Craig, just out of curiosity, how old is your Honda mower? I know I've pretty much neglected mine over the years. I've vacuumed off and reinstalled the ORIGINAL factory air cleaner element a few times (it always looks good), pulled, checked and re-installed the factory spark plug and I've maybe changed the oil 3-4x. I bought this mower new in the spring of 1999. I believe it was the first year of the GC series engines.
My grass has always been mostly closely-cropped weeds and I've never even had the blade off this mower! I'll probably never get it off now. I do scrape the underside after almost every use, but the steel is getting flakey underneath.
I did snag the cable that actuates the single-speed self propel axle on a branch and tore it right out of the gear box, so it hasn't been 'self propelled' in years. I also had a front wheel fall off due to a cracked aluminum casting for the height-adjuster. Mail ordered a new one from Plano Power cheap and fast.
I do run it out of gas in the fall, but it is becoming hard to start when cold. After about 10 pulls on full choke, I have to move the throttle lever all the way to idle, then feather it in to get it running. Once warm it runs like a top w/out skipping a beat. Probably a new plug would fix that.
As far as power and mulching ability go, this mower has always been awesome for my conditions. I love it to pulverize leaves in the fall. What a great job it does, plus it blasts the deck clean.
When it's time to buy another- which it may be real quick, I think I'll go with an aluminum deck Toro.
Joel