Choke Will Not Stay On - on 1998 350 Robin Engine

[Bobp]

I have a Workhorse 1200 with a rebuilt engine. With clutch mods, lift kit, and large tires it is very good in the woods.

A nuisance item is that the choke will not stay in a partially on position. It seems that this was by design and caused by a strong rotary spring on the choke butterfly valve.

I tried to cause more friction by compressing the cable tube near the choke knob. But this didn't help much.

If this is a common problem; is there a fix by cutting turns off the original spring or installing a different spring with less tension?

[sccowboy]

It was not designed to be left on. You could do whatever mod you want to make it stay on. I haven't heard of anyone needing to do that though. I presume you need it to stay on during warm up?

[09MPT1200guy]

You could maybe cut a little piece of fuel line or similar rubber hose about half an inch or so, and slit it along the length. Then it could be placed around the shaft of the choke lever as it comes out of the body, stopping it from returning all the way inside. I'm also not sure why exactly you would want that, other than warm-up.

[BrewCityMusic]

I'm with Cowboy on this, I've owned dozens of carts with the 295/350 Robin motors and never had one that required choking other than at the very first moment or so to get started - unless it had plugged jets or a plugged air filter, bad plugs, etc.

I'd start with a good carb dismantle and cleaning all the jets, etc, as well as blow out the air filter really good, clean or change the plugs, then see what you have. The option is there to just adjust the choke cable at the carb to keep it partially engaged, but that really isn't solving any problem.