Honda HRX217K5VAA dead engine options

[Chathamite]

I am looking for advice on a Honda HRX217K5VKAA mower (manufactured 2-14-2016) with a dead engine. The engine has no compression – I did a compression test, checked to see if a valve was stuck open (both opened and closed fine) and have reached the conclusion it has a broken rod. I removed the spark plug and inserted a dowel rod to see if the piston would move the rod when pulling the starter rope and it did not. Am I missing something else to check?


The deck is in pristine condition and the self-propelled appears to work when moving the belt by hand.

My options are I think:

1. Part it out-many of the engine components, the wheels and blades are in nearly-new condition

2. Find a donor GVC190 engine on another machine and transfer the new engine to the current deck

3. Find a GVC160 engine (plenty around with decks rusted beyond repair) and install it on the HRX217 if possible.

4. Repair the current GVC190 engine.

5. Buy a new engine

I considered repairing it and giving it to my son (although he is a die-hard Toro fan) or selling the mower as-is on Facebook Marketplace.

I have viewed many YouTube videos and visited other forums to see if a GVC160 to GVC190 is possible and have mixed results. Many say it is possible, except for the mounting bolt-holes may be slightly different.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Tiger Small Engine]

I am looking for advice on a Honda HRX217K5VKAA mower (manufactured 2-14-2016) with a dead engine. The engine has no compression – I did a compression test, checked to see if a valve was stuck open (both opened and closed fine) and have reached the conclusion it has a broken rod. I removed the spark plug and inserted a dowel rod to see if the piston would move the rod when pulling the starter rope and it did not. Am I missing something else to check?


The deck is in pristine condition and the self-propelled appears to work when moving the belt by hand.

My options are I think:

1. Part it out-many of the engine components, the wheels and blades are in nearly-new condition

2. Find a donor GVC190 engine on another machine and transfer the new engine to the current deck

3. Find a GVC160 engine (plenty around with decks rusted beyond repair) and install it on the HRX217 if possible.

4. Repair the current GVC190 engine.

5. Buy a new engine

I considered repairing it and giving it to my son (although he is a die-hard Toro fan) or selling the mower as-is on Facebook Marketplace.

I have viewed many YouTube videos and visited other forums to see if a GVC160 to GVC190 is possible and have mixed results. Many say it is possible, except for the mounting bolt-holes may be slightly different.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Option 6 would be scrap it. Attempting engine swaps on Honda self-propelled mowers can be a pain. In order for it to be easy, finding a GCV190 would be best, and also difficult to find. You would be better off buying a used Honda mower over most of the options.

 

[Chathamite]

Thank you for your reply. I already have a HRX217K6 model purchased last year from Home Depot, and it truly is a great mower. I have noticed that many of the parts for the K5 and K6 are interchangeable, so keeping the parts (wheels, transmission, blades) may be a good choice if no donor engine becomes available.

 

[Auto Doc's]

I am looking for advice on a Honda HRX217K5VKAA mower (manufactured 2-14-2016) with a dead engine. The engine has no compression – I did a compression test, checked to see if a valve was stuck open (both opened and closed fine) and have reached the conclusion it has a broken rod. I removed the spark plug and inserted a dowel rod to see if the piston would move the rod when pulling the starter rope and it did not. Am I missing something else to check?


The deck is in pristine condition and the self-propelled appears to work when moving the belt by hand.

My options are I think:

1. Part it out-many of the engine components, the wheels and blades are in nearly-new condition

2. Find a donor GVC190 engine on another machine and transfer the new engine to the current deck

3. Find a GVC160 engine (plenty around with decks rusted beyond repair) and install it on the HRX217 if possible.

4. Repair the current GVC190 engine.

5. Buy a new engine

I considered repairing it and giving it to my son (although he is a die-hard Toro fan) or selling the mower as-is on Facebook Marketplace.

I have viewed many YouTube videos and visited other forums to see if a GVC160 to GVC190 is possible and have mixed results. Many say it is possible, except for the mounting bolt-holes may be slightly different.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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[Chathamite]

Thank you.

 

[Oddjob]

I transplanted a GCV160 from an older Honda into an almost new Honda with a GCV190 with a bent crankshaft. Bolted up to existing holes and even used the same belt. The 160 had plenty of power. The price of a new 190 crankshaft made it uneconomical to replace it and there weren’t any used ones available locally. In your case, I would atleast open up the engine and see what happened and price any needed parts. It may be wishful thinking that only the connecting rod bolts came loose and all you need to do is reassemble and torque the nuts, but how do you know until you look? If you are going to part out engine parts you’d need to open it up anyway. Why not take a look first?

 

[slomo]

and have reached the conclusion it has a broken rod.

If you could find one, replace the rod. People junking perfectly good mowers for some 30 dollar part. ???

"Thinking" a new mower, is better LOL.

 

[Chathamite]

Thanks for the replies. I have seen on Facebook Marketplace a Troy-Bilt with damaged deck due to rust but may have a good running GCV160 for $25. If the engine does run, it may be a good gamble. My only concern would be the bolt holes matching to the HRX217 deck. I have had varying opinions as to whether they are the exact match. Some have been lucky and a direct match-others state that drilling new holes on 160 would be required.

 

[volvofan94]

I fully rebuilt the engine on my Honda HRX217K5HZAA. The previous owner tore the engine completely apart because it would smoke; can’t remember if it was on startup or while running. After the rebuild, the lawn mower runs great and will last many years. Plus I had fun working on it.

I’d recommend opening the engine up to see what happened to your mower. While shopping for my project, I found Honda engine parts aren’t too expensive. If you decide to rebuild the engine, I’d recommend buying the Honda shop manual before beginning the work. It’s about $35 and a good investment for this and future work you may need to do on the lawn mower. Also, you’ll want to use genuine Honda parts too.

 

[Chathamite]

Thank you for your good advice!