ok, I had a brand new 5.5hp Honda engine put on my tiller and it quit a year after i had it put on. (8 hours of tilling) I think it is the low oil alert not letting it start, if so how would I know if it was that? It does have plenty of oil in it by the way. What would be some other causes?

Was the engine running when it just quit ?

nope i used it one time then i tried a few months later and it wouldn't start.

If you think its the low oil alert not letting it start Then check for spark. If it has spark at the plug then the low oil alert isn't your problem. (The low oil alert on most engines will kill spark to the plug thus shutting the engine down before it does damage.) I would start with the carb. If it sat for a few months with old gas in it then it probably went bad or you may have some water in the carb bowl.

Ok I shocked myself so it is sparking :p. So I drained the old gas out (it was yellow :freak:) then I flushed it with new gas, and it still wont start. so should I clean out the carburetor now? Or is there a thread that gives a list of things to do on an engine that has sat for years?
All help is greatly appreciated.

Clean the carb really good i would prolly get a carb kit to replace gaskets with and get a can of carb cleaner. You also may want to replace the gaskets for carb mounting i think its 4 gaskets.

alright ill try that... I did talk to who used it last and he said that it worked one day and the next it wouldn't start so it wasn't an old gas problem before, or water in the carb. Is there anything that could go wrong over night? I am getting a spark and I can smell gas coming out of the muffler. The compression seems fine because I took out the spark plug and put my finger over the hole. thanks for your help so far... I Hope I can get it running soon :)

the finger trick for compression DOES NOT WORK

borrow a compression tester from somebody

ok i was just trying stuff out to fix it so i took off the muffler then i was like ok ill clean out the cylinder with a little carb cleaner and then i tryed to start it and it started for a moment! :) so i think you are right my friend it must be the carburetur or a pinched fuel line because it ran one day and wouldn't start the next... Do you think any small engine repair shop would sell that gasket set you talked about?

You will need to find a repair shop that deals honda engines, they are pretty common around here. but im not sure about where you are. Best thing to do is get your engine and go through the phone book calling around.

ok thanks i started a new thread just for the carb and i bought the gaskets at my power equipment store.


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