Help.............with the fuel bowl on my Honda GCV160

Its a bit corroded. I'm in the process now of TRYING to clean the main jet and tube, plus the other known passages like the fuel inlet, under the emulsion tube, and thru the needle seat. My first attempt didnt help- it still dies out after running 20-40 seconds. I'm soaking it more this time, and will check the jet and tube closer- although they both seemed OK the first time. Is there some tiny holes in the carb body/throat on the throttle side? I can seem something, but not clearly.

FINALLY, my question: Since this bowl is a little rough on the bottom, is it OK for me to try and polish is with some scotch brite etc?

thanks, George in NC (burrpenick@gmail.com)

Most small engine problems are carburetor caused, a THOROUGH cleaning, is necessary to restore it to peak performance. spray type carburetor cleaner,and a welders "tip-cleaner" (for acetylene torches) I find works best ,blowing out the air & fuel passages with an air-hose is necessary (no more than 35psi) WEAR GOGGLES & rubber gloves , AFTER the carburetor is "satisfactory" , be sure to clean the gas tank, the fuel shut-off valve, and a new filter should be installed along with new (or cleaned-up) fuel supply lines. Why chance putting a newly cleaned carburetor on when there is most likely foreign material of some type in the fuel system that contributed to the carburetor problem in the first place ?? Had you posted your mowers models numbers ( see example )



we might have found your engine service manual, with carburetor O/H instructions, there is also many you tube videos about carburetor cleaning . Yes Scoth-brite is good to use, but BE SURE to clean the bowl of fine particles.

burrpenick said:

Its a bit corroded. I'm in the process now of TRYING to clean the main jet and tube, plus the other known passages like the fuel inlet, under the emulsion tube, and thru the needle seat. My first attempt didnt help- it still dies out after running 20-40 seconds. I'm soaking it more this time, and will check the jet and tube closer- although they both seemed OK the first time. Is there some tiny holes in the carb body/throat on the throttle side? I can seem something, but not clearly.

FINALLY, my question: Since this bowl is a little rough on the bottom, is it OK for me to try and polish is with some scotch brite etc?

thanks, George in NC (burrpenick@gmail.com)

Click to expand...

Plan B: Purchase a new genuine Honda carb for < $19.

Re: Help.............with the fuel bowl on my Honda GCV160 (starts, then stops: FIXED

I am not green, and did the carb twice, same issue, FINALLY, after I replaced the fuel line and petcock, I put a new plug in too, VIOLA! RUNS perfect- so was it the carb/line/fuel cap/ or PLUG????? Evidentely the PLUG, It started and ran fine, for a few minutes, but once hot, it quit firing. EVERYONE NEEDS To keep this in mind BEFORE you tear into one of these HONDAS.

Re: Help.............with the fuel bowl on my Honda GCV160 (starts, then stops: FIXED

burrpenick said:

I am not green, and did the carb twice, same issue, FINALLY, after I replaced the fuel line and petcock, I put a new plug in too, VIOLA! RUNS perfect- so was it the carb/line/fuel cap/ or PLUG????? Evidentely the PLUG, It started and ran fine, for a few minutes, but once hot, it quit firing. EVERYONE NEEDS To keep this in mind BEFORE you tear into one of these HONDAS.

Click to expand...

THANKS for your reply, I'm sure it will be helpful to others with a similar problem !

Re: Help.............with the fuel bowl on my Honda GCV160 (starts, then stops: FIXED

burrpenick said:

I am not green, and did the carb twice, same issue, FINALLY, after I replaced the fuel line and petcock, I put a new plug in too, VIOLA! RUNS perfect- so was it the carb/line/fuel cap/ or PLUG????? Evidentely the PLUG, It started and ran fine, for a few minutes, but once hot, it quit firing. EVERYONE NEEDS To keep this in mind BEFORE you tear into one of these HONDAS.

Click to expand...

Good to know but as Robert mentioned Honda carbs are cheap and it is almost always the carb or transmission when a Honda has a problem. Maybe it's just me but I have never had a new spark plug solve a running issue. Glad you got it fixed at any rate.
On a related note I almost always buy from boats.net. I ordered a Honda carb once and when the box arrived I thought it looked like a really big box for a carb. I opened it up and it contained 50 carbs lol. Yes... I did send 49 of them back

YES.........I was SHOCKED that a new plug fixed my motor- it would run about 3 minutes when first started (and it started easily), then start cutting out/off, the next time it was down to a minute or less and then it just got worse. It had the NGK plug and I used another one too. I'm HAPPY and wish Id tried tht FIRST! Although I do now know the carb rebuild procedure!

boats.net?

I looked at that site to just to see if they sold a honda carb for for a mower, didnt see one? The real Hondas I've seen were around $30- knock offs were less, wondered HOW they do? George, also in NC MTS

burrpenick said:

boats.net?

I looked at that site to just to see if they sold a honda carb for for a mower, didnt see one? The real Hondas I've seen were around $30- knock offs were less, wondered HOW they do? George, also in NC MTS

Click to expand...

Genuine Honda parts... http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Honda/Lawn Mower/0/parts.html
Here's my carb but it's gone up a couple of bucks: http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Honda/Lawn Mower/0/HRX217K4 VKAA/CARBURETOR/parts.html