I have an older (1988) Toro GTS5 mower model #20622. i think it is a briggs engine but not sure. It will not run steady even at idle. It surges all the time, I thought it should idle without surging? It does smooth out some under load. When i over ride the governor it runs fine, so can I rule out a carb problem? IF so, how do you adjust the governor? Also, this mower has never seemed to have many rpms, doesn't throw the grass like it should. Thanks for any help.

 

Found a video on youtube, will try that tomorrow. Thanks

 

Often surging indicates a carburetor problem. For example if the slow/idle jet is clogged at idle the engine starts to die, the governor senses that the engine is going too slow and opens the throttle, then the engine rev's and the governor senses that it's running to fast for idle and backs off the throttle and the whole process keeps repeating itself.

 

Thanks Pilot Dane, I went out today with some jet spray gumout, removed the mixture screw and shot through the hole. Put the screw back in and it runs fine now!! I should have known that as I went through the same thing with a snow blower a few years ago. The thing that threw me was that it ran ok when I bypassed the governor? Anyway, thanks again. TH