Kohler Courage engine with choke problem

[Donald]

I left my Airens mower out one night and we had a thundershower during the night. The next day I started it, it started, but ran poorly, then worse and worse then died over the course of 1-2 minutes. Could not restart. Put in shed to dry. A day or two latter started it and did same thing, died in 1-2 minutes. This time I dumped the fuel, drain the fuel bowl and filled with fresh gas. Same thing when started. Took off air filter and guessed it was a choke problem, stuck a pen to hold choke open, engine ran fine, ran it with pen for 2-3 minutes, removed pen, choke stayed open, replaced filter and cut the lawn. Next day same original problem.

This engine has no controls other than the dead-man on the handle. No throttle nor choke.

So what actuates the choke and why is it now slow to open?

 

[chad8]

The smart choke has internal venting... now blocked with water.
Because it is inside the carb drying it might not work. you might get lucky with compressed air.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: chad8
The smart choke has internal venting... now blocked with water.
Because it is inside the carb drying it might not work. you might get lucky with compressed air.


So what/where do I hit with compressed air?

Remember I did get the choke to stay open by first running the engine with a pen holding the choke open, after that the choke stayed open on its own, until the engine cooled.

I would have thought that mowing the grass for 45 minutes would have boiled off any water almost anywhere around the engine.