honda GCV160 hard starting (easy start)

Hey fellas, great looking site!

3 years ago I bought a new honda GCV 160 easy start push mower. Had problems starting it right out of the gate. Took it to the dealer and they replaced the carb and still the same issue.

Basically it will always start but after anywhere from 6-15 pulls. When it is warm it starts usually on the first or second pull.... And when it does finally start its a "chugging" start and it actaully takes about 10 seconds for the engine to actually catch and run like it is suppose to. Other than that its a great mower! I own a boat, motorcycle, atv, genorators, and everyother machine that an outdoorsman/homeowner would have and I maintain and repain them all myself but this mower has me stumped! Any help would be greatly appreciated! teamlund out!

Does it have a primer button ?

If it doesn't, and it is just one of those mowers with the crappy "Automatic Choke", they do take ages to start, and that is normal I'm afraid...

I know this has nothing to do with you, but this is my 700th post... Wow, I can still remember my very first post on this forum... Time goes by so fast...

Who manufactured the mower? I have seen the honda engine on MTD machines with the autochoke, that you put the lever to choke down by the engine and as soon as you pull the bail back to pull the starter rope, the lever starts moving by itself. If you don't pull the rope quick enough then you will never choke the engine.

lakeviewpe said:

Who manufactured the mower? I have seen the honda engine on MTD machines with the autochoke, that you put the lever to choke down by the engine and as soon as you pull the bail back to pull the starter rope, the lever starts moving by itself. If you don't pull the rope quick enough then you will never choke the engine.

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Its a fullblown honda mower..... There isnt any lever to push or pull by the engine.......as far as I know you are suppose to just hold the lever down and pull............thanks for the help fellas, keep it coming. maybe later today I will post a vid of it starting so you can see whats going on....

I have a honda with this engine, and no problems with it starting, maybe the choke isn't working properly. Mine has the choke lever on it, which is great because I know it is choking. If you don't have a choke lever on the handle then you have the autochoke, but I still haven't seen that problem with any of the ones that come into my shop. Have had ones with stopped up air filters that don't start up that easily or sound good.

One other thing I have seen on some of the hondas that come in for repair is that the carb insulator and/or gasket has been installed backwards and it will never run good like that.

When your mower does start, does the engine surge or anything or does it run smooth?

lakeviewpe said:

I have a honda with this engine, and no problems with it starting, maybe the choke isn't working properly. Mine has the choke lever on it, which is great because I know it is choking. If you don't have a choke lever on the handle then you have the autochoke, but I still haven't seen that problem with any of the ones that come into my shop. Have had ones with stopped up air filters that don't start up that easily or sound good.

One other thing I have seen on some of the hondas that come in for repair is that the carb insulator and/or gasket has been installed backwards and it will never run good like that.

When your mower does start, does the engine surge or anything or does it run smooth?

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when it actually starts it takes alittle chugging to get the engine running smoothly but once it actually strats its as smooth as silk for the rest of the day. Until I shut it off for 20 mins than it takes 2 or 3 pulls to start it again and it does it without the chugging start.

Then I would check the gaskets on the backside of the carb, make sure they are installed correctly.

You can check the diagram. Also, really sounds like it is not choking so check the linkages for the choke.

The diagram is for a k3 TDA model, if you have something different and need the diagram, let me know.