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Hi, just picked up a beautiful HR194 for free, doesn't start but is in great shape. I pulled the plug and it has spark, drained the carb bowl and fuel tank, tried a little gas right into the intake and it'll start for a few seconds, so it looks like it needs a carb cleaning. Bad news is the bowl bolt on the bottom is stuck and has rounded. I'll try with locking pliers when I get a chance to. Looking at an exploded diagram of this carb it doesn't look like it serves as the main jet, so at least it won't be super expensive to replace. I really like this mower. Besides the terrific condition, the blade clutch design is something I like and it runs at half the noise level of my Tecumseh powered Lawn Boy and Briggs flathead powered mowers. I see some replacement carbs on Ebay for about $40 shipped, if I have to I'll go that route but I haven't heard much good of Chinese repro carbs though.

The local shop that will deal in Honda parts here say they can get me a carb for $130. That seems pretty excessive so I'm going to try my luck with a Chinese reproduction. They didn't even tell me if it was a genuine part, so I can only assume it's an aftermarket replacement as well. It's such a nice mower that I want to start using it right away, I'm so impatient!

Vervepipes said:

The local shop that will deal in Honda parts here say they can get me a carb for $130. That seems pretty excessive so I'm going to try my luck with a Chinese reproduction. They didn't even tell me if it was a genuine part, so I can only assume it's an aftermarket replacement as well. It's such a nice mower that I want to start using it right away, I'm so impatient!

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Tried a chinese replacement for my Tecumseh and it was pure junk! The original worked much better after a good cleaning.

Most Honda carbs are about $40 the dealer is trying to make a lot of profit there... I would buy a new one online tell the dealer to take his 200% mark up and shove it

I have one I'm buying from Ebay for roughly $40 shipped, I figured if it cost 60 or so locally I would do that for the convenience of a quick possession, but there is a lot of mowing season left so I can wait. I still have a classic Sunbeam and a newer Lawn-Boy to keep me entertained for the time being. Too bad the new carb doesn't come with the gasket though, or at least none of the listings say it comes with.

A picture since getting it home. It looks nicer in person than in photos, it actually looks like it's only a few years old if you didn't know any better.

Carb is ordered, 5-7 business days to go until I can try it out. Gotta get the mounting gaskets though, maybe I should call and get a price on those in case they have a huge markup on that too, don't wanna pay 20 bucks for a little gasket.

Gasket paper.

It looks a bit intricate to cut by hand by the pics I saw of it. How do you punch out the bolt holes, a paper one hole punch seems like too big of a hole.

To make my own gaskets I have a set of exacto knives. A multi size hole punch and a heat gun (about $30 for all three at harbor freight) cut a small square a little larger than the gasket you need use heat gun to heat the small square then put something heavy on it until it cools. I buy the rolls of paper so it doesn't stay flat.

Then I either use the old gasket as a template to cut the new one or use parts such as bolts and carb to make it. Once and a while I need to find a pic of it online to help. It's patience that you mostly need the more intricate ones take a couple tries

I think I'll try to see if the old one will be usable first, and then check a few local shops next. I'll check Princess Auto, kind of like Harbor Freight but up here, to see if they have a cheap punch set. I can't wait to be using this old girl regularly, it's begging to mow the lawn. Once it's running I'll give it a good detailing to show off to the neighbors. Still can't get over that it looks better than a lot of 2 or 3 year old mowers I've come across.