Generator hard start

As a number of other posters have stated the problem is in the choke. When you close the throttle all the way it will pull the fuel through the idle circuit at cranking speed and start. You need to take a look at the choke butterfly and make sure it is closing all of the way so it seals off almost all of the air. Also some engines have holes in the butterfly so the engine will not completely flood out with full choke.I have seen cases where these holes need to be partially or completely plugged off so the engine would start under some conditions.....usually when the engine is used in applications with high parasitic loads that result in slow cranking speeds.

Really stumped now. Fresh gas, same problem.

I wonder if I can siphon the tank? I'll try that tomorrow. If not that's a lot of idling to burn 25 gallons!

I think I'd get all new gas.

It's half new gas, half unknown. It was the previous owners gas.

plumber2311 wrote:
I'm wondering if it could be a fuel quality issue? The rigs engine does fire right up.

How old is the gas?

The choke cycles as the engine turns over. It does seem a bit quick. The service manual states two seconds on and off, it seems a bit quicker than that. I've tried to hold the choke closed with no results, only holding the throttle closed gets it running.
As far as fuel, it seems to hold fuel for a couple days. As well, I do prime .
I'm wondering if it could be a fuel quality issue? The rigs engine does fire right up.

Make sure the choke really works. Does the fuel pump hold fuel in the line or does it drain back when sitting?

I would double-check that the choke is actually working properly. Also, if it starts easily if you shut it down and restart after it first gets going, it may simply be taking a bit for gas to get pumped from the tank to the engine.

I would not think it should be necessary to clean a brand new carburator.

should I need to clean out a brand new carburetor?