# Governer stuck open on cold start



## grabber (Nov 28, 2015)

Hi there, 
My HSS1332 is acting strangly lately. Upon cold start, the governer seems to be stuck wide open, and the engine is revving WOT.
The only way i can have the engine to run lower on RPM is to keep the choke closed full (butterfly closed), making a rich mixture. 
Was working fine last night before i parked it. I know it has to be related to the snow melting and freezing the governer mechanism wide open.

My question is what can i do to prevent this to happend again ? What can i do, before starting the engine ? Did look under the carb and around to try to find something i could possibly move or pull with my hand to brake loose... but all is so well hidden under that black plastic cover.. looks like i cannot do anything to prevent this to happend again.

Temp is very cold... -18 Celcius without wind factor.

Thanks for you help


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

You can either heat your whole garage up to above 0 C, or keep a hair dryer close buy and warm up the linkage BEFORE starting it up. Possibly some WD40 or Fluid Film sprayed over the linkages while they are dry might help also.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

To protect the engine, leave the throttle all the way down after using it. That should keep the throttle plate closed, in the idle speed position. Then raise it just before starting. 

Still not ideal, but being stuck at idle is better (well, safer) than blowing the expensive engine due to over-revving.


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## grabber (Nov 28, 2015)

In fact, my throttle is alwyou ays at slow position when i shut the engine down (and when i start).
When i shut the engine with the key, i think that the governer is moving and opening the throttle pate as a results. Then it stays there until your restart the engine... now with the melting snow that hide under the tank and everywhere on the engine, when it freeze, it freeze the governer at WOT position... 

Will check tomorrow if i can have access to the governer with my hand to close it before i start in the morning to avoid a cold WOT start.

Thanks for your help


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## jeffNB (Nov 5, 2015)

grabber said:


> When i shut the engine with the key, i think that the governer is moving and opening the throttle pate as a results. Then it stays there until your restart the engine...


That is correct. It is the nature of a mechanical governor. The throttle plates are spring-loaded to wide open throttle and the governor closes the throttle plate when the RPM reaches its set point. Mechanically-governed diesel engines are the same. They start at 'full fuel' and hopefully the governor keeps them from running away after they start. 

I had an old HS828 and the throttle plate would occasionally freeze wide open on a cold start. My solution was to get it quickly under load so that the engine heat would quickly melt whatever ice was holding it up. 

It would happen if the blower was put away with snow covering the engine. I suspect the heat of from the engine would melt the snow and get into the governor linkage. Next use, it would have the same problem you are speaking about. 

To mitigate the problem, I use a corn broom to clean the snow from the engine and the crevices around the carburetor after each use.

Jeff


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## jeffNB (Nov 5, 2015)

Hard days like this would usually result in a frozen governor on the next use. Note the snow piled on the engine. The picture was taken in February 2015. We haven't had snow like that since then.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

My apologies if I was off-base. I thought I've seen my engines (not Hondas) close their throttle plates with the throttle fully down, and the engine off. 

But maybe not. And with the carb shrouds, I may not be able to easily re-check mine, just for my own understanding  

I typically try to leave my throttle down between uses anyhow, because it puts less stretch on the governor spring. I had to replace that spring on one of my engines as it had stretched/weakened, and was making the governor's performance worse. 

If the shrouds allow, before starting, you could try reaching under to see if you can move the throttle linkage before starting. Or maybe some sort of additional shrouding could help avoid this in the future?


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

i know you probably checked this but could the throttle arm be getting held up on something? i had this problem once with an old Honda and the fuel line had popped out the holder at the carb end and held up the throttle arm .

just a thought.


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