New Troy Bilt/Honda 160

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May 25, 2005
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ROCHESTER, NY
You guys know this mower as they've been posted here so often.
So, last year my buddy bought a new Troy Bilt push mower w/Honda engine at Home Depot. It's still under warranty providing he can find his receipt.

Yesterday, the engine(started 1st pull) but surged the whole time he cut the lawn.

My question is(providing he can find his receipt), he'll bring it in for warranty work which could take the rest of the summer but, is there a quick fix for this surging issue? Maybe some FSC?

He's still using last years gas, 87 octane e10(w/Sta*Bil) from around July 2019 and the mower ran perfectly during last weeks cutting. I don't believe it's bad gas all of sudden.

Any suggestions?
He went and bought new gas(93 octane non ethanol) and we'll try it sometime today to see if it is indeed poor quality fuel.
 
Try new gas and add some SeaFoam to the gas. Works great on most issues caused by bad gas. Should clean up the surge after a tank or two, depending on how bad it is.
Tell your buddy to pour his mower gas into the car when he puts the mower away for the winter. Then buy new gas in the spring, add stabilizer to it and run the new stabilized gas in it all summer. I also put a dash of 2-cycle oil in my small engine gas can (1oz per 5 gallons). It helps keep the carb and intake valve lubricated. When you run the engine dry, any gas residue left will leave a little oil film and prevent corrosion over the winter.
 
Yesterday I fixed a friend's Briggs mower that was surging. Disconnect the fuel line from carb. Blow air through carb nipple until all the gas sprays out. I used a bicycle pump since he did not have a compressor. Then I hooked up a vacuum pump to the carb nipple. Let it run for ten seconds. Reattach the fuel line, surging gone. Can work on any carb.
 
There is likely a piece of junk stuck in the carburetor, I would give it a good cleaning.

Also, there is a TSB on Honda GCV160's that the governor spring can cause rough running and surging. There is an updated part, I'll have to see if I can find it. I know only certain serial #'s are impacted by this issue.
 
Do a search on YouTube on the Honda engines there's a waxed field pellet that as it heats up it turns to choke off for wide open it's very possible that the wax pellet for the choke is not turning the choke off a fullyI had that happened to my Honda gcv160 the part is an.a couple of gaskets cost me less than $5 but there are YouTube videos on that item look for surging carb Honda gcv160 on YouTube

Convert
 
There is likely a piece of junk stuck in the carburetor, I would give it a good cleaning.

Also, there is a TSB on Honda GCV160's that the governor spring can cause rough running and surging. There is an updated part, I'll have to see if I can find it. I know only certain serial #'s are impacted by this issue.

I believe that this Honda engine has that updated spring from the looks of it. I knew of this prior...Thanks and I will double check for him.
 
* I am aware I am replying to a 2 year old thread.

I bought this exact mower I think it was Sept maybe of 2020, and barely 2 years later it wont start, I used it once this year a few months ago started up and ran fine, went to use it yesterday and no start, dead, the engine doesnt sound like its trying to start.

Took the carb off, cleaned it, drained the tank, cleaned out the inline filter ( I think ), no start, checked the coil pack, it seems to be working properly. Wont start or even try to start when spraying say Seafoam into the carb.
 
This just happened on my Troy Bilt with the Honda GCV160 engine. Last night I took the carburetor off, disassembled, thoroughly cleaned with a can of brake cleaner spray. It was a speck of trash. Take the fuel bowl off, unscrew the jet in the fuel bowl, drop the little brass rod with the metering holes out, take the float and needle out, spray the brake clean through everything (eye protection!) Reassemble. Pay attention to the order that all of the gaskets go back together (YouTube is your friend). Issue solved.
 
Yeah thanks, I came arcoss a video too( maybe the same one) that said take the carb apart and clean the holes out. I will give it a try, not sure what else it could be at this point.
 
Seafoam does not burn very well. To check for lack of fuel use either a very small amount of gasoline, or a spray of starting fluid, which is made for that purpose.

These engines are prone to intake valve stuck open, which causes no compression and it won't fire (sometimes it will backfire but not always). As you pull the starter rope slowly you'll notice that there isn't any normal resistance due to compression.

Another common problem is an internal short in the spark plug, which is best checked by substitution.
 
Seafoam does not burn very well. To check for lack of fuel use either a very small amount of gasoline, or a spray of starting fluid, which is made for that purpose.

These engines are prone to intake valve stuck open, which causes no compression and it won't fire (sometimes it will backfire but not always). As you pull the starter rope slowly you'll notice that there isn't any normal resistance due to compression.

Another common problem is an internal short in the spark plug, which is best checked by substitution.
Ive had Seafoam work a few times as a starting fluid , didnt keep it running but it did get it to fire up.

I took the carb apart a few days ago, cleaned the jet, made sure all the holes were open, did another cleaning on the entire carb( wasnt dirty from when I cleaned a few weeks ago ), still no start, but I did get a small puff of smoke to come out, so thats an improvement as that didnt happened before. I also checked the inline fuel filter, even though it looked cleaned, I cleaned it just to make sure.

Also checked the coil, and I believe its good, but going to double check it again, swap out plugs with the one from my pressure washer( same one) and nothing.

I am going with there is compression as there is resistance on the rope.
 
Alright , the saga moves, still not start, well, I finally got a can of started fluid, still wouldnt start , not even pretend to try and start, so that lead me back to the coil pack went out, picked a spark plug tester, so this is where it go weird , 2nd pull , sum ***** started up, and ran for like 10 seconds, died, few more attempts, nothing, and no light on the tester. Sprayed some more starting fluid, started up again after a few pulls ran for maybe less 10 seconds, but then the light on the tester was flashing( indicates its a fuel system issue)

So, I guess I replace the carb, not sure what else to do.

I take care of the yard work for my mother , went to cut the grass a few days ago, and the pull start broke sometime after the last time I used it, so now I have to fix hers too, I ****ing hate lawn mowers right now.
 
Replace the spark plug. Don't fret about brands too much, as the one that is in there likely has a short. Any other plug especially a known good one from another mower should be tried.

Also if there's a low oil cutoff system attached to the ignition circuit, temporarily disconnect it.

If the ignition is good, you would be able to keep it running indefinitely with additional hits of starting fluid. When you can do that but it can't run by itself, that definitely means its a fuel problem.
 
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