Honda GCV190 Only Runs With Choke On

[djtech2k]

I bought a Ryobi pressure washer not long ago with the Honda GCV190 engine. Apparently some very bad gas was put into my pressure washer when I took it out of the box new. I did not know it until I tried to use it the next day and it would essentially not start/run. After some testing, I figured out that the gas was bad. I am not a mechanical kind of guy, but I took off the carb and cleaned it as best as I could. I did research and ended up taking it off about 3x and putting it back on with different cleaning attempts. It would never run without the choke being on.

So I went ahead and bought a brand new carb from Honda for it. I put in the new carb. It starts immediately with the choke on. When I turn the choke off, it sputters very heavy and shuts off. I am running 100% pure gas with no ethanol now. With choke on, it pretty much purrs. When choke goes off, it dies, sometimes within seconds.

So based on reading online, the default answer seems to be a plugged jet in the carb. Well this is a brand new carb so I don't think that can be it now. My only guess is the gaskets. I did not put new gaskets on with the new carb because the original ones looked fine to me. I suppose I could have not installed the gaskets correctly, but it looks right from what I have looked up.

I am sick of taking this carb off and putting it back on because its a big pain. Any ideas?

 

[djtech2k]

Well, I decided to take one last crack at this thing. I removed the carb again. I watched a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kILLqpt7h4o) to make sure of the gasket placement was right and I used my brand new gaskets. All back together.

I got the same or worse result. It runs with choke, but as soon as I take off choke, it shuts right off. Before it would sputter a little before it shutoff, but not now. It goes off.

I tried putting the choke off and then manually pulling the throttle. Of course it tries to pull the throttle itself, but as I was pulling the throttle to rev it up, it was backfiring a lot.

I basically at the end of my rope on this. Brand new and because of some really bad gas, it won't work, even with a new carb.

Very Frustrating...

 

[Padroo]

You said you had bad gas, did you check the screen in the gas tank to make sure it isn't clogged up?\

I don't know Honda engines but most small engines have some kind of fine mesh screen in the gas tank.

 

[djtech2k]

Where is the screen?

It seems to run fine with the choke on, so I assumed it is getting gas.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Where is the screen?

It seems to run fine with the choke on, so I assumed it is getting gas.

Your assumption is not quite correct.
An engine needs the correct ratio of air to fuel to run.
If it only runs with the amount of air entering the carb reduced there there are two possibilities.
1) air is entering the engine after the carb
2) there is not enough fuel in the mix entering the engine.

Now there are a lot of things that can cause the latter
1) blocked main jet
2) float set too low
3) blocked fuel tap
4) blocked filter / screen in the fuel tap
5) pinched off fuel line
6) blocked fuel line
7) blocked fuel outlet in the fuel tank
8) blocked vent in the fuel tank cap.

I do not know why you have decided you have put bad fuel in the engine but as it is new and Honda stand behind their products 100% my suggestion is to take it back for a warranty service.
If you have not yet filled in the warranty card, do it now.
It is very rare to get a bad Honda engine new out of the box, but it does happen even with the beast quality control.
Down here Honda give 5 year warranties on their engines and some parts are lifetime for the original owner.

And are you sure that the choke is actually on when you think it is on.
The choke butterfly is at the front of the carb and you would not be the first person who thought that the choke was on when it was actually off.

 

[djtech2k]

Thanks.

Since this is a brand new carb, I didn't think that it would be clogged or any issues with it. Maybe that's a bad assumption.

When I was troubleshooting the original carb, I blew compressed air through the gas line and in the carb, so I thought that would make sure it is clear. When I disconnect the gas line, I definitely have gas run out.

As far as the gas in concerned, it is a bit of a long story, but I know the gas was bad. I bought this new pressure washer because I had a previous pressure washer that had very similar issues (Toro/Briggs). After having the carb cleaned 3x and it still not running right, I got fed up and bought a new one with Honda engine, thinking it would be more reliable. Well, once I put the same gas in this new Ryobi/Honda, it started doing the same thing. That's when I looked at the gas closer and it was so bad it didn't even smell like gas. It was almost green and stinky. I did not look at gas earlier because I have other equipment (snowblower) that has run on that gas without a problem, plus I had refilled the tank over the duration of time. So I didn't think that was the cause.

So after all of that, I got rid of that gas and the can. Now I have a new can with 100% pure no ethanol gas.

So is there anything I can do to test these things you mentioned? I already put $50 into a new carb and it hasn't fixed it apparently.

 

[djtech2k]

I did go to the Ryobi site and register this thing. I also emailed Hoe Depot about what warranty options I have. I bought it on Oct 1st, 2018.

 

[Boudreaux In Eunice La.]

You mentioned gaskets earlier those gasket have to go on just right in order yes they are a pain in butt.... Here's a link to a buddy of mine cleaning Honda carbs.........

let us Know Mon Ami ........ https://youtu.be/uAHdhuDpeKw

 

[Padroo]

Watch this YouTube vido, he calls it a fuel filter and I call it a screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ECPHaV58ic

 

[djtech2k]

Thanks.

I watched the video and checked mine out. Here is what I did:

I pinched the gas line between the tank and the fuel shutoff valve. I disconnected the side by the shutoff valve. I then uncrimped the line to drain all the gas out. It trickled out very slow for a min or so and then it stopped. So I then removed the hose from the tank. The red filter was stuck in the hose. As soon as I did that, gas poured out. I grabbed a container and let it drain from the tank.

I worked the filter out of the hose. I couldn't see anything physically blocking it. I didn't know what to do, so I took my air hose and shot air all thru it.

I put it all back together and same results. Runs good with choke on, but as soon as I turn the choke off, it shuts off. I do not have a replacement filter so I couldn't replace it.

Any suggestions?