You can call it fast idle if you like but it immediately goes to full speed whether cold or not. I want to be able to control the engine speed with a throttle. Their HRX line of commercial mowers have throttles. Whether it's a race engine or mower engine matters not when it comes to cold startup wear. And yes, I have instructed my sweetheart to pull the starter rope a few times before she opens the gas valve.
HRR216VLA warning
- Thread starter Boit4852
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You can call it fast idle if you like but it immediately goes to full speed whether cold or not. I want to be able to control the engine speed with a throttle. Their HRX line of commercial mowers have throttles. Whether it's a race engine or mower engine matters not when it comes to cold startup wear. And yes, I have instructed my sweetheart to pull the starter rope a few times before she opens the gas valve.
bertsmobile1
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So where is the throttle butterfly when you crank any mower engine with a single control wire made in the last 30 years ?
WIDE OPEN
And on all of them the throttle has to go to WFO then on a bit further to engage the choke if it has a manual choke.
And that is from every factory, Honda, Briggs ,Kohler, Kawasaki,Suzuki, Loncin, Ducar.
All of them start with the throttle WFO
And this is for ride ons and walk behinds
As for thinking the engine will wear out prematurely because it starts up at full speed, you have been watching way to much TV.
Engine wear per minute can be highest during the 5 minutes of start up but it is the wear that happens in the 20 minutes of mowing running way too lean that does the damage.
In fact I doubt that many people would actually run the mower for more than 1 minute before actually mowing.
The next thing to consider is HOW THE OIL IS CIRCULATED.
If the mower has both an oil pump and a hollow crank shaft with oil outlets for the top, bottom & conrod bush then running the engine at a lower speed may reduce wear.
However wear is also SPEED related and an engine running slowly on a dry bore will wear more than an engine running quickly on a dry bore . it is all about load.
However most push mower engines have splash lubrication so if the engine is warmed up slowly then you will be starving the the top end and in particular the little end bearing for oil.
For oil to get to the little end it has to be picked up by the dipper then flung right up into the underside of the piston, fill the lubrication well then drip down into the little end.
The faster the engine is reving the more oil will be splashed around inside and the more oil will get to the underside of the piston.
Run your engine, just off stoping speed for a tank full of fuel and there is a very good chance you will sieze the engine.
WIDE OPEN
And on all of them the throttle has to go to WFO then on a bit further to engage the choke if it has a manual choke.
And that is from every factory, Honda, Briggs ,Kohler, Kawasaki,Suzuki, Loncin, Ducar.
All of them start with the throttle WFO
And this is for ride ons and walk behinds
As for thinking the engine will wear out prematurely because it starts up at full speed, you have been watching way to much TV.
Engine wear per minute can be highest during the 5 minutes of start up but it is the wear that happens in the 20 minutes of mowing running way too lean that does the damage.
In fact I doubt that many people would actually run the mower for more than 1 minute before actually mowing.
The next thing to consider is HOW THE OIL IS CIRCULATED.
If the mower has both an oil pump and a hollow crank shaft with oil outlets for the top, bottom & conrod bush then running the engine at a lower speed may reduce wear.
However wear is also SPEED related and an engine running slowly on a dry bore will wear more than an engine running quickly on a dry bore . it is all about load.
However most push mower engines have splash lubrication so if the engine is warmed up slowly then you will be starving the the top end and in particular the little end bearing for oil.
For oil to get to the little end it has to be picked up by the dipper then flung right up into the underside of the piston, fill the lubrication well then drip down into the little end.
The faster the engine is reving the more oil will be splashed around inside and the more oil will get to the underside of the piston.
Run your engine, just off stoping speed for a tank full of fuel and there is a very good chance you will sieze the engine.
bertsmobile1
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cruzenmike
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Look on the other side of this too; there are still home owners that continue to operate riding mowers at anything other than full throttle. It would certainly make sense for a riding mower to have the ability to throttle down as it might sit while a trailer is being loaded up. But the plain and simple fact is that there are people out there that cut their grass at half throttle and state that "it feels as if it has enough power" while all along they are just cooking up the fluid in their transmissions.
All of this comes down to people not knowing how to properly operate their machine. For those things related to the EPA and emissions, well, we have little impact on how it goes. At the end of the day, if you don't like what Honda did on their mower, go buy a $1200 commercial 21" so that you can feel good about throttling down whenever you want. By the way, you could just shut the machine off and restart again. Hundreds of hours on my HRX stopping the engine to pick up a stick, or pile of dog droppings or to empty the bag (12 times a cut usually) and guess what, it still ran just fine. And the gas you would save throttling down for 30 seconds here and there is negligible.
All of this comes down to people not knowing how to properly operate their machine. For those things related to the EPA and emissions, well, we have little impact on how it goes. At the end of the day, if you don't like what Honda did on their mower, go buy a $1200 commercial 21" so that you can feel good about throttling down whenever you want. By the way, you could just shut the machine off and restart again. Hundreds of hours on my HRX stopping the engine to pick up a stick, or pile of dog droppings or to empty the bag (12 times a cut usually) and guess what, it still ran just fine. And the gas you would save throttling down for 30 seconds here and there is negligible.
tom3
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I don't know about all this. I hear a lot of riding mowers start up around here and they do go to full throttle for a few seconds until the governor reacts and the rider throttles it down, sounds like crap and can't be good on a cold engine I think. But these riders are throw-aways anyway so I guess it really doesn't make much difference.
gotomow
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From the owners manual of my soon to be mine John Deere X350:
"Avoid damage! Unnecessary engine idling may cause engine damage. Excessive idling can cause engine overheating, carbon build-up, and poor performance.
Run engine at half throttle for 30-60 seconds to allow warm-up before operating."
"Avoid damage! Unnecessary engine idling may cause engine damage. Excessive idling can cause engine overheating, carbon build-up, and poor performance.
Run engine at half throttle for 30-60 seconds to allow warm-up before operating."
cruzenmike
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There is no such thing as a "HRX line of commercial" mowers in the US here. The HRC is the only commercial line of mowers that Honda offers. There are variations of the HRX that offer a throttle selector, in which those models also have either a BBC and/or Hydrostatic transmissions, both of which are "premium" features in the HRX lineup. These mowers likely also have different carburetors due to reasons stated by other users in earlier posts. Since you have the HRR which is just above the HRS, but still below the HRX and HRC lines of mowers, you basically got what you paid for!
In once paid $26k for a new car that didn't have an armrest/cup holder in the back seat for my kids to put their drinks in. I didn't complain about it or rag on Subaru for making the car that way, I just sold it a bought a Chevy!
You certainly have options here my friend. It is just a lawn mower and regardless of your concerns, it's a Honda and will likely last you many, many years; cold, full throttle starts and all.
cruzenmike
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This would be correct in your case; should you get the X350. I applaud you for reading the user's manual and hope that you follow the recommendations in there. With all equipment, there is never too much that you could know about your machine. Too many people neglect to read the documentation that comes with their equipment. In the case of the John Deere, which this is the same recommendations for the Briggs equipped X330, they have determined that the procedure you referenced is either the most appropriate to ensure a positive user experience.
bertsmobile1
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The engine in your JD has FULL PRESSURE LUBRICATION so it has a hollow crank and internals that are lubricated by the pump.
The Honda is splash.