Honda GCV160- no start

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Hello all-

I have a 5 year old Honda mower w/ a GCV160 engine. This year, it was not running smoothly after being stored for the winter season (always ran dry with stabilized fuel).

Instead of rebuilding the carb, I went ahead and replaced it with a new Honda carb as it was cheap and easy to do. I did this last weekend, and it started multiple times and ran great for that mowing session.

Today, the mower refuses to start (and stay running) after about 20 min of trying. It did start roughly 2x and quickly stalled- almost like fuel starvation...

The plug is new this year and is clean.

Any ideas at what I should look at before I start tearing into it again?

Thanks!
 
I am not familiar with that engine, so the following is just some general ideas of things to check. It may be that some of them do not apply to your engine.

Is there a fuel filter screen either in the tank or on a line? 5 years of use on a fuel filter is enough to cause it to clog. If it has a metal tank, also look for rust in the tank.

Does it have a fuel line that you could pull off of the carb with the engine stone cold, and check fuel flow by simply letting fuel run from that fuel line? Don't do this anywhere near an ignition source such as a pilot light on a water-heater.

If the fuel line is good, the next thing to check would be
valve clearances.

If the valve clearance is good the next thing to check would be spark, and also the timing of the spark. Most mowers have a pin that keeps the rotating parts for the ignition in sync. If that pin brakes the timing will be off. Many times engines with this problem will try to rip your arm off when you pull the rope.

Also pay attention to the emergency shut off lever on the handle and the linkage it uses.
 
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Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
I am not familiar with that engine, so the following is just some general ideas of things to check. It may be that some of them do not apply to your engine.

Is there a fuel filter screen either in the tank or on a line? 5 years of use on a fuel filter is enough to cause it to clog. If it has a metal tank, also look for rust in the tank.

Does it have a fuel line that you could pull off of the carb with the engine stone cold, and check fuel flow by simply letting fuel run from that fuel line? Don't do this anywhere near an ignition source such as a pilot light on a water-heater.

If the fuel line is good, the next thing to check would be
valve clearances.

If the valve clearance is good the next thing to check would be spark, and also the timing of the spark. Most mowers have a pin that keeps the rotating parts for the ignition in sync. If that pin brakes the timing will be off. Many times engines with this problem will try to rip your arm off when you pull the rope.

Also pay attention to the emergency shut off lever on the handle and the linkage it uses.



Jim has it pretty much nailed other than the valve clearance thing. I've got 12 gas powered compressors running the 5.5hp 160 Honda engine. A few have over 10000 hours on them and never have we had any valve issues.
Just in case though check the oil. Those motors have a low oil alert and the engine will cut out if oil level is low. They can be tempermental and will shut off if even 1/4 quart low.
I'd look at oil first,then start looking for a blockage. It will be something simple. Those engines are very durable.
There is a screw on the bottom of the bowl. Remove it and see if fuel comes out. Leave it out as you try to pull start the engine. It should pour very fast from that hole. If not then there is a fuel clog somewhere.
I'm betting oil though.
 
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Also, check your new spark plug's gap. The gap should most likely be .03 inch. I replaced my mowers plug and did not check the gap beforehand. My mower would not start and if it did start, it ran poorly. Turns out the new plug had a gap of > .06 inch. I gapped the new plug to .03 and starts first pull and runs great.

I did not realize how important spark plug gaps were until then... I always know where my spark plug gapper tool is now.
 
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Originally Posted By: CharlieJ
Also, check your new spark plug's gap. The gap should most likely be .03 inch. I replaced my mowers plug and did not check the gap beforehand. My mower would not start and if it did start, it ran poorly. Turns out the new plug had a gap of > .06 inch. I gapped the new plug to .03 and starts first pull and runs great.

I did not realize how important spark plug gaps were until then... I always know where my spark plug gapper tool is now.


He said it ran fine for the previous mowing session. If gap was the issue then would it not have presented itself when first installed?
 
I would check it anyway just to be sure. Oddly enough my mower started right up when I first installed the new plug with >.06 gap. It wasn't until a few starts later when it just stopped starting for good.

I thought it was fuel starvation at first like the OP mentions. I cleaned the carb twice before I checked the plug.
 
I don't even gap mine when I change them and haven't yet had an issue whatsoever. Like I said I've got 12 of the 5.5hp 160cc Honda engines,but im not saying it can't happen
 
Honda's vertical shaft engines don't use an oil alert system like some of their horizontal shaft engines do. This engine may be low on oil, but that's not the reason it doesn't start.

OP, check the choke. These engines usually have the ACRS, the Automatic Choke Release System. If you have a grey choke lever on top of the air cleaner housing, and it begins to move forward (releasing) when you pull the operator presence bail, then you have this system. It's spring-powered, with a prescribed amount of friction to modulate the speed. It gets finnicky after a while and I've found that it's best to simply disable it, and make it a manual choke. Also, take the air cleaner housing off to ensure that when you move the grey choke lever aft, that it's actually pulling the choke closed. Once you get in there, you'll be able to see how you can modify it so that it doesn't pull off automatically.
 
Did you fall into the same trap others fall into and use the existing fuel from your gas can? Hopefully, you drained and blew out the engine's gas tank (and fuel line) too when you replaced the carb.

If you didn't get rid of the old (suspect) fuel, you need to pull the carb and clean it up as if it was two years old already.

Preachy, preachy, preachy...
 
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Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
These engines usually have the ACRS, the Automatic Choke Release System.


This. The auto-choke is a piece of garbage that quits working after a few years.

Best thing to do is either convert it to a manual choke, or just give the [censored] a shot of starting fluid.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Honda's vertical shaft engines don't use an oil alert system like some of their horizontal shaft engines do. This engine may be low on oil, but that's not the reason it doesn't start.

OP, check the choke. These engines usually have the ACRS, the Automatic Choke Release System. If you have a grey choke lever on top of the air cleaner housing, and it begins to move forward (releasing) when you pull the operator presence bail, then you have this system. It's spring-powered, with a prescribed amount of friction to modulate the speed. It gets finnicky after a while and I've found that it's best to simply disable it, and make it a manual choke. Also, take the air cleaner housing off to ensure that when you move the grey choke lever aft, that it's actually pulling the choke closed. Once you get in there, you'll be able to see how you can modify it so that it doesn't pull off automatically.


Thank you. I didn't know that.
 
Thanks for all of the help gang!

I did change the oil and it is great (did that last month).
I will double check the spark plug gap- i think it is fine but will look.
This one does have the automatic choke system, I'll play with the mechanism and make sure it is still working.

I'll report back later with my findings... Thanks again!!
 
75% of the no start or start and cut off are solved with a new spark plug (even if the plug in the mower is newish) Mine ended up being the coil, but read the whole thread in the link that I provided. It is very intersting.
 
My Generac ix2000 inverter generator seems to be sensitive to being on a level surface during start up. The oil is at the proper level, but when it did not want to start one time, I noticed the slight slope to the ground it was on and held it level with one hand and pulled the rope. It started with the first pull after leveling it. After it started I put the end I had lifted back down on the ground and it continued to run. I am not sure that leveling it made a difference, but it may have.

So one of the things to look for is that the motor is on level ground while starting.
 
I have the same mower and had an issue where it would only start with starting fluid. I then noticed that the choke was always open. Fixed the auto choke and it starts on the 1st or 2nd pull.
 
I'd bet that the linkages/springs for the auto joke were not replaced the proper way when you installed your new carb. See if you can google your mower model # and find pics/parts diagrams of the linkage setup.
 
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