OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Four Stroke Lawn Mower Frames Honda mower won't start?

flatlinerz, the most common reason for a Honda push-mower's choke not to close when it hasn't been dismantled by an amateur, is maladjustment of the speed control cable. There are two places this can be adjusted. One is a nut-and-screw at the control at the top of the handlebar. The other is the pinch-clamp at the governor plate on the engine, where the outer casing of the Bowden cable is held. Here is the clamp on my summer mower (an old HR194, with exactly the same engine as your HRU194:


The red oval surrounds the clamp. The distance the metal ferrule extends to the left of the clamp, adjusts how far the choke closes. The further to the left, the less choke you get.

Here is the same adjustment on my winter mower, an HRU195 which has the same frame as yours but a larger engine:



As you can see, the correct cable adjustment has the cable outer further to the right on this mower. Because this mower frame uses a different cable, the adjustment comes out rather differently.

If you have loosened the clamp screw in those photographs at any time, the cable outer will have moved to the left through the clamp, and you will no longer have any operation of the choke. You didn't say you had done anything to the cable during your maintenance session, but perhaps you had done it and not mentioned it.