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This could be completely bogus but I once read that oil goes bad with time even if you aren’t putting miles or time on the engine. I don’t think a few months make much difference anyway, but I figure why not start the season with completely fresh oil?

I think you are a suspenders and belt kind of guy. Don’t change a thing. What you are doing is working for you. But you asked about how water got in the fuel tank. As Taryl has often said, outdoor equipment does a lot better when it is stored inside, but a lot of people leave them outside...

Have you checked engine rpm’s?

Sorry, spelling error. The bail is the lever that you pull back to disengage the engine brake and the grounding wire, ie: it is part of the deadman switch that shuts down the engine and blade when it is released.

Glad you like your new mower. Let me suggest a solution for the uncomfortable handle. I have a Honda mower with a similar square shaped handle. I wrapped it with handlebar tape, the stuff used on racing bikes with down-turned handlebars. You can get it at any bike shop in any color and...

Here’s a stab in the dark. Check to see if the flywheel brake is on even when the bale is pulled back. Or, does the bale not pull all the way back? Could your cable be corroded inside the housing, preventing full travel of the cable and leaving the brake dragging on the fly wheel?

You have thrown a lot of parts at this. With all those new parts and no spark, best guess is that the kill switch is malfunctioning and is in the “on” position all the time. Try pulling the kill wire off the coil and see if that lets you start. If so, check out the connection where the wire...

I suspect the deck is tilted to one side. Think about it this way. Imagine that the deck is lower on the right and thus leaves the grass cut on the left of the deck higher than on the right. Say the first pass is northbound. The grass on the west side will slant uphill. Then the operator...

I have the RX75, same mower except for a couple bells and whistles. It’s a single blade.

A little puff of smoke on start-up is very typical, at least in my experience with the 6 Hondas I’ve had. The smoke disappears in less than a minute. How bad is it smoking?

Thanks. Added a copy to my saved files.

In my part of North Carolina fescue was the most common type of grass, but we were always right on the edge of being too hot for fescue. Today we have clearly moved onto the warm season grasses like Bermuda or Zoysia. I have stuck with fescue so far but it is a struggle to keep it alive...

I’ve heard that bearing on top of the Briggs recoil starter squeal. I’m betting that Rivets is right. You’ll be singing La donna e mobile before long.

I had this type carb on a 5hp tiller. There was no replacement available for the plastic part with the screen. I improvised with a fuel filter from a two-stroke attached to the brass tube with a piece of plastic fuel line. It worked fine.

Hi Rigoletto. Opera fan? Rivets knows the Pulsajet carb and its issues. Do what he said. If you still have issues after cleaning and rebuilding the carb, consider testing for spark after it runs and dies. A failing coil often works when cold and then fails when it gets hot. Oddjob

Welcome, and thanks for reporting back.

Since the conversation has turned to spark plugs, I had a strange experience a few weeks ago buying an NGK plug for my Stihl leaf blower. The plug was in stock at a local Advance Auto Parts store. They keep the plugs behind the counter so a clerk had to get it for me. I checked the info on...

I think you’re right about oil leaking past valve stems.

Hi John, The kill switch sends the current generated via the coil to ground instead of to the spark plug. So when you hold the bale back, you open the kill circuit and when you release it, you close the circuit and kill the spark to ground. In my experience with that Honda engine the culprit...

I have no experience with your equipment, so take this as general trouble-shooting advice. You may have a vacuum leak letting too much air into the combustion chamber, hence the need for choke. You can take a propane torch (unlit) and open the valve and move it around the carb connections. If...

Tires on small wheels are a royal pain to take off or put on, with or without a tire changer. No matter what you use, heat is your best friend. Leave them in the sun on a hot day. Better yet, put them in a pot of boiling water and simmer for five minutes. Boiling water can’t get hotter than...

Could be hydro locked. The needle valve and seat in the carb may be not closing and letting fuel from the tank drain into the crankcase. Drain the oil and see how much comes out. If way more than normal, and it smells like gas, you’ve found the problem.

Anyone have success gluing the magnets back on?

Oops. Meant to say if it does not click you have a bad solenoid or solenoid connection/ground, If you can’t make the starter whirl when you jump it, you have a bad starter.

I agree with Auto Doc but would also suspect a bad ground. Clean battery posts and connectors, then follow negative ( black) lead and make sure it has a clean connection to ground. Battery cables should be nice and tight. Also check the ground on the solenoid. Is this s two post solenoid...

The only theory I can come up with that could explain all the symptoms you describe is that the ignition was grounding out due to a loose or chafed kill wire or kill switch. When the mower was not level, the wire drooped and touched metal so there was no spark to the plug. Eventually it wore...

I resemble that remark. Three days ago I was in the process of selling a nice BBC Honda mower that I had rehabbed a few months ago. I explained to the buyer that these mowers came with fuel shutoffs. Then I turned the fuel off, thinking I was turning it on. I even showed the buyer the decal...

Wish I knew. Here’s a theory. Maybe it had nothing to do with the choke. Obviously, you had spark since it started. Maybe the plug was weak and failed altogether after it got hot, as in after 30 seconds of run time.

I’m assuming that it stays running if you leave the choke on. If that is correct two things occur to me. First, has this engine ever run properly with no choke or is it new to you and you’ve never seen it run without choke? I ask because it has been my experience that some of these Honda...

I notice that there is a lot of room inside the blade shield. Could you use a new blade?

I was about to enter the parking deck at the gym when I saw someone’s headlights inside the deck moving toward my entrance, so I stopped about 30 feet short of the entrance and waited for the other car to exit. The lady driver made a left turn, should have been a 90, but she kept turning...

I have changed maybe a dozen mower tires in my life, so not exactly an expert. I didn’t enjoy any if those experiences and would gladly have paid a tire shop but the only one that will mount small tires is 30 minutes away so I always try to see if I can do it myself first. I have learned that...

Can’t go wrong with either one. Put them both up for sale and keep the one that doesn’t sell first.

I suspect that you have slightly dislodged the flywheel and now your ignition timing is slightly off. Pull the flywheel and see if the woodruff key is still aligned in the slot in the crankshaft.

I have the same engine on my RX-75 and exactly the same issue. To cut to the chase, I have never solved it but here are the things I considered. This is a gravity fed fuel system so make sure you have the right fuel filter. A filter designed for a pressurized fuel system doesn’t allow enough...

I don’t know. I suspect it should show continuity. Hope someone on this site can give more authoritative answer. How about disconnecting the sensor and see if it starts?

Does it have a sensor to ensure adequate oil? Many generators do. That sensor could be failing but first check your oil level.

I will be watching this thread to see if anyone has cracked the code on Honda self-propelled being hard to pull back. You referenced the size of the engine but I don’t think that’s it. I have had a few HR214’s with the GCV160 engine and they pulled back with little effort. I have also had an...

Maybe try rocking the bolt with a six-sided hand wrench or socket on a breaker bar, tightening and loosening, and if that doesn’t work try tapping on the wrench with a hammer. Do you have an air hammer? If not, can you borrow or rent one? I think I remember seeing Taryl use one to break stuck...

Let’s start with the cause for your engine shutting down when you get up from the seat. Simply put, your coil is being grounded. However, your mower was designed so that it won’t ground out when you get up provided that you have the parking brake engaged and that you do not have the pto...

Nice video. Appreciate the production values. Congrats on persevering to victory!

Can you get the wiring diagram for your machine and post it here?

T That engine has an autochoke system. I’d guess that when you shut it down the choke is wide open and when you try to restart, it wants a little choke. Wait 15 minutes and the thermostat relaxes a little and you get some choke and the engine starts rIght up. I had a mower that did this...

Have you tried adjusting the governor?

I suspected that the cable or kill mechanism had suffered when the engine came to a quick and violent stop. Glad you got it solved.

Good job! I love hose clamps. Have fixed many things with them, including a temporary fix for the water supply plastic pipe to my house, the loose steering column on a VW Cabriolet, and the oil drain hose on a John Deere RX75. When I lived in England and went to an auto parts store to buy some...

Tim, I apologize. I think I sent you in the wrong direction. The culprit is more likely the seat switch. The brake switch only comes in to play when you start the engine. It lets you send current to the solenoid and on to the starter. The seat switch does a few things. It requires you to...

Have you looked at the contact point where the kill wire makes contact when you release the handles? Is it still making contact when you have the handle pulled back? Have you pulled the kill wire off the coil? Worth a try. I assume that you checked the gap when you looked at the woodruff...

If your new carb solved any fuel issue and the new plug eliminated that possibility, then you are left with the coil as a suspect.

Doc, you missed the part where he changed carbs.