Export thread

Hello all!!

I have a Honda GCV160 engine on my Husqvarna 21" mower. When I choke it to start the mower the engine will run until the choke is shut off and then it dies. I have removed the carb and completely cleaned it- removed main jet and venturi tube, ect. What the heck am I missing here? Any suggestions would be appreciated-Thanks!!

Chris

make sure the linkage is working properly, governor etc.. check that the carb butterflies are working properly as well.

This really sounds like a clogged main jet, but you said "I have removed the carb and completely cleaned it- removed main jet and venturi tube" I find it best to run a tag wire up and into the main jet "then" spray some cleaner. The tag wire can remove grit that may be tightly wedged in. Then the spray will wash away the loose remains. You can do this just by removing the float bowl.

I've got the same engine and it's doing same thing. I also went through the carb but that didn't help. Bought new carb fron Honda, that didn't help as it does the same thing. I pulled muffler to eliminate it and still will only run with choke on. I even pulled the valve cover and everything in there looks fine. I'm at my witts end with this engine. I don't know what else to do to it. Hopefully Robert will see this and can offer some advise. :confused2:

I think I understand this, but read below and tell me if this make sense, or I'm not getting it right:

If the mower only runs with the choke ON and dies with the choke OFF, that usually indicates the air/fuel mixture is too lean (not enough fuel or too much air). In most cases, this is due to a clogged fuel supply, often the main jet or emulsion tube.

So moving the choke to ON reduces the air, and gets the air/fuel mixture to a level where the engine will run.

A carb swap will usually resolve it, if a good cleaning of the old one is not 100% perfect. But, there can be another culprit: a vacuum leak. If there is air being sucked in due to a failed or damaged gasket, the symptoms can be identical to a clogged main jet.

Suggest R&R'ing the two (or maybe three) gaskets on both sides of the carburetor and confirm all other parts are sealed up when installing the 2 main bolts.

If you'll share the serial number off the back of the mower deck, I can get you part numbers for the gaskets.

kyoshofan1 said:

Hello all!!

I have a Honda GCV160 engine on my Husqvarna 21" mower. When I choke it to start the mower the engine will run until the choke is shut off and then it dies. I have removed the carb and completely cleaned it- removed main jet and venturi tube, ect. What the heck am I missing here? Any suggestions would be appreciated-Thanks!!

Chris

Click to expand...

Sounds like a fuel starvation problem. I worked on a riding mower last year that would do a similar stunt. Would start and run for a short time, then start cutting out and die unless I put it on 1/2 to 3/4 choke! Turned out to be an obstruction in the carburetor inlet at the needle seat causing the carburetor to starve for fuel. Someone mentioned a vacuum leak. That is equivalent to trying to drink a soda with a hole in the straw. Running the engine on choke would increase vacuum and pull more fuel up out of the carburetor bowl. Assuming the carburetor is in working order, I'd check for 1) fuel flow restriction or blockages and 2) could be some small orifices plugged with varnish that looks good to the eye but needs a fine wire to clean them out , 3) vacuum leaks where the carburetor mounts to the engine. Odd how dq72 new carb replacement had no effect. Got to have 3 things to make an engine run. 1) good compression 2) good spark at the right time and 3) proper fuel/air mixture. Just curious if either one of you have tried running the engine without the air filter to see what it does?

I too have a Honda GCV160 engine on my Husqvarna 21" mower. I have a sort of similar problem but not quite. I have had so many problems this season with fuel seeping through the air filter and nearly catching fire and it hydro locking and fuel dispensing in the oil. After several attempts to find what the heck is happening like cleaning the float and pin and carburetor and in the end replacing the carb with a new one, I managed to start it. I was elated. It ran like clockwork. The second time I came to use it not so lucky. It will not start. The choke does not appear to be deploying properly and looks as if it could do with being adjusted. It hardly moves. I did manage to start it for 20 seconds and then it cut out. It has had a new air filter, gaskets, spark plug and carb. I am of the opinion now, that it was the choke after all sticking or certainly not deploying properly. My problem is how do you adjust the damn things. On the diagram that I have that came with the machine it looks, certainly on the Honda GCV135, that there is a spring on the choke lever but I don't appear to have a spring which is rather strange and there doesn't appear to be a place for one to go, so does a Honda GCV160e have a spring on the choke lever positioned just outside of the air filter? Mine is a manual choke and not automatic. I have tried desperately to find a diagram or at least a video to find out how to adjust the choke lever. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks from an English lady living in France.

Digging up this old thread as I have the same problem on my Dad's log splitter. It hadn't been run in a couple years, so I half expected fuel issues. It runs great on full choke, but as soon as I start to inch the choke lever over it starts hunting and will stall well before I got the choke fully disengage.

I removed the bowl and have shot carb cleaner in the 3 orifices. No change.

Did any of you who participated in this thread previously come up with a solution?

You really need to take the main jet out and the nozzle to clean all them little holes and then spray well........

DPDISXR4Ti said:

Digging up this old thread as I have the same problem on my Dad's log splitter. It hadn't been run in a couple years, so I half expected fuel issues. It runs great on full choke, but as soon as I start to inch the choke lever over it starts hunting and will stall well before I got the choke fully disengage.

I removed the bowl and have shot carb cleaner in the 3 orifices. No change.

Did any of you who participated in this thread previously come up with a solution?

Click to expand...

unfortunately most people are fairly sefish.
They come here with a problem an when they get it solved vanish with not so much as a thank you.

do a lot of these engines fited to fire pumps provided to volunteers with very little training.
They are placed in an enclosed trailer at the end of streets where bushfires break through.
So they sit in a small enclosed steel space all through summer oft with the fuel taps left on.

You will need to unscrew the main jet which is inside the brass tube,
You will also need to push the tube out, from the carb throat into the float chamber and clean out all of the cross drillings.

There are times I have to give the carbs well over 2 hours of ultrasonic cleaning to get them to flow properly as modern fuels leave a tar residue that is very hard to remove.
You should also take the tap apart and clean it and the sediment trap below it out.
There is also a filter in the end of the fuel outlet in the tank that gets clogged so it might need to be removed as well.

Thanks for the feedback - you were both correct!

The main jet was clogged - couldn't even see through it once I got it out, which was not too easy to do. Initially it unscrews easily from the bottom of the carb (after removing the bowl), but then it just spins. You need to have a very light touch with the screwdriver after unscrewing for a bit, then the jet drops down a bit before catching another set of threads to finish unscrewing all the way out.

All of my carb cleaning tools were too big, so I just used a needle to clean out the orifice in the jet. Then it was easy to screw back in and reassemble everything. In hindsight, the jet didn't need to come all the way out - I could have cleaned it in place - I'll know better next time.

I'll paste below the comments I found on another forum, just to have another's perspective....

rotti1968 wrote...
certified Honda mechanic here, your main jet is clogged along with one or all three of the transition holes in the venturi . remove the carburetor, remove the bowl and down the center of the carb is your main jet unscrew that being careful not to damage it, clean with what works the best is a welding tip cleaner . then looking into the throat of the carb on the throttle side you will see three small holes, one or all three may or are clogged you can also use the tip cleaner here but be very careful not to break it off in one of the holes, then soak in carb cleaner. if after all of this you put it back together and it still runs only on choke put a new carb on it....

Did you pull the emulson tube out as well and clean all of the holes in it ?
The emulson tube is the bit that pokes out into the carb throat ( venturi to be specific & sound nerdy )
Once the main jet is out it pushes down and comes out the same hole.
If the main jet is gummed up then the bottom holes of the emulsion tube will be gummed up as well.

Thanks for the reply on the clogged jet ................

Is It running like it should be running ???

Bert told you in POST number 10 to take the MAIN jet out and THEN pop the nozzle out of the emulsion tube by pushing it down with a screwdriver or something else.....

I do know people that just pop the jet out and just spray carb cleaner up in there and it works fine.......

Sometimes that works and a lot of the times it doesn't ................ Those nozzles are really clogged up most of the time....

Please stay away from etho gas Mon Ami.............

Let us know ~!~!

bertsmobile1 said:

Did you pull the emulson tube out as well and clean all of the holes in it ?
The emulson tube is the bit that pokes out into the carb throat ( venturi to be specific & sound nerdy )
Once the main jet is out it pushes down and comes out the same hole.
If the main jet is gummed up then the bottom holes of the emulsion tube will be gummed up as well.

Click to expand...

I did not remove the emulsion tube. I was able to push it down after unscrewing the jet. In hindsight now, I thought at the time that it simply was the upper part of the jet.

But the engine is running fine now - starts up fully choked and then I gradually open it up all the way. I ran a tank of fuel through it late yesterday, splitting some firewood before sunset (far less than planned due to playing small engine detective).

If I have any recurring issues in the future I'll remove and clean both the jet and the emulsion tube.

bertsmobile1 said:

unfortunately most people are fairly sefish.
They come here with a problem an when they get it solved vanish with not so much as a thank you.

do a lot of these engines fited to fire pumps provided to volunteers with very little training.
They are placed in an enclosed trailer at the end of streets where bushfires break through.
So they sit in a small enclosed steel space all through summer oft with the fuel taps left on.

You will need to unscrew the main jet which is inside the brass tube,
You will also need to push the tube out, from the carb throat into the float chamber and clean out all of the cross drillings.

There are times I have to give the carbs well over 2 hours of ultrasonic cleaning to get them to flow properly as modern fuels leave a tar residue that is very hard to remove.
You should also take the tap apart and clean it and the sediment trap below it out.
There is also a filter in the end of the fuel outlet in the tank that gets clogged so it might need to be removed as well.

Click to expand...

Problem solved.
Thanks for the encouragement here. My Honda 160 GCV is on a low-end Homelite 2700 PSI pressure washer. Same prob as others had: it idled OK but under load, would starve- if I used the choke it sorta ran OK.
I took the carb apart and put it in a can of carb cleaner. I ran a tiny wire thru the main jet and it now runs under load just fine. I suspect the main jet was the culprit, as I couldn't see a clear orifice when it was held up to light.

One challenge I had was to figure our the order and placement of the several gaskets. I suspect the sequence was not critical, and in the end, it ran fine.

Thanks all,

Ron
Calif

Thank you Ron for letting us on this forum know that it helped you ...........

Same issue as post #15 with a Honda 160 GCV powered pressure washer in the Democratic People's Republic of California (read: gasahol)--after many years it succumed to the Commisar's mandate and would no longer pull full power without full choke. Removing the carb, partially disassembling, flushing with various solvents and ultrasonic cleaning didn't work. I needed to pull the main jet and emulsion tube and ream the attendant orifices to get it to run properly. Some of the gaskets self-destructed on disassembly so I recommend you have a set on hand.

What I learned:
1. Chemically flushing or ultrasonically cleaning the carb without pulling the main jet and emulsion tube may work but were insufficient to resolve my issue--I had to remove and ream key passages in both parts.
2. The main jet comes out in two stages per post #11: stage 1 is to back it out part way with a screwdriver until it "stalls" (comes no further). A toothpick lightly inserted into the main jet orifice provided sufficient manipulation and torque to get the jet started in the outer set of threads. Once started, complete removal with a screwdriver was quickly accomplished.
3. The emulsion tube protrudes into the throat of the carb. Once the main jet is removed, a little shove with a flat bladed screwdriver dislodged the emulsion tube but it didn't drop out the main jet channel--it took a little coaxing with the hook end of a machinist's scribe for it to drop clear. Pay attention to its proper orientation.
4. The main jet has a #68 drill size orifice. Although the jet appeared optically clean and clear, careful probing with numbered drills revealed that it was choked down to 0.061mm from its specified diameter of 0.068mm--a 20% reduction in area! I hand reamed the main orifice back to 0.068 with numbered drills.
5. The emulsion tube has two sets of orifices: #67 drill for the larger (lower) and #71 drill for the smaller (upper). Although the emulsion tube was optically clear, each orifice was two drill sizes smaller despite prior chemical flushing and brushing. Hand reaming with numbered drill bits restored them to spec.
6. My Harbor Freight set of numbered drills didn't go small enough but a 20 piece #61-#80 set from Amazon did the trick.
7. A set of gaskets from Amazon was a must. The bowl gasket had to be destroyed to remove it. Although the replacement was a different fit and finish, it didn't leak and did the trick.

Bottom Line: Pressure washer now works like a champ--starts on the first pull, pulls power like it used to.