself? Take a close look and make sure a spring didn't come loose or something?
> 
> Sounds like the original problem, was maybe the carburetor stopping up ?
> 
> Don't try and run it that way...



Yeah.. I think I'll go to Lowes and take a closer look at how a 'new' unit looks and then compare it to mine to see if a spring is stretched, etc.

Not planning on running it until I can get this straightened out - ran it long enough yesterday to get to the end of the row and then walk it up to the shed.


----------



## rjcruiser (Mar 10, 2014)

Sounds like the throttle spring is messed up....or the idle adjustment screw is all the way out.

Even with those potentials...sounds like you've got junk in the carb and taking apart, soaking overnight in carb dip, cleaning and reassembly would do a world of good for your small motor.


----------



## GoldDot40 (Mar 10, 2014)

Before I put a wrench on it, I'd pour a entire can of Seafoam in the (full) tank and run it until it's empty. You 'might' be surprised in the end. If that don't fix it, then the carb needs to come off and rebuilt.


----------



## outside13 (Mar 10, 2014)

I would check to make sure carb is tight, and check area where carb mounts to engine block, sounds  that it's sucking air, causing it to run to lean. Also check throttle shaft on carb, could be gummed up and stuck open.


----------



## rhbama3 (Mar 10, 2014)

I would completely drain any old gas in the tank,  disconnect and blow blow out gas lines, then put in fresh gas, and spray some starter fluid in your carb. Ethanol is da debil if you let it sit for more than a couple of months.


----------



## cjones (Mar 10, 2014)

I did some tinkering this evening. I took the gas tank and carb off and checked the linkages. It looks like everything is connected. I found one spot where I thought the throttle was binding against a wire and preventing it from returning to idle. I fixed that, but it still isn't coming off of full throttle. It's like the governor isn't pulling back against the throttle spring. I can reach under the gas tank and control the governor but it doesn't seem to have any tension on it pulling toward the idle side if the power curve.

The governor shaft goes into the block. Any idea on what would prevent the governor from doing its job?


----------



## Napi (Mar 10, 2014)

I had a 318 John Deere with the 2 cyl Onan. It started running wide open like you are talking about. After trying adjustments on the outside, nothing changed. I pulled the engine and tore it down. A plastic 89 cent washer had broke on the governor shaft  inside. Put it all back together and ran fine. You could have a similar problem.


----------



## chadf (Mar 10, 2014)

Wide open seems like a governer problem to me also....

Manually grab the external governer which should also connect to throttle and have a spring or should..... Slow motor down or un bend what you might have bent?
Very small movement makes a big difference. FYI, don't blow it up.

Also, clean your carb while it's off.


----------



## cjones (Mar 19, 2014)

chadf said:


> Wide open seems like a governer problem to me also....
> 
> Manually grab the external governer which should also connect to throttle and have a spring or should..... Slow motor down or un bend what you might have bent?
> Very small movement makes a big difference. FYI, don't blow it up.
> ...



Yeah, I could manually control the arm from the governor and it would slow down/speed up as it should, so that pretty much limits it to something internal.

I opened up the case over the weekend and didn't see anything noticeably broken, but I don't really have anything to compare it to.  A new governor assembly is only about $7, so I think I will replace it while I have it apart just to make sure I didn't miss something.


----------



## chadf (Mar 21, 2014)

cjones said:


> Yeah, I could manually control the arm from the governor and it would slow down/speed up as it should, so that pretty much limits it to something internal.
> 
> I opened up the case over the weekend and didn't see anything noticeably broken, but I don't really have anything to compare it to.  A new governor assembly is only about $7, so I think I will replace it while I have it apart just to make sure I didn't miss something.




Just adjust the governer...... I dont think you needed to pull it apart.....


----------



## cjones (Apr 7, 2014)

Well, my wife and I welcomed our second son to the world Friday before last, so I was at home all week last week to run interference on our 2 y/o son so mom and baby could get settled in.

I finally got tired of looking at that motor in pieces on the work bench and decided to put it back together and start back at square one.

I got everything back together and as I was putting the connector arm back on the governor shaft, I noticed that there wasn't any gap between the ears that clamp down onto the shaft coming out of the motor.  It appears that the previous owner had done some 'tweaking' of their own.  Now it appears that maybe the governor shaft coming out of the motor may have slipped inside the governor arm which was why it was running wide open.  I took my Dremel and took a cutting blade width off of the ears and now I can really clamp the governor arm down onto the shaft good and tight.

So I put the motor back on the tiller and got everything hooked back up and she fired right up.  It was still running wide open, so I readjusted the control arm and it ran a little 'low'.  It's also not running real smooth - I have to run it half-choked which means it's probably sucking air from somewhere.  So I'm going to pull the carb and clean it up and make sure it gets a good seal when I mount it back.  Once it runs smoothly, THEN I will readjust the governor to get it running right again.

What a cluster...  But I sure have learned a lot from Googling and reading stuff and watching YouTube videos.


----------



## chadf (Apr 11, 2014)

I figured it was external !
Glad you got her going !

Ask if you have more ?


----------



## Napi (Apr 12, 2014)

Congrats on the new son!


----------



## cjones (Apr 14, 2014)

chadf said:


> I figured it was external !
> Glad you got her going !
> 
> Ask if you have more ?



Thanks for the help along the way!  Finally got things up and going yesterday.

I ended up taking the carb off and cleaning it up as good as I could, then when I put it back together, I used a very fine amount of RTV between each section of the carb to make sure there wasn't any air getting in.  As hard as it was to track down the governor assembly, I didn't want to deal with trying to find a gasket kit for that carb.

After I had the carb back together, I fired it up and it ran without the choke on at all, but it still wasn't running 'smooth' like I thought it should.  It had also started kicking back on start-up since I had it apart so I figured I had screwed up the timing when I had the case apart before.  SO, I popped the case apart (again) and sure enough, the timing marks were almost 180* off, which tells me that I wasn't the first one that had that thing apart.  It could have jumped a few cogs while I had it apart, but no way did it turn 180* on me.  I figure the previous owner had done some 'tweaking' of their own.

So I re-adjusted the timing and put everything back together (again).  When I fired it up this time, I knew that someone had messed with it before because it has never run this good since I have had it.

The only issue now is that it kind of lunges a bit at high rpm, which I think means that I don't have the tension right on the governor/throttle spring.  BUT, now I have a clue about what the heck I'm doing, so I feel pretty confident that I can get it straightened out.  Even with the slight lunging (more of an annoyance than a performance issue), I tore up the garden spot for the first time and that thing just purrs right along.

Thanks for all the help here.


----------



## cjones (Apr 14, 2014)

Napi said:


> Congrats on the new son!



Thanks!


----------

