Really helpful - thank-you! Once I figured out what engine my old Hayter Motif 48 had, I found your video quickly and it was exactly what I needed! My last task is to make sure I put the two linkages to the carb and the spring back in the right holes, but hopefully the pics I took before I started will help with that! Thanks again!
Excellent Michael - it's getting to that time of year again - I even dusted down and fired up the hedge trimmer a couple of weeks ago, far earlier than I usually venture out!!!
The idle mixture screw limiting cap is heldl in place on the screw with a locking adhesive like Loctite, warming the cap wit a hot air gun will enable removing it from the screw below which is slotted so can then be removed with a conventional screwdriver. I recommend replacing the cap once rebuild and adjustments are made as the cap does stop vibrations from shaking the screw completely out of the carb.
Awesome, cheers Mike, I'll try that next time I have to fix a carb with one of those limiting devices - that makes a lot of sense, after all, they had to install the thing in the first place.
The anti tamper cap offers no purpose, the spring holds the tension on the adjustment screw. For anyone interested the adjustment screw should be roughly 1 ¾ turn out. If you try to adjust this screw after cutting the tab off you will find that once the adjustment screw bottoms out the cap will spin without turning the adjustment screw, you then have to remove it by pulling it off with pliers. Under the anti tamper cap is another slot for a screwdriver to engage with.
Lovely video! My father-in-law´s machine had been "professionally" serviced and was hunting like a caveman. Had just one gasket on, and a Honda-branded kit that arrived lacked two: the one between the plastic spacer and the engine and one of the two inbetwixt air filter housing, metal mounting plate and carb. Also, forgot to clean the emulsion tube. Give me strength.
Hi Pete, it's kind of annoying when you pay to have stuff sorted like that and it's not done properly, I've lost count of the times I've had to repair a car immediately after it's been fixed/serviced at a garage.
Yeah, I would usually do it that way with a mixture screw on an old carb. Don't really know why I do it in reverse with those tabbed screws but I also double checked the protrusion into the throat of the carb (the needle of the idle screw actually pokes through) and it was definitely set the same when I put it back in. I did have one VERY dirty carb once where I did a belt and braces approach, counting the turns in before counting the turns out - good job too, because there must have been gunge in the bottom of the hole and the needle did a whole turn more once everything was cleaned up. The fuel tank on that one had filled up with water and rusted to bits - fuel tap was left in the "on" position so rusty water had gone right through the carb!
Hi Tester, for the smaller holes I use a set of cheap punches (anything up to about 15mm diameter), and for the bigger holes I use a Olfa compass cutter. I just use scissors for the outer shape. If I'm cutting something tougher, like head gasket material, I place the gasket on a block of wood and use chisels (curved and straight) - many tiny cuts to make a circle, but it does the job.
Hi, not sure if im too late to get a reply, but I've just picked up the same mower and have a problem! It was a freebie, and immediately noticed the ignition coil was resting on the flywheel. Thought that would of been the problem, but after filling the tank with fuel, as soon as i open the fuel shut off valve, fuel comes streaming out of between the plastic air filter housing and carb. Would this just be a gasket replacement, or gasket and foowt value sticking?! Cheers!
Hi Virgil, if the fuel is leaking out of the carb when you turn the fuel on, that does sound like the fuel isn't shutting off when the float chamber is full (unless the drain plug at the bottom of the float chamber is missing or isn't sealing properly - that is assuming that carb has a drain plug, some do and some don't). Additionally, it could also be the petrol feed pipe that's split where it attaches to the carb - sometimes the petrol tracks round the carb, seeming like it's coming from somewhere else. Assuming that it is the float not shutting off the petrol when the float chamber is full, it could be that the float is sticking - probably unlikely, unless the metal pin that forms the pivot is damaged in some way. It could be that the seat for the needle has been damaged or has some grit on the surface that's preventing the needle from sealing the hole. Most likely is that the needle itself is damaged or worn out - some of the modern carbs have a little rubberised section at the tip which might have been damaged or has lost it's elasticity. If you take the carb off, and with the float chamber removed but the float and needle in place, blow through the petrol inlet and then move the float to close the valve - it should need very little pressure - it should seal completely, if it's letting any air through, then it's definitely going to let fuel through.
@@GrumpyTim thank you for the reply! Especially from the time past! Will give it a go tomorrow, following your excellent video! Thanks again, and have a good evening!
Thanks for this. You tackled a lot of niggling faults that may or may not have caused the symptoms. I'm not so sure about that heat shield being the wrong way 'round. I think the bottom part should bend inwards toward the engine; I think the air atmosphere hole being on the rhs meets up -- or should meet up -- with the hole in the engine. Could the gasket on it have slipped? I'm yet to see an explanation of the air passage starting at the filter box with the round recess at the rhs transforming over to the rhs hole in the engine block! How does that happen?? Genuine questions 'cos I'm struggling with this right now! Thanks again.
Hi John, it's so long since I worked on that mower I've forgotten the air passage route - I'll review my footage and the notes I made and see if I can remember and get back to you. I do remember there is something slightly confusing about the air passage that took me a while to figure out, hopefully I made some notes..... With the heat shield on that mower it definitely was fitted the wrong way round when it came to me and was the correct way when it left because that's the only way the holes, including the main bore line up correctly. However, it's entirely possible they made a rogue batch of heat shields with the bend the wrong way (depending on whether the punching of the holes and the bending were done in separate operations or not). The main thing is that the mower now works fine so everyone is happy.
Hi Steve - I had planned to put a link to that fuel tap in the description, but when I searched earlier this year no one seemed to have them - thankfully they seem to be back in stock now, so here's the link www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193175471828 - alternatively, you can search on ebay for Honda Petrol Fuel Tap Valve FitsGCV135 GCV160 16950 ZG9 M02 and you should find it. Hope that helps.
Hi Tim / any good citizens 😄, I've just fitted a new carburetor on my Mountfield Honda Gcv135 and it started almost first time, but now it wont tickover even in hot weather. It cuts out when I bring the lever on the handlebars to turtle speed. The outer choke flap seems to be permanently open. Do I need to set this up? Regards Stuart
Hi Stuart, is the linkage attached to the correct side for the outer choke lever - on my carb the linkage could have been attached to either end of the lever on the choke shaft - it should in theory close the choke flap when you push the lever on the handlebars all the way. Not that the choke being stuck open should have any effect on the running when the engine is warm anyway, so perhaps we should look for other problems. Are all the gaskets on the engine side of the carb fitted and in good condition - if these are leaking air, it can really mess up the slow running. Check these first because there's no point doing any of the other adjustments if the gaskets are leaking. Is the air filter clean/new - you can easily isolate the air filter by trying the engine without the air filter (don't do any mowing, you don't want loads of junk getting sucked into the engine). If it's a new carb, does it have one of those anti-tamper lugs on the slow running jet adjustment screw? If it doesn't, you could screw that in as far as it will go without forcing it (making sure you count the number of turns or part turns exactly) write down the number of turns so you don't forget it. Then return this screw to it's start position and with the engine running, adjust this screw in a quarter of a turn at a time to see if that improves the situation. If that doesn't help or makes the engine run worse, return it to the start position and this time screw it out a quarter of a turn at a time. Let me know how you get on, I can always try to think up some other things to check. Cheers
When they said laser back then in the 90s and early 2000 people think of lightsabers, granted you would be arrested for wielding a plasma cutter as a gardening tool,,.......but for reason its ok to use viking style axe
Funnily enough I always used to fancy the idea of a laser lawnmower - it seemed like a great idea - just gliding along with the mower silently sizzling the top off the blades of grass. I probably didn't consider the massive electricity cable trailing behind the mower!!!!
Hi Grumpy Tim from an everso grumpy barry I have one of these beasts [honda gcv135]. Have serviced it and checked every thing over several times. Am used to servicing small machines but this one has got me stumped. It runs well as one would expect for a count of 18 [precisly] then just stops. It starts again just as easily after a similar count hot or cold. Fuel poblem you might think, sticking needle, blocked jets, poor fuel I even turned the fuel tap on. You name it I done it. Can you think of anything that could save it from the scrap heap. Comments on a postcard please?
Hi Barry, here's my list of possible suggestions - forgive me if you've already tried some/all of these, but here goes: I have has similar issues on a couple of occasions, both were due to fuel starvation - one was on another Honda mower which had a gauze/filter/mesh in the base of the fuel tank where the outlet was - the gauze/filter/mesh had got partially gummed up with old dried fuel and other debris - fuel could trickle through, enough to fill the float chamber but as soon as the engine drank the fuel in the float chamber it didn't refill fast enough and the engine stopped. Simple test, remove the fuel pipe from the carb end, and with fuel in the tank, turn the fuel tap on and you should get a pretty good trickle that continues until there's no more fuel in the tank. If a bit comes out and then it slows down, it could be a blocked gauze/filter/mesh. Additionally, the same issue could be caused if the air bleed hole in the petrol cap isn't letting air into the tank - simple test, remove the filler cap and try again. On another engine, I think it was a petrol hedge trimmer (probably not applicable to the Honda but I can't remember much about that carb now), there was a very fine gauze within the carb itself - it didn't even look like gauze, it just looked like a blanking plug, anyway, the gauze was clogged, causing the engine to stop after a few seconds. I presume you've checked that all the small ports in the carb are clear - the main jet should be obvious, but I think there's a tiny hole to the side that's the slow running jet - if that or any air bleed passages are blocked or restricted, it can cause problems. Does the engine stall the same if you leave it on choke? It doesn't sound like a spark issue - if it happened when the engine was warm and then got better when it was cold it could have been a failing coil pack but from your description it definitely sounds like a fuel issue.
Hi Again grumpy Tim and thank you for your very valued input. Your comments were very useful and would serve as an excellent check list to anyone who was not familiar with small engines. I had run the engine without the petrol cap and there is no filter in the petrol tank. A bit unusual. I have blown and poked through all orifices and fuel lines. The poor design of this engine makes getting to the carburettor difficult to make any adjustments. My next and last attempt will be to remove and re fix the carburettor without the filter casing to enable better access to the carburettor and then set up a separate fuel supply direct into the carburettor. I have one last question if your memory serves you and that would be for any initial settings of the carb screws if I managed to get the engine running long enough to warm up. If that fails then its back to using my older B&S engine which has not let me down in over 30 years now. Many thanks for your for your time and interest BK.
Hi Barry, that does sound like you've covered most things - it's bound to be something simple.......maybe!!! I do like the Honda engines, they're really sweet compared to the old Briggs and Stratton, BUT the Hondas do seem to have the odd weird issue (usually carb related) where they become unreliable, whereas the B&S clatters on forever. Good call to rig up an alternative fuel supply, always worth a try. Once you've gained better access by removing that annoying air filter housing, you could also check that the governor linkage isn't doing something freaky that's shutting off the engine (pretty unlikely but worth a look). I can't remember the idle mixture screw setting but I usually go for all the way in then 1 and a half turns back out if I'm working on a carb that's been meddled with - there's no science to that, other than it's often not too far from the right place. I did find after market replacement carbs to fit that engine on ebay for not a lot of money - no idea how well made they are, and of course there's still no guarantee that the carb is the issue. I suppose it could still potentially be an issue with the coil pack - they're a sealed unit and there's a transistor somewhere in there that does the job of the old mechanical points - and semiconductors can fail in odd ways - rather difficult to test as the thing starts working again so soon. I suppose with the plug out and clamped to the block you might be able to spin the engine with a cordless drill driving a socket onto the flywheel to see if the spark fizzles out after a while. That's a bit of a long shot - I've only had coil packs that either work or don't work, and then it's pretty easy to diagnose the fault.
Hi, i have the same engine and the machine hasn’t let me down in 12 years all of sudden when i put it to one side to clean at the bottom the oil started coming out of the air filter housing? Why do you think that is? Sorry to say i haven’t serviced it once since i got it and now after a good clean service hopefully it will fire up again! The oil was pretty thick and burning smell.. I hope its fine fingers crossed 🤞 Thank you for any advice.
Hi, i have the same engine and the machine hasn’t let me down in 12 years all of sudden when i put it to one side to clean at the bottom the oil started coming out of the air filter housing? Why do you think that is? Sorry to say i haven’t serviced it once since i got it and now after a good clean service hopefully it will fire up again! The oil was pretty thick and burning smell.. I hope its fine fingers crossed 🤞 Thank you for any advice.
Hi iTapplikechicken, I haven't got that mower to look at now as I was fixing it for someone else, but I would imagine that there's an oil breather from the crank case to the air inlet - oily emissions from the crankcase will just get burnt as the engine runs rather than having a sludgy oily breather pipe that vents to the atmosphere or drops onto the ground (the kind of stuff you'd find on older mowers). If I'm correct, other than maybe soaking the air filter in oil (you'll need to clean that), it shouldn't have done any harm. You may even have to clean the carb slightly if the dirty oil has managed to block anything, but I doubt it will be a problem. You will need to, at very least, check the oil level and top it up, but after 12 years the oil will be so knackered that it really won't be lubricating very well at all, so I'd really suggest doing an oil change.
@@GrumpyTim thanks Tim for all the input… yes fresh oil new air filter new spark plug and a good clean hopefully will fire up and start working with out any issues.. gave the carb a good clean believe it or not after 12 years wasn’t even dirty, the oil had to pass through there to the air filter which was soaked! I’ve deep cleaned the air filter housing just waiting for the oil to arrive before turning it over😉👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Excellent, with a bit of luck you'll be all good then. Oh yeah, I was thinking, after my first reply, just because I say you SHOULD change the oil more frequently doesn't necessarily mean that I always follow my own advice - I've often run a mower for far more years than I should without an oil change, always promising myself that I'll do it next week!!!!!
Really helpful - thank-you! Once I figured out what engine my old Hayter Motif 48 had, I found your video quickly and it was exactly what I needed! My last task is to make sure I put the two linkages to the carb and the spring back in the right holes, but hopefully the pics I took before I started will help with that! Thanks again!
Excellent Michael - it's getting to that time of year again - I even dusted down and fired up the hedge trimmer a couple of weeks ago, far earlier than I usually venture out!!!
The idle mixture screw limiting cap is heldl in place on the screw with a locking adhesive like Loctite, warming the cap wit a hot air gun will enable removing it from the screw below which is slotted so can then be removed with a conventional screwdriver. I recommend replacing the cap once rebuild and adjustments are made as the cap does stop vibrations from shaking the screw completely out of the carb.
Awesome, cheers Mike, I'll try that next time I have to fix a carb with one of those limiting devices - that makes a lot of sense, after all, they had to install the thing in the first place.
The anti tamper cap offers no purpose, the spring holds the tension on the adjustment screw.
For anyone interested the adjustment screw should be roughly 1 ¾ turn out.
If you try to adjust this screw after cutting the tab off you will find that once the adjustment screw bottoms out the cap will spin without turning the adjustment screw, you then have to remove it by pulling it off with pliers.
Under the anti tamper cap is another slot for a screwdriver to engage with.
Lovely video! My father-in-law´s machine had been "professionally" serviced and was hunting like a caveman. Had just one gasket on, and a Honda-branded kit that arrived lacked two: the one between the plastic spacer and the engine and one of the two inbetwixt air filter housing, metal mounting plate and carb. Also, forgot to clean the emulsion tube. Give me strength.
Hi Pete, it's kind of annoying when you pay to have stuff sorted like that and it's not done properly, I've lost count of the times I've had to repair a car immediately after it's been fixed/serviced at a garage.
Thanks chief, this video was almost like having that second pair of eyes when going through my own repair 👏👏
Awesome firebatathome, hope it helped and your own mower is back running.
Excellent, thank you.
Cheers Paul.
Good work. My only comment though is that normally you do a screw all the way up counting turns before you remove it rather than count on the way out.
Yeah, I would usually do it that way with a mixture screw on an old carb. Don't really know why I do it in reverse with those tabbed screws but I also double checked the protrusion into the throat of the carb (the needle of the idle screw actually pokes through) and it was definitely set the same when I put it back in.
I did have one VERY dirty carb once where I did a belt and braces approach, counting the turns in before counting the turns out - good job too, because there must have been gunge in the bottom of the hole and the needle did a whole turn more once everything was cleaned up. The fuel tank on that one had filled up with water and rusted to bits - fuel tap was left in the "on" position so rusty water had gone right through the carb!
Kind of wishing I'd done it the other way in the video now!!!
Brilliant, thank you! What do you use to cut your gaskets, please?
Hi Tester, for the smaller holes I use a set of cheap punches (anything up to about 15mm diameter), and for the bigger holes I use a Olfa compass cutter. I just use scissors for the outer shape. If I'm cutting something tougher, like head gasket material, I place the gasket on a block of wood and use chisels (curved and straight) - many tiny cuts to make a circle, but it does the job.
@@GrumpyTim thanks for that - painstaking, but worth it, as that gasket looks perfect.
Hi, not sure if im too late to get a reply, but I've just picked up the same mower and have a problem! It was a freebie, and immediately noticed the ignition coil was resting on the flywheel. Thought that would of been the problem, but after filling the tank with fuel, as soon as i open the fuel shut off valve, fuel comes streaming out of between the plastic air filter housing and carb. Would this just be a gasket replacement, or gasket and foowt value sticking?! Cheers!
Hi Virgil, if the fuel is leaking out of the carb when you turn the fuel on, that does sound like the fuel isn't shutting off when the float chamber is full (unless the drain plug at the bottom of the float chamber is missing or isn't sealing properly - that is assuming that carb has a drain plug, some do and some don't). Additionally, it could also be the petrol feed pipe that's split where it attaches to the carb - sometimes the petrol tracks round the carb, seeming like it's coming from somewhere else.
Assuming that it is the float not shutting off the petrol when the float chamber is full, it could be that the float is sticking - probably unlikely, unless the metal pin that forms the pivot is damaged in some way. It could be that the seat for the needle has been damaged or has some grit on the surface that's preventing the needle from sealing the hole. Most likely is that the needle itself is damaged or worn out - some of the modern carbs have a little rubberised section at the tip which might have been damaged or has lost it's elasticity.
If you take the carb off, and with the float chamber removed but the float and needle in place, blow through the petrol inlet and then move the float to close the valve - it should need very little pressure - it should seal completely, if it's letting any air through, then it's definitely going to let fuel through.
@@GrumpyTim thank you for the reply! Especially from the time past! Will give it a go tomorrow, following your excellent video! Thanks again, and have a good evening!
Thanks for this. You tackled a lot of niggling faults that may or may not have caused the symptoms. I'm not so sure about that heat shield being the wrong way 'round. I think the bottom part should bend inwards toward the engine; I think the air atmosphere hole being on the rhs meets up -- or should meet up -- with the hole in the engine. Could the gasket on it have slipped? I'm yet to see an explanation of the air passage starting at the filter box with the round recess at the rhs transforming over to the rhs hole in the engine block! How does that happen?? Genuine questions 'cos I'm struggling with this right now!
Thanks again.
Hi John, it's so long since I worked on that mower I've forgotten the air passage route - I'll review my footage and the notes I made and see if I can remember and get back to you. I do remember there is something slightly confusing about the air passage that took me a while to figure out, hopefully I made some notes.....
With the heat shield on that mower it definitely was fitted the wrong way round when it came to me and was the correct way when it left because that's the only way the holes, including the main bore line up correctly. However, it's entirely possible they made a rogue batch of heat shields with the bend the wrong way (depending on whether the punching of the holes and the bending were done in separate operations or not). The main thing is that the mower now works fine so everyone is happy.
Hi GrumpyTim. Great video with easy to follow instructions, Thanks. Do you have a link please for the fuel shut off valve Cheers Steve
Hi Steve - I had planned to put a link to that fuel tap in the description, but when I searched earlier this year no one seemed to have them - thankfully they seem to be back in stock now, so here's the link www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193175471828 - alternatively, you can search on ebay for Honda Petrol Fuel Tap Valve FitsGCV135 GCV160 16950 ZG9 M02 and you should find it.
Hope that helps.
Hi Tim / any good citizens 😄, I've just fitted a new carburetor on my Mountfield Honda Gcv135 and it started almost first time, but now it wont tickover even in hot weather. It cuts out when I bring the lever on the handlebars to turtle speed. The outer choke flap seems to be permanently open. Do I need to set this up? Regards Stuart
Hi Stuart, is the linkage attached to the correct side for the outer choke lever - on my carb the linkage could have been attached to either end of the lever on the choke shaft - it should in theory close the choke flap when you push the lever on the handlebars all the way. Not that the choke being stuck open should have any effect on the running when the engine is warm anyway, so perhaps we should look for other problems.
Are all the gaskets on the engine side of the carb fitted and in good condition - if these are leaking air, it can really mess up the slow running. Check these first because there's no point doing any of the other adjustments if the gaskets are leaking.
Is the air filter clean/new - you can easily isolate the air filter by trying the engine without the air filter (don't do any mowing, you don't want loads of junk getting sucked into the engine).
If it's a new carb, does it have one of those anti-tamper lugs on the slow running jet adjustment screw? If it doesn't, you could screw that in as far as it will go without forcing it (making sure you count the number of turns or part turns exactly) write down the number of turns so you don't forget it. Then return this screw to it's start position and with the engine running, adjust this screw in a quarter of a turn at a time to see if that improves the situation. If that doesn't help or makes the engine run worse, return it to the start position and this time screw it out a quarter of a turn at a time.
Let me know how you get on, I can always try to think up some other things to check.
Cheers
When they said laser back then in the 90s and early 2000 people think of lightsabers, granted you would be arrested for wielding a plasma cutter as a gardening tool,,.......but for reason its ok to use viking style axe
Funnily enough I always used to fancy the idea of a laser lawnmower - it seemed like a great idea - just gliding along with the mower silently sizzling the top off the blades of grass. I probably didn't consider the massive electricity cable trailing behind the mower!!!!
Hi Grumpy Tim from an everso grumpy barry I have one of these beasts [honda gcv135]. Have serviced it and checked every thing over several times. Am used to servicing small machines but this one has got me stumped. It runs well as one would expect for a count of 18 [precisly] then just stops. It starts again just as easily after a similar count hot or cold. Fuel poblem you might think, sticking needle, blocked jets, poor fuel I even turned the fuel tap on. You name it I done it. Can you think of anything that could save it from the scrap heap. Comments on a postcard please?
Hi Barry, here's my list of possible suggestions - forgive me if you've already tried some/all of these, but here goes:
I have has similar issues on a couple of occasions, both were due to fuel starvation - one was on another Honda mower which had a gauze/filter/mesh in the base of the fuel tank where the outlet was - the gauze/filter/mesh had got partially gummed up with old dried fuel and other debris - fuel could trickle through, enough to fill the float chamber but as soon as the engine drank the fuel in the float chamber it didn't refill fast enough and the engine stopped. Simple test, remove the fuel pipe from the carb end, and with fuel in the tank, turn the fuel tap on and you should get a pretty good trickle that continues until there's no more fuel in the tank. If a bit comes out and then it slows down, it could be a blocked gauze/filter/mesh. Additionally, the same issue could be caused if the air bleed hole in the petrol cap isn't letting air into the tank - simple test, remove the filler cap and try again.
On another engine, I think it was a petrol hedge trimmer (probably not applicable to the Honda but I can't remember much about that carb now), there was a very fine gauze within the carb itself - it didn't even look like gauze, it just looked like a blanking plug, anyway, the gauze was clogged, causing the engine to stop after a few seconds.
I presume you've checked that all the small ports in the carb are clear - the main jet should be obvious, but I think there's a tiny hole to the side that's the slow running jet - if that or any air bleed passages are blocked or restricted, it can cause problems.
Does the engine stall the same if you leave it on choke?
It doesn't sound like a spark issue - if it happened when the engine was warm and then got better when it was cold it could have been a failing coil pack but from your description it definitely sounds like a fuel issue.
Hi Again grumpy Tim and thank you for your very valued input. Your comments were very useful and would serve as an excellent check list to anyone who was not familiar with small engines. I had run the engine without the petrol cap and there is no filter in the petrol tank. A bit unusual. I have blown and poked through all orifices and fuel lines. The poor design of this engine makes getting to the carburettor difficult to make any adjustments. My next and last attempt will be to remove and re fix the carburettor without the filter casing to enable better access to the carburettor and then set up a separate fuel supply direct into the carburettor. I have one last question if your memory serves you and that would be for any initial settings of the carb screws if I managed to get the engine running long enough to warm up. If that fails then its back to using my older B&S engine which has not let me down in over 30 years now.
Many thanks for your for your time and interest BK.
Hi Barry, that does sound like you've covered most things - it's bound to be something simple.......maybe!!! I do like the Honda engines, they're really sweet compared to the old Briggs and Stratton, BUT the Hondas do seem to have the odd weird issue (usually carb related) where they become unreliable, whereas the B&S clatters on forever. Good call to rig up an alternative fuel supply, always worth a try. Once you've gained better access by removing that annoying air filter housing, you could also check that the governor linkage isn't doing something freaky that's shutting off the engine (pretty unlikely but worth a look).
I can't remember the idle mixture screw setting but I usually go for all the way in then 1 and a half turns back out if I'm working on a carb that's been meddled with - there's no science to that, other than it's often not too far from the right place.
I did find after market replacement carbs to fit that engine on ebay for not a lot of money - no idea how well made they are, and of course there's still no guarantee that the carb is the issue.
I suppose it could still potentially be an issue with the coil pack - they're a sealed unit and there's a transistor somewhere in there that does the job of the old mechanical points - and semiconductors can fail in odd ways - rather difficult to test as the thing starts working again so soon. I suppose with the plug out and clamped to the block you might be able to spin the engine with a cordless drill driving a socket onto the flywheel to see if the spark fizzles out after a while. That's a bit of a long shot - I've only had coil packs that either work or don't work, and then it's pretty easy to diagnose the fault.
I had this very same issue with my larger GCV160, after exhaustive diagnoses it ended up being the spark plug that was at fault.
Hi, i have the same engine and the machine hasn’t let me down in 12 years all of sudden when i put it to one side to clean at the bottom the oil started coming out of the air filter housing? Why do you think that is? Sorry to say i haven’t serviced it once since i got it and now after a good clean service hopefully it will fire up again! The oil was pretty thick and burning smell.. I hope its fine fingers crossed 🤞
Thank you for any advice.
See reply to your other message.
Hi, i have the same engine and the machine hasn’t let me down in 12 years all of sudden when i put it to one side to clean at the bottom the oil started coming out of the air filter housing? Why do you think that is? Sorry to say i haven’t serviced it once since i got it and now after a good clean service hopefully it will fire up again! The oil was pretty thick and burning smell.. I hope its fine fingers crossed 🤞
Thank you for any advice.
Hi iTapplikechicken, I haven't got that mower to look at now as I was fixing it for someone else, but I would imagine that there's an oil breather from the crank case to the air inlet - oily emissions from the crankcase will just get burnt as the engine runs rather than having a sludgy oily breather pipe that vents to the atmosphere or drops onto the ground (the kind of stuff you'd find on older mowers). If I'm correct, other than maybe soaking the air filter in oil (you'll need to clean that), it shouldn't have done any harm. You may even have to clean the carb slightly if the dirty oil has managed to block anything, but I doubt it will be a problem. You will need to, at very least, check the oil level and top it up, but after 12 years the oil will be so knackered that it really won't be lubricating very well at all, so I'd really suggest doing an oil change.
@@GrumpyTim thanks Tim for all the input… yes fresh oil new air filter new spark plug and a good clean hopefully will fire up and start working with out any issues.. gave the carb a good clean believe it or not after 12 years wasn’t even dirty, the oil had to pass through there to the air filter which was soaked! I’ve deep cleaned the air filter housing just waiting for the oil to arrive before turning it over😉👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Excellent, with a bit of luck you'll be all good then. Oh yeah, I was thinking, after my first reply, just because I say you SHOULD change the oil more frequently doesn't necessarily mean that I always follow my own advice - I've often run a mower for far more years than I should without an oil change, always promising myself that I'll do it next week!!!!!