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I have a Bear Cat wheeled trimmer (basically a self-propelled weed whacker on wheels). Last year I did something stupid and fried the Honda engine that came with the unit. I bought an exact replacement engine and had it installed. I am unable to start the machine (the old engine usually started easily on the first or second pull). My neighbor, who has a tree service and has arms the size of my thighs, has no problem starting it; one pull and it's running. Once it starts, the trimmer works great. The top of the engine says "easy start" but that's not been my experience. My guess is that there must be an adjustment to solve this problem. Any suggestions?

The engine is a Honda 160CC GCV180LA-A1A

Since posting my original thread, I have found several others that describe similar problems with Honda engines. Most of them seem to point to the choke as the culprit. One suggestion that caught my eye read "I have seen the honda engine on MTD machines with the autochoke, that you put the lever to choke down by the engine and as soon as you pull the bail back to pull the starter rope, the lever starts moving by itself. If you don't pull the rope quick enough then you will never choke the engine. " This seem to mirror my problem. Any suggestions how I might confirm that this is the problem and, if so, how to correct it?

Does your engine have that sort of choke on it? If it does, move that choke lever back as far as it will go, it will stay there until you pull back on the blade activation lever, so take hold of the starter handle and pull it back until you feel resistance, then pull the blade activation lever and pull the starter rope as soon as you do. Your owner's manual should describe the process to you better than I did, but that's how I do it on a mower I have with that choke. The key is to be ready to pull the rope before you set the choke in motion.

bwdbrn1 said:

Does your engine have that sort of choke on it? If it does, move that choke lever back as far as it will go, it will stay there until you pull back on the blade activation lever, so take hold of the starter handle and pull it back until you feel resistance, then pull the blade activation lever and pull the starter rope as soon as you do. Your owner's manual should describe the process to you better than I did, but that's how I do it on a mower I have with that choke. The key is to be ready to pull the rope before you set the choke in motion.

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Thanks for your suggestion. My trimmer does not have a blade activation lever which may be why it's been a problem. I finally took the trimmer to a local shop where the technician adjusted the choke and now it works properly.