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I bought a new HRX217HYA last year, forgot to put stabil in the tank for the winter. Result: surging. Ordered new carb and put it on but now engine will not fire. I have drained all fuel and replaced with ethanol free fuel but no luck. It was the correct carb for that engine and it is getting fuel - spark plug has fuel on it. Any suggestions to get this thing back up and running? Trying to avoid the dealership since this is prime time and they are 2.5 weeks out.

rwzimmer said:

I bought a new HRX217HYA last year, forgot to put stabil in the tank for the winter. Result: surging. Ordered new carb and put it on but now engine will not fire. I have drained all fuel and replaced with ethanol free fuel but no luck. It was the correct carb for that engine and it is getting fuel - spark plug has fuel on it. Any suggestions to get this thing back up and running? Trying to avoid the dealership since this is prime time and they are 2.5 weeks out.

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Confirm the choke plate is fully closed when the engine is cold. The HYA has an autochoke system, which uses a spring to hold the choke closed. After the engine warms up, a special wax inside a small cylinder expands and pushes the choke fully open. The linkage (pink) must move freely and on cold engine, hold the choke closed. Here's how to inspect it:



Honda recently issued a Service Bulletin to address this problem; some HRX and HRR models may benefit from an improved choke control assembly (green), if the current one is binding. You can see if your mower is part of the update by checking the frame serial number on the back of the mower deck. Affected models for the HRX217 include:

MAGA-2069726 through MAGA-2199999
MAGA-2200001 through MAGA-2325178

If you determine the choke is NOT working properly and the choke control assembly IS binding, a Honda dealer must confirm the problem to authorize installation of a new choke control assembly (and wax cylinder) under warranty. It is a bit of a procedure to properly install the updated choke control assembly, including correct application of some special sealant to ensure proper heat transfer from the cylinder head to the wax cylinder.

If the choke is working properly, double-check the four gaskets//guides (yellow) and confirm they are installed in the right position and location. Make sure the two long bolts holding the carb on are secure (either could cause a vacuum leak and result in no-start).

Thank you very much more that informative post. I'll have to double check the bolts and give her another shot. If still no luck, to the dealership she goes.

rwzimmer said:

Thank you very much more that informative post. I'll have to double check the bolts and give her another shot. If still no luck, to the dealership she goes.

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Alll mower shops are quite busy this time of year. You may wish to call around a few dealers and see who might get to it sooner. Here's a link to find them in your area:

Find A Honda Dealer

OK so I got everything put back together and running now but it is still surging. Any ideas now?

rwzimmer said:

OK so I got everything put back together and running now but it is still surging. Any ideas now?

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After the engine starts, it is normal for the autochoke type engine to surge a bit for up to 3-4 minutes. It may long for the engine to fully warm up, especially if the outside air is below 80 degrees. It will warm up quicker if you keep the throttle lever set to FAST.

If, after a solid 4 minutes at FAST, the engine still surges, there's likely some fuel delivery issue. I understand it is a new carb, but it may require a tech to really inspect and evaluate the mower, as they cans see/hear/touch/smell it in person, and that may be required at this point.

Did the choke control arm move okay; no binding? Was the choke fully closed on the cold engine, and fully open on the warm engine?

It is about 80 here so it got warm pretty quick. The choke arm moved fine. It was closed on cold engine and wide open when warmed up. It surged a little when it first started, then I feathered the governor arm and it started running fine for a few minutes, then back to surging.

rwzimmer said:

It is about 80 here so it got warm pretty quick. The choke arm moved fine. It was closed on cold engine and wide open when warmed up. It surged a little when it first started, then I feathered the governor arm and it started running fine for a few minutes, then back to surging.

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Time to take it in...wish I could be of more help, just hard to know for sure, especially with a new carb, and everything put together correctly, choke working....how old is the fuel?

Ok, I really appreciate all the help. Fuel is brand new ethanol free fuel.

Did you ever get the surging problem on your HRX217HYA fixed? I have a similar surging problem on my 2 year old HRX217HYA serial MAGA-2026306. The mower starts fine, but then always surges except when the blade is engaged, so it cuts the grass just fine.

I took the mower to an authorized Honda mower repair. They cleaned the carb and fuel tank but that did not fix the surging. Then they blamed it on bad gas and they said it needed a new carb, and the Honda warranty will not cover it. I called Honda in Georgia and they said they will will talk to the repair store. After 10 days the repair shop had not received a new carb yet. I took back the mower, and ordered a new carb myself.

But then I got a nasty letter in the mail from Honda saying gas is to blame for all my problems, and it's not covered by the five year warranty.

After I installed the new carb, the mower worked perfectly for about 1 hour - but now it's surging again when not under any load.

I suppose Honda blames the EPA on requiring the auto-choke and placing requirements on emissions. But at least for cars the EPA also requires car manufacturers to warranty emissions parts for about 7 years/80,000 miles. How does Honda avoid backing up their warranty? Or maybe the EPA does require this but Honda needs to be prodded to back their warranty? Maybe the EPA should be contacted about Honda's engine problems?

New carb and new gaskets fixed my problem. Yours sounds a little different. I would check fuel delivery.

rwzimmer said:

New carb and new gaskets fixed my problem. Yours sounds a little different. I would check fuel delivery.

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Thanks, but I really don't see much to the fuel delivery from the tank through the valve into the carb.

The problem seems to be simply that Honda has a manufacturing defect in the idle mixture under no-load, and they refuse to fix this problem under warranty. And there's no adjustment set screw, probably as required by EPA.