Honda GC vs GS engines?

Originally Posted by super20dan
I have a large lawn biz and have run the gc series hard and never had one fail in the camshaft area. cant say the same for briggs. have had several gx and while smooth and ultra reliable are gutless in the power/tourque . I prefer the gc over all other entry level engines.

Interesting, thanks for sharing your experience! Your opinion is that the GC series of engines are more powerful than a GX series of the same displacement?
 
Originally Posted by super20dan
I have a large lawn biz and have run the gc series hard and never had one fail in the camshaft area. cant say the same for briggs. have had several gx and while smooth and ultra reliable are gutless in the power/tourque . I prefer the gc over all other entry level engines.


I got interested in this as well....maybe you meant some other Honda engine series? The GC190 and GX200 seem awfully similar power-wise

GC190
http://www.honda-engines-eu.com/eng...nginedetail_display=power-curve&e=37

GX200
http://www.honda-engines-eu.com/engine-model-details;jsessionid=28D566AF3596912AC5FA247F0A42A18F?p_p_id=enginedetail_WAR_enginedetail&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-4&p_p_col_count=1&_enginedetail_WAR_enginedetail_display=power-curve&e=15
 
Originally Posted by super20dan
I have a large lawn biz and have run the gc series hard and never had one fail in the camshaft area. cant say the same for briggs. have had several gx and while smooth and ultra reliable are gutless in the power/tourque . I prefer the gc over all other entry level engines.



I think this is because a lot of the older Honda mowers had GX engines that were smaller displacement (Honda HR215's had a GXV140 for example). The GCV160 and GCV190 are much more powerful in comparison.

I haven't seen a ton of issues with GCV engines on the customer machines I've worked on (aside from the typical carburetor problems from neglect). I've seen a few issues with the timing belt coming off, but that was a faulty valve cover design on the earlier models that has since been redesigned to better keep the belt aligned on the cam gear. Some of the newer GCV engines with the Auto Choke can be temperamental as the wax cartridge that controls the choke movement can go bad, but those are $15 on ebay and can be replaced fairly easily, or add a manual choke cable. The GCV engines are also very fuel efficient.
 
The worse small engine I've ever owned is that Honda gcv160 on my pressure washer. It drinks oil. Always ran Mobil 1 10W30. I always have to top it up. It would be low after 1 hour of use. Junk. I'm sure it would be fine on a lawnmower but under heavy load it just doesn't last.
 
Originally Posted by FastLane
The worse small engine I've ever owned is that Honda gcv160 on my pressure washer. It drinks oil. Always ran Mobil 1 10W30. I always have to top it up. It would be low after 1 hour of use. Junk. I'm sure it would be fine on a lawnmower but under heavy load it just doesn't last.

I have seen and heard of that as well. Also, the governor shaft on these engines has no seal around it, the "seal" is just the steel shaft against the aluminium block. Needless to say that doesn't work very well, every GCV160 I have seen has leaked oil at the governor shaft. This issue is made even worse when the engine is on a lawn mower that isn't used exclusively on level ground. Very common problem, the block is machined to accept a seal so a lot of people have installed a seal on the shaft.
 
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Originally Posted by super20dan
use straight sae 30 oil and it wont burn so much oil.

10W30 is 30W at normal operating temp anyways. Besides, he's using synthetic, which has low NOACK volatility compared to conventional oil. It is quite difficult to find synthetic 30W oil because most synthetic oils have good enough cold flow properties to qualify as a 10W30 with little to no VI improvers anyways, so a 30W would almost certainly be a conventional oil. However, switching to an oil with a higher hot viscosity such as a 10W40 may help.
 
I switched to straight 30 and made no difference. Since new, it's always had metal in the oil. Honda cheapened out and didn't put a steal sleeve in the bore. Aluminum wears fast under heavy load it appears.

I would be surprised if there is 20 hours running time on the engine. In the fall it's going to the dump. I'm going to buy a higher grade pressure washer. Horizontal shaft for sure.
 
15W-40 HDEO would provide more protection.....but any aluminum bore engine is consumer grade - no matter who makes it.
 
Originally Posted by tundraotto
15W-40 HDEO would provide more protection.....but any aluminum bore engine is consumer grade - no matter who makes it.

Oh dear this is turning into an oil debate now
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I run 5W30 synthetic in all my small engines year round and none of them burn any noticeable amount of oil between oil changes. I buy 5W30 synthetic a few jugs at a time and use it in my car and all my small engines, currently Pennzoil Ultra Platinum. If I was buying oil specifically for summer use in my small engines I would get 10W40 synthetic. I think within reason thicker is better for small engines in the summer and I see no reason to not use synthetic oil as cheap as they are these days, it can be had for less than $4 a quart if you look around. Briggs recommends 15W50 synthetic for hot climates now while Honda and Predator still recommend 10W30 or SAE 30.
 
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