When I took my small engine repair course, the teacher
called that "hunting". As in "hunting for the proper speed".
The problem is typically that the spring for the governor
gets rusty, stiff, painted, etc. The governor spring is far
more essential than people understand.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"iwdplz" wrote in message
...
I thought it was just my HRX217 lawnmower that oscillates
wildly during
idle. But then I rented a Wacker trash pump with a honda
engine, and it
would also oscillate when in the full throttle position
whenever it lost
prime. Then I rented a pressure washer with an 11HP honda
engine and this
too would oscillate heavily at idle when the water was not
being sprayed.

The fluctuation is pretty severe, as if the engine is going
to stop, it
doesn't sound normal at all. Since it happened on 3 engines
in a row - I'm
starting to think it could be the gas I'm using. My gas
cans have a mix of
89 and 91 octane from Mobile. Could it be that the octane
is too high? Am
I supposed to use 87 octane instead?