HR 214 stalls when engaging blade

[jsalis57]

All,

I am in the process of rehabbing a recently found HR214 SX and have run into a snag with the blade clutch stalling the motor when I engage it. The engine seems to run fine at both hi and low speeds with or without the blade running but the actual engagement process while running on high will almost instantly kill the engine. The carburetor is brand new OEM Honda. If I ease the blade by slipping the clutch I can keep it running but I know that is not right, I should be able to simply push the engagement lever, engage the blade and go.

I am going to look at the governor for proper adjustment, although it does move freely. Other than that not sure where to look, compression is great at 148psi for 24 hours. The only thing i may check is valve adjustment.
Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Fibber2]

I've always had to engage mine with a bit of slip, especially when cold. It's akin to dumping the clutch on your car. It might work, but it's sure hard on the system.

 

[jsalis57]

I've always had to engage mine with a bit of slip, especially when cold. It's akin to dumping the clutch on your car. It might work, but it's sure hard on the system.

I drive a clutch truck, 2003 Toyota Tacoma every day, I definitely understand that theory! I think I am less than 1% of the population that likes the three pedal setup with my vehicles.

Back to the Honda, it was even difficult when slipping the blade clutch to keep it running. I continued my troubleshooting last night and as a last shot I replaced the ignition coil pack and it now runs perfectly! I would have thought this ignition coil would fail completely with no spark at all but as a lesson learned here, that is not the case. My coil was simply producing a WEAK spark, which was the problem. I can work the blade clutch as I had before for many years on these mowers with no issue.

Hope this troubleshooting process helps others too.

Regards,

Jeff

 

[Fibber2]

Good catch! It's always hard to know how bad is bad from someone's written description, so I wasn't thinking what you were experiencing was that extreme. Good to hear it's resolved, and a lesson learned.

 

[golfergordy]

It's good to hear that the problem is solved, and what the cause was. I'll file this info away for future reference. Good work.

 

[jsalis57]

It's good to hear that the problem is solved, and what the cause was. I'll file this info away for future reference. Good work.

More than happy to help when I can. Forums like this are very valuable to all that take the time to participate.

Thank you!