I recently inherited from a friend an approximately 20 year old Honda walk-behind mower. It is Model HRA216 and has the GXV160 engine.

The engine will start with the choke on and run for approximately 2 seconds and then dies. This seems to me like a fuel starvation problem. I took the carb off and cleaned it real good with no success. After carb cleaning, the result is the same. My friend said it ran good at the end of the season last year and they ran all the fuel out of it before storing it for the winter.

I don't have a lot of experience with small engines like this. What's my next step?

This mower is in great shape and would be ideal for my 10-year old son to use to do lawns in the neighborhood.

Thanks in advance,

Ken

rebuild carb, change sparkplug(autolite 64, ngk BP5ES, or champion N11YC)
all the plugs i listed are the right heat range for your engine, gap it at .028 and install it, and check for spark right after it dies if a carb rebuild and sparkplug dont help
change the oil also, 10w40 was recomended back then for hondas, 5w30, 10w30 or 30w will also work fine :wave:

Where do I get the carb rebuild kit? Local engine shop or is there an online source? Also, does it come with directions or is it self explanatory?

Thanks,

Ken

umm yeah, you can find one online but the best place would be a small engine shop since they generally sell em a little more then what they paid, so no shipping costs for you. i don't think it would come with directions but maybe the shop will help you or rather just clean it and replace as you go on the carb. the real problem i have to say is running the fuel out at the end of the season, reason why it doesn't allow it to get gummed but rather will dry out the seals etc. use some stabilizer instead of running it dry. oh yeah, 30w hd oil will do great.

I took the carb completely apart tonight. I didn't get the jet out the first time. I did a little surfing and found an exploded view of the carb and realized what I had missed. After cleaning the jet, shutoff valve and the remainder of the carb again with carb cleaner it runs like a top. It mows great.

I had never taken one of these carbs apart. They're quite simple when you get right down to it.

Thanks for the help.

Ken