GCV 160 belching black smoke

gregs69rs

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I am having issues with my GCV 160 belching black smoke at start up and whenever it bogs a little and recovers like in deep grass. Also if you momentarily release the throttle bar then squeeze it again before the mower cuts off it will spew soot when accelerating.

I assumed this was an auto choke issue but I pulled the filter and it is closed. Ran the mover for 3 minutes and the choke is open so the choke appears to be working properly.

This is not a hard starting issue. It just runs rich and is using more fuel.

I had the issue a year or two ago but a spark plug change and running some Sea Foam through it seemed to cure it for a while. I assume it is just a gummed up carb but I pay a fortune to buy ethanol free premium gas for the thing so I would not think it was the typical ethanol issue. I do in a pinch run ethanol gas through it but usually it is ethanol free.

Filter and oil are fresh as well.

Any tips other than just to clean the carb?
 

tadawson

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Clogged air filter making it stupid rich?
 

gregs69rs

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No. Air filter looks good plus I ran it with no air filter at all when I was looking at the choke function.
 

tadawson

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The only other thing that I can think of offhand if the choke is working is that if the main jet somehow manages to unscrew itself in the carb body, it can allow excess fuel to bypass. Simple to fix (just need to tighten with a screwdriver) but it does involve pulling the carb apart.
 

bertsmobile1

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Yep a loose choke will do that as the throttle opens wide & the engine sucks hard.
A missing main jet will also do that as will a float level that is too high.

So it is off with the carb

the cleaning process is here http://outdoorpowerinfo.com/repairs/#id_honda.
While this is for a bigger engine all Honda carbs are the same apart from the presence or absence of the fuel tap and solenoid.
 
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