Hi guys. My Honda mower has the auto choke. This is a wax filled hex cylinder thing that automatically actuates a butterfly when the engine heats up. So at the end of last summer my HRX series mower started to surge at idle. It would run decent when blade was engaged and power drive was enabled although maybe the power drive is a bit slow but maybe not. Anyway, this spring I took apart the whole carburetor assembly and cleaned everything well. I changed the spark and air filter and noticed that the plug was quite black. I bought new ethanol free fuel and and added new a Stabil. Maybe the fuel that i used last summer was not optimal since I noticed that Stabil itself has a 2 year shelf life.
Anyway, yesterday I had a really hard time starting the mower. A few times it started and immediately stopper. One time it spit out a bunch of oil spray out of the muffler. I finally got it running after spraying carb cleaner behind the butterfly valve behind the air filter and it ran OK. I took plug out today and again it was really black. Cleaned up easily with carb cleaner and a brass brush. I tried to start today and had to pull many times to get her running but when I did it, it ran ok. When I moved the mower it started surging again a it. I drove around a bit with blade and power drive engaged. I powered the mower down and put into garage. I came out a few hours later and smelled gas. I pulled the mower outside and noticed that there was fuel behind the air filter as if the carburetor float was stuck and let fuel to go up.
Is it OK to spray carb cleaner into the spark plug hole? Manual says to put a few drops of oil in there before a long storage and gently pull cord but I’m wondering about carb cleaner specifically.
Mower is 7 years old. I live at 6000ft. Honda manual says to change out the carb jet to a high altitude one. I haven’t done this on this mower and didn’t do that on my previous Honda mower or my current Honda snow blower. Its a $10 part and I’ll do that in the next few weeks.
Any thoughts on the surging and the black plug tip? Thanks in advance!
Anyway, yesterday I had a really hard time starting the mower. A few times it started and immediately stopper. One time it spit out a bunch of oil spray out of the muffler. I finally got it running after spraying carb cleaner behind the butterfly valve behind the air filter and it ran OK. I took plug out today and again it was really black. Cleaned up easily with carb cleaner and a brass brush. I tried to start today and had to pull many times to get her running but when I did it, it ran ok. When I moved the mower it started surging again a it. I drove around a bit with blade and power drive engaged. I powered the mower down and put into garage. I came out a few hours later and smelled gas. I pulled the mower outside and noticed that there was fuel behind the air filter as if the carburetor float was stuck and let fuel to go up.
Is it OK to spray carb cleaner into the spark plug hole? Manual says to put a few drops of oil in there before a long storage and gently pull cord but I’m wondering about carb cleaner specifically.
Mower is 7 years old. I live at 6000ft. Honda manual says to change out the carb jet to a high altitude one. I haven’t done this on this mower and didn’t do that on my previous Honda mower or my current Honda snow blower. Its a $10 part and I’ll do that in the next few weeks.
Any thoughts on the surging and the black plug tip? Thanks in advance!