Customer gave me a mower for free!

[The motor guy]

So every so often a customer will give me a weed whacker or mower. Usually it doesnt work, but this customer gave me a honda with the quadra cut system and gcv160 mower. Thing started up first try! First time anyone gave me a working mower. He wanted to buy an electric mower Anyways, this thing has some power! I do believe these have a belt for the camshaft though. Can't remember if those are problematic or not. Auto choke too. But man is this thing not epa friendly. Reminds me of my mom's old lawn boy silver series with the 4.5hp tecumseh lol

 

[The motor guy]

Front tires are a bit crooked and have a lot of slop. Wonder if maybe they ran I to it with the car when in the garage. Maybe the plastic tires are wallowed out, not really sure yet.

 

[shortyb]

Nice score. The front brackets for the wheels are notorious for getting a lot of slop in them, and are hard to get tight again without resorting to replacement. Not EPA friendly? Running rich?

 

[The motor guy]

Nice score. The front brackets for the wheels are notorious for getting a lot of slop in them, and are hard to get tight again without resorting to replacement. Not EPA friendly? Running rich?

Idk, it just gives a good black puff of smoke at first that goes away a few seconds after starting. None of my equivalent hp kohlers or kawasaki engines do that. I'm not sure how old this particular mower is though. It runs nice and clean after it fires up though. Nothing wrong with it, just nature of the beast

 

[shortyb]

As long as it runs smoothly once warm, should be good to go. The auto-chokes on the GCVs seem to give out after a few years and the default for a defective thermowax insert is choke closed. Also, the low speed carb circuits are tiny and get plugged up easily, causing poor running as well. I stopped stripping carbs apart to clean and rebuild them, just get a new one for about $25. Should last you quite a while.

 

[The motor guy]

As long as it runs smoothly once warm, should be good to go. The auto-chokes on the GCVs seem to give out after a few years and the default for a defective thermowax insert is choke closed. Also, the low speed carb circuits are tiny and get plugged up easily, causing poor running as well. I stopped stripping carbs apart to clean and rebuild them, just get a new one for about $25. Should last you quite a while.

It runs great. No surging or anything. Just haven't smelled that kind of exhaust fumes in years lol

 

[wavinwayne]

Can't beat free!!! Nice score.

 

[The motor guy]

Nice score. The front brackets for the wheels are notorious for getting a lot of slop in them, and are hard to get tight again without resorting to replacement. Not EPA friendly? Running rich?

That's one of the differences between commercial mowers and the residential junk. They have actual wheel bearings and beefy adjustment brackets, among other things of course.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Normal for those engines to smoke a bit at startup.

I like these rubber band engines. Honda made a cheap engine that can actually last a lifetime.

I personally hate Auto Choke pellets. If you can score an aftermarket carb, and throttle linkage you can convert to manual choke.

 

[The motor guy]

Normal for those engines to smoke a bit at startup.

I like these rubber band engines. Honda made a cheap engine that can actually last a lifetime.

I personally hate Auto Choke pellets. If you can score an aftermarket carb, and throttle linkage you can convert to manual choke.

Seems to work great. With the amount of smoke at startup, its getting choked pretty good. I have two small engines that don't seem to choke at all and have issues starting is its below 40 degrees outside. One is a kawasaki fj180v and the other is a kohler cv224. The kawasaki may just needed an adjustment, but I didn't see how you could choke the Kohler anymore than it already was. Probably an emissions thing. They don't want that puff on startup I bet. I get an extra 600rpm on the choke setting on that engine, so I just leave it

 

[The motor guy]

Nice score. The front brackets for the wheels are notorious for getting a lot of slop in them, and are hard to get tight again without resorting to replacement. Not EPA friendly? Running rich?

My guess is the threads become galled from flopping around too long. To me it looks like both slop in the bracket and the wheels. It's way more crooked than what the pic shows.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

That auto choke is a waste. Works good for about a season, then condensation, grass, dirt gets hung up in them. Rig up a manual choke, you'll thank yourself a million times over. They remind me of the Rochester spring/heat chokes from the 70's. They never worked right either ... But, it is a HONDA mower. That's a free score by itself !!!!!!! As for the wheels, just tighten and lube up what you can. There not gonna wear rolling over grass anyway. Not a big fan of OHV engines. Too many parts involved with those things, and the plugs are a bear to get out. Gimme an old flathead anyday. Too simple to work on. For you're Honda, put an external paper fuel filter on it. Those rock catchers in the tanks don't do anything. Sharpen the blade, change the oil,new gas, new air filter,new plug, put some stabil-fix in the tank to loosen up any varnish in the carb, lose the auto choke. It will run forever. It's a HONDA !!!!!! GREAT FREEBIE !!!!!!

 

[The motor guy]

That auto choke is a waste. Works good for about a season, then condensation, grass, dirt gets hung up in them. Rig up a manual choke, you'll thank yourself a million times over. They remind me of the Rochester spring/heat chokes from the 70's. They never worked right either ... But, it is a HONDA mower. That's a free score by itself !!!!!!! As for the wheels, just tighten and lube up what you can. There not gonna wear rolling over grass anyway. Not a big fan of OHV engines. Too many parts involved with those things, and the plugs are a bear to get out. Gimme an old flathead anyday. Too simple to work on. For you're Honda, put an external paper fuel filter on it. Those rock catchers in the tanks don't do anything. Sharpen the blade, change the oil,new gas, new air filter,new plug, put some stabil-fix in the tank to loosen up any varnish in the carb, lose the auto choke. It will run forever. It's a HONDA !!!!!! GREAT FREEBIE !!!!!!

Had one of those on my boat. It was a 650cfm holley 4 barrel on a 350 sbc. I dont think the auto choke worked. Bet the spring broke. I replaced it with a crate engine that was fuel injected and starts 1st try. Worst case scenario it starts after the second crank after not being started for a month

 

[oil pan 4]

Front tires are a bit crooked and have a lot of slop. Wonder if maybe they ran I to it with the car when in the garage. Maybe the plastic tires are wallowed out, not really sure yet.

View attachment 263805

Fix it up a bit. See if they hate electric ones as much as most people and they'll be back for it.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Just needs a wheel alignment. Take the front tires off, reverse them. Put the worn part of the tire on the outside. They will eventually even themselves out. LOL

 

[Paco Pena]

I just trash picked the same mower/engine on garbage day. The deck was so rotten that the front wheels effectively had independent suspension. **** thing started first pull. Pulled the engine as a back up for my 30 year old Briggs.

Paco

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Man after my own heart. Luv trash pickin. I'm not ashamed to do it either..... Trash pickin definition : Someone else's trash is you're GOLD ! ( Especially in the rich neighborhood's ) See The Motor Guy....like I said......it's a HONDA !!!! It'll run forever.....

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Paco, I had to cut way back on my trash pickin .....Ran out of room for all the goodies I've found...It's funny though, every fall there are a gazillion mowers, riders,weed wackers out for " bulk trash" pick up. Every spring there are a gazillion snow blowers/ throwers out for " bulk pick up" Even some with signs on them that say " Running & Free ". It's hysterical though. There are hundreds of people like us sifting thru garbage. We cause a traffic nightmare on their " pristine, rich, streets " LOL

 

[The motor guy]

Paco, I had to cut way back on my trash pickin .....Ran out of room for all the goodies I've found...It's funny though, every fall there are a gazillion mowers, riders,weed wackers out for " bulk trash" pick up. Every spring there are a gazillion snow blowers/ throwers out for " bulk pick up" Even some with signs on them that say " Running & Free ". It's hysterical though. There are hundreds of people like us sifting thru garbage. We cause a traffic nightmare on their " pristine, rich, streets " LOL

When is the best time to go?

 

[97prizm]

As long as it runs smoothly once warm, should be good to go. The auto-chokes on the GCVs seem to give out after a few years and the default for a defective thermowax insert is choke closed. Also, the low speed carb circuits are tiny and get plugged up easily, causing poor running as well. I stopped stripping carbs apart to clean and rebuild them, just get a new one for about $25. Should last you quite a while.

I don't understand why a company would use something like "thermowax" for a choke mechanism. Can those be retrofitted?