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Hi,new member here and hello everyone!
Got HRX 217 that a guy was throwing away because he couldn't get it started.
Well I'm troubleshooting it and curious about the coil which is extremely rusty.
I can't find this exact model and wondering is this an oddball ?
I can find 217 k1,k2,k3 etc,but no info on just the k model or is this considered the k1?
I tested this coil but not sure what the readings should be.
(Please see pics). I'm not a small engine guy,just a diy.
Thanks for any help.

Probably barking up the wrong tree.

I'm not saying your coil is good or bad, but about 95% of these "won't start" issues are related to winter storage with ethanol fuel in the fuel system. When the owner tries to start the mower the plug gets fouled.... permanently.

1. Start by emptying EVERY DROP of old gasoline from the tank, fuel lines and carb.
2. Replace the plug.
3. Rebuild the carb.
4. Install fresh fuel.
5. Tell yourself you won't be that stupid when you put the mower up for winter next October. All you need to do is let the mower run until it's completely out of fuel !! How hard is that ?

Put the meter away. Just park it back in the drawer.

Take an old spark plug. Gap it to 0.25". Pull the rope. Do you see a good blue spark?

Don't worry about the rust on the coil. Has ZERO to do with generating a spark.

Agree, most likely you have a filth carb.

slomo

After you put the meter in the drawer, lock it to prevent temptation.
If you want to know if a spark is being generated, a red in line spark tester is the best way to go.
Rust make absolutely no difference unless it is so thick that the laminations actually touch the magnets , or the laminations have fanned out to near twice the original core size.
Older Hondas in particular tend to get choke problems which are not strait forward to adjust which stop them starting.
Honda's are particularly sensitive to the choke position.

Ok gentleman, I replaced:
New plug (Gapped)
New Carb and Gaskets
New Coil (getting good spark)
New Air Filter
New pull cord assembly
Checked Kill Switch OK
Checked Valves and clearance OK
Fresh oil change
Fresh gas ...
Will not start,tried starter fluid and got a couple farts out of it.
What am I missing besides someone who knows what the hell there doing?

For a diy guy
remove spark plug and place a SMALL SHORT shot of carb cleaner down the plug hole
Put in a clean fresh plug, or a hot plug strait from a mower that has just been run
Pull the handle
Engine goes bang = ignition timing is good
Engine does not go bang = pull blower housing and check timing key in flywheel

Repeat above but squirt down the carb
Engine goes bang a few times = valve timing is reasonable
Repeat but continue to shoot SHORT shots of goop into carb.
If it stays running for a minute this way then problem is in the carb
If it backfires out the carb or exhaust then valves are out of adjustment

billuke said:

Ok gentleman, I replaced:
New plug (Gapped)
New Carb and Gaskets
New Coil (getting good spark)
New Air Filter
New pull cord assembly
Checked Kill Switch OK
Checked Valves and clearance OK
Fresh oil change
Fresh gas ...
Will not start,tried starter fluid and got a couple farts out of it.
What am I missing besides someone who knows what the hell there doing?

Click to expand...

I'll have to trust you.

Depending on the age of the engine, I've never opened up a mower and found any valve in spec. Especially OHV engines.

What carb did you get? The one from amazon or ebay?

slomo

I got the Amazon carb and as far as valves I went with these specs
Intake 0.15 +- 0.04mm
Exhaust 0.20 +- 0.04 mm

billuke said:

I got the Amazon carb and as far as valves I went with these specs
Intake 0.15 +- 0.04mm
Exhaust 0.20 +- 0.04 mm

Click to expand...

Conversion to inches is below.

0.15mm is 0.006"
0.20mm is 0.008"

slomo

Have you checked compression and inspected rocker arms for cracks?

No I did not do an actual compression test and if your talking about the arms that sit at the ends of the valves, I just checked to see if they were working.
All I can say is I have another mower with a gvc 160 honda engine, which works great
and the engine of the 190 sounds/feels about the same as the 160. Just won't start

It's more or less a mechanical law that if you have fuel and a spark and compression - an engine should fire and run. So something in that three is missing.I have not worked on Honda's and I just purchased my first - but I have wrenched a bit in my life. Could there be an errant kill switch wire? I know on an Intek where I had a similar problem - an engine that by all accounts should have started but didn't - and I had other people look at it and it stumped them - turned out to be the dead man cable was adjusted improperly by just a small measure. Good luck.

Buster7 said:

It's more or less a mechanical law that if you have fuel and a spark and compression - an engine should fire and run. So something in that three is missing.I have not worked on Honda's and I just purchased my first - but I have wrenched a bit in my life. Could there be an errant kill switch wire? I know on an Intek where I had a similar problem - an engine that by all accounts should have started but didn't - and I had other people look at it and it stumped them - turned out to be the dead man cable was adjusted improperly by just a small measure. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Which would of been found on a spark test. Unless the cable was right at the limit of on and off as you said. Nice catch on that. I always check that limit area by slowly moving the lever and see when the spark cuts out. Should have a bit more travel towards cable slackville.

I will 2x check it again but I definetly have spark in the start position on the throttle lever.
Also will check valves again.
Can't get to it untill this weekend.

There are 2 TDC positions on a 4 smoke engine. Careful when adjusting valves. Just saying.

slomo

How do you know you're on the top dead center of the compression stroke,and not the exhaust stroke?

Ok,I officially give up.I tried everything I could to get this going. I'm taking the hit on the replacement parts but maybe some will fit my 160 engine if needed.
Thanks to everyone but this is a lost cause.