QuestionQUESTION: I was mowing yesterday and my mower all of a sudden stalled. I pulled the cord and it started, but immediately stalled. I put on the choke and it started and ran somewhat normal. Today when I tried to mow my lawn, it stalled with the choke on after the first pass. I took the carb off and cleaned it up. I changed the air filter. When I put it back together, it took a little bit to started it (fuel had to make it's way to the engine), but started with the choke on. I was able to mow my front yard. When I cut the choke to see if it would still run, it stalled immediately. It has to have compression, spark and fuel to be running, so what might make it not run unless the choke is on? It's model #222390X99B and date code is 02049. It is a Yard King Elite 22 inch cut with a 5.5 Honda GCV 160 engine on it.
ANSWER: Well lets give this some thought. Does the choke being on change anything with the spark? No Does it change anything dealing with the compression? No What it is doing is changing the fuel mixture, making a more rich mixture (more fuel) by cutting down the amount of air let in to the carb. Now that leaves us with the problem of figuring out why it is lacking fuel, and needs the choke closed to compensate for it. We first must find where the fuel is stopping, is there a good flow of fuel to the carb? If the answer is yes, then a fuel path, or circuit in the carb was over looked, either the main jet, or within the idle circuit. Unless you have years of experience with small engines, and keep up with the different carbs and models, chances are most folks don't truly know how to clean a carb all the way. It is extremely hard to spot a bad float needle, or a bad seat too. I do know one thing, the float needle on a Honda is about $30, about 8 times the amount of a Briggs needle. On more than one occasion I have tried to spare the customer a few dollars and just cleaned it, and found myself going to back and removing the carb again and replacing it. If there is not a good fuel supply to the carb, you have to back track checking the fuel filter, the lines, and all the way back to the tank, not forgetting to make sure the fuel cap vent is not restricted. Tom
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QUESTION: I emptied the tank and tried to see a filter, but saw none in it. I took the tank off, disconnected the fuel line from the tank to the petcock and no blockage was evident. I disconnected the fuel line from the petcock to the carburetor and no blockage was evident. I took the carburetor assembly apart again to visually inspect everything again. The float appears to be operating fine. The needle appears to be supported by the float and correctly installed. I only see one fuel tunnel going from the fuel line to the fuel bulb housing. It appears to be clean and free of obstruction. From the fuel bulb housing, there is a fuel tunnel which goes directly into the air path and this tunnel appears to be clean and obstruction free.
Are there any other fuel paths that I am not seeing and should be looking at? This seems to be an extremely basic aparatus. On the opposite side of the fuel bulb housing, I have two butterfly valves. One for the throttle and one for the choke. There is a set screw on the throttle which controls the idle. Just behind the throttle butterfly is a very small pin which is also on a spring type screw, but doesn't appear to have more than a quarter turn adjustment. I'm not sure what that is or what it does, but it seems it would somehow read the mixture of fuel to air ratio. Any additional help you can provide would be wonderful. I feel like there should be something more to this carburetor.
Some of the numbers on the carburetor are:
On the outlet side top...62BDPA14
Just above the fuel bulb housing by the fuel line connection it says....KEI HIN
and then has a T under it in the middle.
Thanks again,
James
AnswerThere should also be some main jets, usually brass in color. Sometimes it is the bolt that holds the float cover on, does it have holes in the bolt, are they clear? remove the brass jet screwed into the under side of the carb is it clear? The screw with the spring is the low idle adjustment, they usually aren't open that much........Tom
