New Honda HRX217 Surging, Hunting, Oscillating Idle Problem - Solved!

[FlapJack]

I posted a question on this forum a week or two ago about a new HRX217 that was surging at start up - the mower would hunt up and down around the idle point for 20-30 seconds until it settled down, and I wanted to see if this was a problem. A reply from a long time forum user told me that he had recently purchased an HRX217 himself and his mower did the same thing for the first time or two he started it. He suggested I give it a few days and see if it wouldn't quit doing that. I decided to do just that and - lo and behold! - my mower stopped doing it, too. Runs like a top with a rock solid idle that settles down within a second or two, now. And I thought it might be useful to someone else to post this here, in case they buy an HRX217 and it does the same thing.

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

I posted a question on this forum a week or two ago about a new HRX217 that was surging at start up - the mower would hunt up and down around the idle point for 20-30 seconds until it settled down, and I wanted to see if this was a problem. A reply from a long time forum user told me that he had recently purchased an HRX217 himself and his mower did the same thing for the first time or two he started it. He suggested I give it a few days and see if it wouldn't quit doing that. I decided to do just that and - lo and behold! - my mower stopped doing it, too. Runs like a top with a rock solid idle that settles down within a second or two, now. And I thought it might be useful to someone else to post this here, in case they buy an HRX217 and it does the same thing.

Hurray! Problem solved! I'm so glad you are now happy with it! :thumbsup:

 

[wrp]

Please explain what you did to solve the surging problem? On my HRX217HYA the surging starts after 20-30 seconds and then never goes away (until I turn off the engine).

 

[turboawd]

my honda had a surging problem when it was almost new. i ordered a new carb off ebay to replace it, but i figured i'd tinker with the old one before i remove it. i tried cleaning what i could. there are some adjustment screws on the carb that are factory sealed with a plug cap, so that you cant adjust them. i removed those caps/seals, and then i removed these screws and cleaned out the ports. but first, tighten the screws and count how many turns until they bottom out. then when you reinstall them, bottom out the screw and back out the same amount of turns. this will get your screws to the approximate location as they were originally. it turns out that the idle port had debris and was plugged up. the carb didnt supply gas at idle, so the throttle would kick high by the governor. then when the rpms got too high, the governor reduced throttle. repeat this over and over, and you get the constant surging. mower has been working great for last 4 years with the same original carb. never installed the new one.