Originally Posted By: 04SE
My old Honda HR214 is getting tired. She can fog the entire block on start up. It quits smoking after about 30 seconds and it runs like a fine watch. My brother wants to buy me a new mower as a wedding present but this new stuff looks like junk and they all have a fixed throttle. I just want to repower my old HR214. The thing is in immaculate condition it just has about a bajillion hours on it. It starts on the first pull every time and mows just fine. It does not seem to be down on power so I suspect it needs seals on the valves.
Do I take it in for repair work to get the seals replaced or do I repower it? Or do I sell it on craigslist and take the new one?
My Dad has an old HR194 (19 inch, 4 hp) so possibly the exact same engine. It was burning oil just like yours so he brought it to me for service. I tore it apart and everything looked perfect inside. I took the parts to my local Honda shop for the mechanic to measure up the bore but he said that was pointless, and I should just get it bored and order oversize piston/rings. So that's what I did, got oversize from Honda, then dropped off the block and piston at the boring shop for them to bore accordingly, and to clean up the valve and seats. Put it all back together and it still burns oil when cold, but not when it warms up. My advice, if it looks good and there are no scuffs in the bore, just get new OEM rings for it and leave the piston. I'm sure I would have been better off just re-ringing Dad's. I should not have listened to the mechanic who said to bore it out without first measuring to see if it needed it. Very simple engine to take apart and re-build. Make sure parts are still available before disassembling. I did Dad's about 6 years ago.
