Hi everyone!
As you can tell by my nonexistent post count, I’m new here! :wink: I was hoping that I could get a little help from you guys to make sure I’m going about things in the right manner. First things first, I have NO experience with small engines at all! I’ve done stuff on my cars. Change oil, spark plugs, starters, brakes and rotors, and regular maintenance stuff but nothing with any lawn mowers. Ok now we have that out the way… LOL
I recently bought a Honda HRR2169VYA off Craigslist for $25. I always hear such good things about the cut of the Hondas and I figured this would be the only way I could get one and not get cussed out by the wife. :laughing: The guy used it for his business and says it hasn’t run in a year and just sat. It's definitely not pretty, but I figured, it can’t be that bad and decided to give it a go. So The first things I did were:
- Changed the spark plug
- Changed the oil
- Drained the old gas from the tank/refilled with non-ethanol gas and some seafoam
- Bought/installed new gaskets(after I cleaned the carb)
So doing just this didn’t get it started. So I sprayed a little starter fluid on the carb and got it up and running. YAY! I also let some seafoam sit in the carb overnight. It got running pretty good, just a slight surge that my paranoia wouldn't let me ignore. Sooo I pulled the carb and gave it a cleaning. I did everything like the videos on YT showed. I didn’t remove the screws from the top of the carb tho, I understand there are jets under there, but I was afraid that there needed to be some sort of calibration when tightening them so I left them alone. Reinstall it. Surging was still there. BLAH! I’m confused at this point. I peek in the tank and figure, maybe it just needs more fuel. So, I fill it up. Then I start it up again. Still surges. UGGGHH!! So I pull it off again and clean it again. I reinstall it. It sounds WORSE! It even cut off when I was engaging the blades. So I do some more digging online and see they say it can be caused by poor fuel flow. Then I look into the tank. It’s so much debris in there. So I think some of that mess is flowing to the carb and/or messing up the fuel filter. WHEW! OK enough background
So, my next course of action is to of course clean out the tank and see if I can clear everything out of it with some clean gas and I’m going to just replace the carb because it’s cheap and I want to make sure I get this baby running so I can trust it as my sole lawn mower. I told my wife I would sell my current mower(a push craftsman. I didn't know any better) for what I put into the Honda, so I gotta make sure I'm comfortable with it. I want to see if you guys think this is a good list of things I should replace to give me the best chance of longevity and to fix my issue at hand. I already have to order the carb so I figure I might as well get my money’s worth with shipping. I’m thinking about replacing the following:
- Governor Spring – this one looks a little looser than the ones I see in the YT tutorials
- Soring Throttle Return – same as above
- Fuel filter
- Thermo Wax assembly – I read some mowers had issues with these and my serial number fell under the bulletin
- Carb
- Fuel tank? It’s only $12.90 and I swear it’s like a little piece of wood in the current one. Is swishing it out good enough or should I just go brand new?
I have some other parts I’ll have to get, but I want to make sure I can get this bad boy running first. Is there anything I am missing or should differently?
Sorry for my long post, but I appreciate any insight!
James
As you can tell by my nonexistent post count, I’m new here! :wink: I was hoping that I could get a little help from you guys to make sure I’m going about things in the right manner. First things first, I have NO experience with small engines at all! I’ve done stuff on my cars. Change oil, spark plugs, starters, brakes and rotors, and regular maintenance stuff but nothing with any lawn mowers. Ok now we have that out the way… LOL
I recently bought a Honda HRR2169VYA off Craigslist for $25. I always hear such good things about the cut of the Hondas and I figured this would be the only way I could get one and not get cussed out by the wife. :laughing: The guy used it for his business and says it hasn’t run in a year and just sat. It's definitely not pretty, but I figured, it can’t be that bad and decided to give it a go. So The first things I did were:
- Changed the spark plug
- Changed the oil
- Drained the old gas from the tank/refilled with non-ethanol gas and some seafoam
- Bought/installed new gaskets(after I cleaned the carb)
So doing just this didn’t get it started. So I sprayed a little starter fluid on the carb and got it up and running. YAY! I also let some seafoam sit in the carb overnight. It got running pretty good, just a slight surge that my paranoia wouldn't let me ignore. Sooo I pulled the carb and gave it a cleaning. I did everything like the videos on YT showed. I didn’t remove the screws from the top of the carb tho, I understand there are jets under there, but I was afraid that there needed to be some sort of calibration when tightening them so I left them alone. Reinstall it. Surging was still there. BLAH! I’m confused at this point. I peek in the tank and figure, maybe it just needs more fuel. So, I fill it up. Then I start it up again. Still surges. UGGGHH!! So I pull it off again and clean it again. I reinstall it. It sounds WORSE! It even cut off when I was engaging the blades. So I do some more digging online and see they say it can be caused by poor fuel flow. Then I look into the tank. It’s so much debris in there. So I think some of that mess is flowing to the carb and/or messing up the fuel filter. WHEW! OK enough background
So, my next course of action is to of course clean out the tank and see if I can clear everything out of it with some clean gas and I’m going to just replace the carb because it’s cheap and I want to make sure I get this baby running so I can trust it as my sole lawn mower. I told my wife I would sell my current mower(a push craftsman. I didn't know any better) for what I put into the Honda, so I gotta make sure I'm comfortable with it. I want to see if you guys think this is a good list of things I should replace to give me the best chance of longevity and to fix my issue at hand. I already have to order the carb so I figure I might as well get my money’s worth with shipping. I’m thinking about replacing the following:
- Governor Spring – this one looks a little looser than the ones I see in the YT tutorials
- Soring Throttle Return – same as above
- Fuel filter
- Thermo Wax assembly – I read some mowers had issues with these and my serial number fell under the bulletin
- Carb
- Fuel tank? It’s only $12.90 and I swear it’s like a little piece of wood in the current one. Is swishing it out good enough or should I just go brand new?
I have some other parts I’ll have to get, but I want to make sure I can get this bad boy running first. Is there anything I am missing or should differently?
Sorry for my long post, but I appreciate any insight!
James