[mdjlucan]

I went to my allotment yesterday. Tried to start up my machine. The last time I used it was last year when I tried to start it it would not start filled it with petrol and still would not start now. It seems to start when the choke is full on, it runs for quite a while but when I take the choke off it cuts out what could this be? It’s the machine I’ve got in the picture.

[jezza]

Hello if it's been stood all winter with E10 fuel in the tank it can be a problem with starting ,take the carb off and look at the float bowl if it has one ,there could be water in it or a little bit of rubber off the pipe blocking the jet ,I've found this to be a problem on all 2 stroke carburettor that's run on E 10 fuel ,after cleaning the carbs with an ultrasonic cleaner theres little microscopic pieces of rubber in the cleaned  ,if the machines going to be stood a while after use put an inhibitor in the petrol it slows the E 10 drawing moisture in to the petrol ,if you are mixing 2 stroke oil with petrol do not put inhibitor in the tank first then the 2 stroke oil the oilfield stays on the surface of the petrol, I mix oil and petrol first then add inhibitor ,straight petrol one cap to one can before the petrol     jezza

[mdjlucan]

It’s a four stroke also I took the bowl off looked and put it back. It seemed okay but the nut I screwed it back with seems to be a little seeping of petrol there I’m going to empty the tank of petrol and put fresh petrol in it do I need to add anything with it? As I say, it will run on choke but take the choke off it stops

[R Tallentire]

Difficult to tell with such a small picture but I would guess it will have a Honda GX 140 clone engine. If so, the bolt holding the float bowl on contains the main jet, bow this out with compressed air, plus the hole it screws into, also any other holes you can see in the float chamber. Hondas and clones tend to fir the jets up a bit, so reluctance to run properly after a lay up is not uncommon, it should improve with use, though by that time you may have nearly finished tilling the plot. Treat it to a new plug too, this can help.

[Subversive_plot]

When you get it going again, and are finished with it for a long while (several months), consider carefully whether it is more economical to run it until the fuel runs out (or drain and evaporate the fuel), rather than keeping the fuel in the machine and having fuel problems months later.  Food for thought.

[jezza]

It either Briggs and Stratton engine or MTD s own built Torx more likely to be a Briggs and Stratton usually 7 hp on that tiller    jezza