I have a Honda gx200, that will not idle down all the way to a calm speed. If I manually push the surge lever it will idle down. I have replaced the thin spring on the throttle lever, I found a bad o-ring on the main jet that was torn so I thought I had the problem solved and bought the gasket kit and replaced all of them.

This is on a Permagreen lawn spreader and being the idle is stuck slightly higher, the spray pump and the rotary spreader are engaging at this higher idle speed. It also needs to shift at this "non PTO engaging RPM". Did I possibly miss an orifice in the cleaning process? I used an air jet instead of carb cleaner... So far all I have done and it hasn't changed a thing.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

 

There is a metal lever above the carburetor under the air filter area that moves back and forth to control engine speed. If your unit has an operator controlled throttle, this will move back and forth as you change the speed setting. Is it returning all the way to the idle position? If not, it may be a cable adjustment or bad cable.

 

Thanks I will look into this cheese! Right now I wrapped the tiny spring to pull the opposite way on the surge lever to keep the idle down. Totally rigged but it's the only way to get the idle down.

 

It's helpful to know that the governor does nothing when the engine is not running and is often at the opposite end of it's travel when the engine is off versus when the engine is running (people often try to hook it up sorta backwards). Once the engine starts it quickly moves to close the throttle. The throttle control via a spring tries to pull the throttle open. The faster the engine turns the harder the governor pulls to close the throttle and it's the balance between the governor and throttle spring that keeps the engine at a stable rpm.