What about Toro's 5 year guaranteed to start promise ? ... I would check into it. I have a 2007 CCR3650 pull start and starts fine. The thing I found is not to over choke and flood it. I prime it twice...use full choke for a pull or two and then take choke off and it fires right up.

I assume it's a Tecumseh engine? As terrible as those snow kings are (personal experiance/opinion) they do always seem start easily enough (presuming the connecting rod is not dangling out the side). Generally they will start and then run poorly and make alot of noise. But they should start and clear the drivway quite reliably.
did you turn the fuel peacock on? It happens to everyone now and again. Is the key in and funtion? Any safty things in the wrong position? I used an old Toro with a briggs engine and you had to hold down a handle or the ignition would cut.
I say this and I have a 1971 MTD 5HP tecumseh and love it, but I think the old ones were much better.

That's odd. You should not be having those sorts of problems, especially if it was recently tuned-up.

Can you get it to run at all?

I'd guess that you're probably flooding it. The two-stroke motors on the Toros flood fairly easily, in my experience. Heck, most newer two-stroke equipment floods VERY easily, especially if you prime it the number of times that the owner's manual suggests. Oftentimes it is best to forego priming it at all and just give it a couple pulls on choke.

Is the plug wet when it won't start? If yes, there's your answer: flooded. If no, then you're either not getting fuel or not getting spark.

If the plug is not wet, then you either have a carb issue or the fuel is not getting from the tank to the carb. But again, if this machine was recently serviced then you shouldn't be having fuel-delivery problems.

Keep us informed...

Well, I finally had a chance to play with the d--n thing again. It's about 20 degrees warmer than it was Monday night.

I gave it a couple of pulls with just the choke set; no priming. Nothing. Pressed the prime bulb once. Still nothing. Plugged in the electric start and, after two tries, it fired. If I could have saved the smoke, I probably could preserve all of California's frozen citrus. My car doesn't smoke that much and it's a diesel (!). When the idle "steadied" (that apparently is a relative term with this engine), I moved the choke to halfway -- and it died. Pulled it with the choke on and off. Nothing. Plugged it in again and it started on the second try. I was able to clear the driveway. What a pain in the butt...

Thanks for the advice on priming/choking. I cannot believe Toro can't do better than this. Are there other, preferably four-cycle single-stage blowers which will function properly with by-the-book maintenance? I'm not far from Toro HQ, so I'd prefer to keep locals employed. But not at the price. Or should this be a separate thread?

If it will only run with the choke on, your carb is most likely plugged up and should be cleaned. Another option is to buy a can of sea form and put a little into the gas tank per the instrutions. This stuff is great. Not only with it clean out your carb and engine, but it is also a fuel stablizer. You can get it at advanced auto etc. Also make sure you have a new spark plug and make sure its gapped correctly.

Those are great little engines, normally start easy, mine is 5 y.o dump the gas in the spring, fill her with gas in the fall, prime a couple of times, crank and away she goes.
Yours has a carb problem and should be looked at carefully, I would try a different Toro dealer this time to service it.

i am really surprised to hear about that. i have an mtd with a snow king engine and the thing is a dream, 3 pushes on primer and 1 pull on cord and i'm snowblowing. this is the first year i'm using stabil and i never wasted the gas from my machines, except for a 1975 rototiller. i think toro is the best all around company period. just keep your cool and see if toro will take the trade-in directly, if not the gts is a five year, just bring it to the shop over and over again and make friends with the shop owner, maybe he can do something?

Those CCR's really perform well. The other rubber augar types are poor performers. But obviously, you need yours to start! I think that these are a horizontal mounted Duraforce developed engine. (I have to remember back a few years.) The best thing you can do is use good oil. I personally use Echo oil in all my 2 cycle. Stihl in the back bottle is good too. It has the preservative right in it. In my and what at least used to be Toro's opinion, it isn't realistic for a stabilizing product to preserve the runability of fuel for more than 90 days. Some engines are just more finicky. Recap: Buy fresh regular or midgrade unleaded fuel. Use good oil. Periodically (at least once a month) run the equipment until it is fully warmed up. I'd even run them every other week to be sure in snow season. If you are really sick out the noise and fumes- check the wovel out. It would be neat to see one in action.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check out the wovel

If the Toro brand is'nt performing to your standards I'd suggest an Ariens brand.They use Briggs & Stratton 4 stroke engines and mine has performed flawlessly since 1989 here in Michigan,with normal maintenance,never fails to start on the second pull.It even still has the original drive belts on it.Its 11HP 2 stage and has never needed any service that I could'nt do myself,ie;sparkplug,oil change,grease lube points,etc.

Sorry to dredge up an old post. Recently my old (1992) CCR2000E started acting this way. I was ready to give up on it, but went over it to be sure. I was not able to find a good reference for what the screws on the carburetor and Governator do, but I did find a screw that limits how much the throttle plate can close. If the throttle can close too much the machine is very difficult to start. With a little tinkering mine now starts and runs fine; not bad for a 15 year old machine with no air filter!

If the OP still has the Toro he may want to find a dealer more qualified to tune it.

You might want to try a higher octane gasoline or a octane booster, 87 octane does not really work that well with small engines. Anyhow that is what my repair guy told me when I was having trouble with my Dolmar chain saw.
In my opinion both Toro and Ariens have begun to cash in their good names. They are still good machines, but they have cheapen them, nylon bushings, plastic parts etc too meet the pricing requirements of Lowe's/Home Depot. A well maintained older machine pre 2005 from Toro Ariens could be a good buy. Simplicity and Honda make a good machines. The Hondas are real expensive however.