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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

Ok James......... Yes take the screw out from the top of the carb..... That's gonna be your idle circuit and causing your surge.... If there is a jet in there just take a pic of how it went in.... Should be only one way to fit in....

That way you can tear the whole carb apart again in case there is crap from the tank in there.... Clean the tank out well and change the fuel line / lines........

Did you take the main jet out from the emulsion tube and then take out the fuel nozzle ??? There are a bunch of tiny holes in the fuel nozzle to clean out........

Let us know Mon Ami ~!~!

Boudreaux In Eunice La. said:

Ok James......... Yes take the screw out from the top of the carb..... That's gonna be your idle circuit and causing your surge.... If there is a jet in there just take a pic of how it went in.... Should be only one way to fit in....

That way you can tear the whole carb apart again in case there is crap from the tank in there.... Clean the tank out well and change the fuel line / lines........

Did you take the main jet out from the emulsion tube and then take out the fuel nozzle ??? There are a bunch of tiny holes in the fuel nozzle to clean out........

Let us know Mon Ami ~!~!

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Hey Ami!

So you're telling me I have to take this thing out again!? LOL I guess I should have done a better job researching how to clean the carb. I just found the video I saw that did a great breakdown and it showed how many turns out you have to adjust the pilot screw. Grrr. It just looks daunting with that plastic cap thingy on there. But I'll get it done for sure before I throw a new one on there. I don't want to mess the new one up if there is a little leftover debris somewhere.

Those fuel lines ain't cheap! But I guess I might as well go ahead and replace them while I'm at it. There's a part on the schematic that shows for a rubber supporter for the gas line. Is that just slid over the line itself?

I definitely pulled the main jet and emulsion tube out. I cleaned them both well, no plugged up holes or anything. They still looked just as good the second time I took it apart.

Thanks a lot!

No you don't have to take it apart again unless you are sure that some trash didn't get in there.....

Check out my buddy Steve up in the great white north.... He explains this very well and you shouldn't be worried anymore about that plastic piece.... A set of torch tip cleaners work well also ..........

https://youtu.be/JOI293d8XUg

Let us know Mon Ami ~!~!

Thanks Ami! The video is awesome! I wish I saw that the first time I cleaned the carb. I'm still going to buy a new carb, but I'll still clean the pilot jet on the current one just to see if that fixes it for me. I figure it can't hurt right? I'm placing my order tonight for the other stuff so hopefully I'll be able to get a crack at it this weekend. No need in clearing it out with all that junk in the tank and wasting good fuel when I'm going to replace the fuel filter. I'll let you know how it goes! . Thanks!

Thanks Mark! I already ordered everything I need from Boats.net they have the schematics too! I'm just a scaredy cat! LOL

Well I got everything cleaned up and installed tomorrow. Thing roars like a lion now. Not even a hint of a surge! It took a couple of pulls to start the first start, but I am attributing that to it being cold. I let it sit a few hours and was able to start it right up. Woohoo! Thanks again!

mytmouse said:

Well I got everything cleaned up and installed tomorrow. Thing roars like a lion now. Not even a hint of a surge! It took a couple of pulls to start the first start, but I am attributing that to it being cold. I let it sit a few hours and was able to start it right up. Woohoo! Thanks again!

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So what did you do ???? put a new carb on there or did like I said to do ???

Let us know Mon Ami ~!~!

My bad Ami! Well I cleaned the tank, swapped the thermo wax assembly, changed the fuel filter and governor spring, and installed a new carb. I'm still going to clean the old one as practice and pop it back on at some point over the Winter to see if cleaning that idle jet fixes the issue with that one. I didn't change the fuel lines just because they were like $25. I wanted to try to get it running for as cheap as possible before I sunk too much $$ into it. I didn't want to get $100 into it only to see it's more work than I can handle myself. But they'll get changed before the Spring! They obviously work, but I'm trying to get this baby ready for years to come so I figure I should get it done sooner than later. So they will be taken care if!

mytmouse said:

My bad Ami! Well I cleaned the tank, swapped the thermo wax assembly, changed the fuel filter and governor spring, and installed a new carb. I'm still going to clean the old one as practice and pop it back on at some point over the Winter to see if cleaning that idle jet fixes the issue with that one. I didn't change the fuel lines just because they were like $25. I wanted to try to get it running for as cheap as possible before I sunk too much $$ into it. I didn't want to get $100 into it only to see it's more work than I can handle myself. But they'll get changed before the Spring! They obviously work, but I'm trying to get this baby ready for years to come so I figure I should get it done sooner than later. So they will be taken care if!

Click to expand...

Yes you have to do stuff on the money side of things......... Was the carb a chinese knockoff or a Honda carb ??? One time I ordered a china carb for a guy and it didn't pan out ..... He wanted the cheap way out also... So the carb plus shipping to him and my labor cost more than me cleaning the carb in the first place..... Like they say a bought lesson is a learned lesson........... Wow fuel lines are expensive on line ..... Yes you will get some practice doing your old carb realizing there is no kit involved most of the time... Just a good deep cleaning like in the video..... You gonna go DUH when you clean yours....

BTW I am doing a series on a Briggs 6.75 EZ start engine overhaul.... The Hondas and the Briggs are so easy to recondition ......

My channel name is Boo LuQuette .... Here is the link to my 1st video on that series...... kinda boring I think ....Plus Tard Mon Ami ~!~!

https://youtu.be/ufDblE_IWNs

Boudreaux In Eunice La. said:

Yes you have to do stuff on the money side of things......... Was the carb a chinese knockoff or a Honda carb ??? One time I ordered a china carb for a guy and it didn't pan out ..... He wanted the cheap way out also... So the carb plus shipping to him and my labor cost more than me cleaning the carb in the first place..... Like they say a bought lesson is a learned lesson........... Wow fuel lines are expensive on line ..... Yes you will get some practice doing your old carb realizing there is no kit involved most of the time... Just a good deep cleaning like in the video..... You gonna go DUH when you clean yours....

BTW I am doing a series on a Briggs 6.75 EZ start engine overhaul.... The Hondas and the Briggs are so easy to recondition ......

My channel name is Boo LuQuette .... Here is the link to my 1st video on that series...... kinda boring I think ....Plus Tard Mon Ami ~!~!

https://youtu.be/ufDblE_IWNs

Click to expand...

I went with with an OEM carb. The price was like $14 so I didn't even look at the cost of the knockoffs. Shipping still was like 20% of my order though so I am thinking that my next order of parts I might just go with my local shop. I had to get some gaskets from them and they bundled my order with someone else's so I wouldn't have to pay shipping. Since I'm in no rush that'll probably be my route next go round. This was my first time ever even tinkering with a small engine! So I'm excited to learn more! That carb will definitely get broken down and cleaned. I've even been looking for some decently priced broken down leaf blowers to see if I can bring them back to life, but I haven't seen anything worthwhile just yet.

I'll definitely check out and subscribe to your page. I have a Briggs and Stratton on my Craftsman. Thing starts first pull every time! I'm sure your videos will help a lot of people thought! If it weren't for the YT videos out there I don't think I would've even thought about messing with the Honda.