# Pain in the butt to start



## kleint94 (Feb 1, 2020)

I just bought a simplicity sovereign with a Kohler 17 series 2, it appears to be a clean tractor but I’m having some issues. With a stone cold engine the tractor takes forever to start once it slowly comes to life it runs rough for a few second then runs fine. If I shut it off 30 seconds after it fires up and I restart it right directly it fires up instantly. I have no clue what my problem is does anyone having any tips?


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Welcome to the forum Kleint! Are you sure the choke is working properly? I'm unsure if your carb has an accelerator pump on it or not, but I have one small engine that really is hard starting, even with the choke on, and I find that pumping the throttle a number of times really makes a huge difference.


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## BigT (Sep 15, 2014)

Howdy Kleint, 
Try taking the air cleaner off the carburetor and squirting a small amount of starting fluid (or gasoline) down the carburetor. Normally, it'll start quickly by this method. If this works for you, I recommend replacing the carburetor. Look on ebay.... carburetors are not expensive ($20-$30). Just make sure you choose the correct carburetor for exact fit.


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## kleint94 (Feb 1, 2020)

I will have to give those tips a try. I have verified multiple times that my choke cable is operating the butterfly valve in the carb. I am start to wonder if the carb possible needs to be tuned? Another thing I’ve noticed is that I will get a back fire while I’m attempting to start it and once it gives me that back fire it fires up right after that.


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## Groo (Jan 17, 2020)

if a shot of gasoline starts it, maybe add a primer.

if it still is hard to start I would check compression.


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

kleint94 said:


> I have verified multiple times that my choke cable is operating the butterfly valve in the carb. I am start to wonder if the carb possible needs to be tuned?


Have you verified that the choke butterfly is fully closing in the choked position ?.


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## welderskelter (Sep 30, 2012)

_I would suggest the fuel pump is draining back slowly. Then takes a while to get built back up._


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