OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Honda Engines GCV 135

I bought new a Honda GCV135 on a Victa quite a few years ago and it was probably one of the worst things I have ever bought that I paid top dollar for. From day one it was impossible to start without starter fluid, once started it ran fine but eventually I just put it in the back shed and got the Jims man to mow the lawn which he still does. I have pulled the mower out of the back shed, ditched the base which the powder coat had just fallen off and it looked an abomination.I have fitted a new carby and it runs fine, but it still will not start without starter fluid. Valve clearances are fine. To make matters worse we have 2 of these bought from the same shop at the same time and both have this situation where they will not start without starter fluid. Any thoughts. As a footnote I would never buy a Honda product again

Norm, a Honda only needs choke to start, so my question would be....
was / is the choke working properly??

Yes squizzy the choke is closing fully, little bit of starter spray on the air filter and they start straight up, been like that from day one

Take a look at the choke butterfly plate. It might need a little modification. And yes the manufacture can mis-setup the carburetors.

There are times here that I must either close up or reduce the air bleed hole in the butterfly to increase choking action. At one time we had a lot problems with Tecumseh engines were we had to solder one hole for them the work properly. I even had a large UTV with a twin Subaru 650cc engine that I had to do this to as it was extremely hard to start during temps below 40f. I also got a generator with Briggs 210000 series engine that I had do the same on as it also refused to start during cool weather.

I also see case on a hand held leaf blower where it would start during the summer months because this. When I ordered a replacement carburetor the manufacture had over closed the bleed and engine would flood on the very first pull. I had to enlarge its bleed until I got a good starting condition. It took several days to do so as I had to make sure the engine was cold each time I tested the new config.

As test you can temporary block the bleed hole and see if this helps.

What is your spark plug gap like? Try opening it up some more if it is at recommended setting.

Thanks AVB, I might have a try with the bleed hole, getting a bit sick of these 2 Hondas, they must have sold a lot of these (maybe they didn't because they cost about $700 15 years ago and that was very expensive but I figured after all the years with an old 2 stroke Hurricane I would upgrade to a Victa with a Honda motor, best of both worlds, what a mistake) and they would have all had the same problem, real pieces of garbage.
Trev the plug gap was too close and this was causing backfiring and making it run on and off the governor. Opened it up and it now runs like it should, probably didn't need a new carby, because I had cleaned the old one which was badly varnished up so I figured I should replace it. Anyway with the new carby, it still won't give a sniff of a start without starter fluid, and it doesn't need much, and maybe that it the reason Honda made the air cleaner cover easy to replace

Try opening the plug gap about 20% above recommended. Also try removing the resistor in the plug lead cap if that doesn't help.

Going to a little hard as if the ipls are right here. They don't show external resistor plug cap being used with the coil and the one in the resistor spark plug is none removable.

The stock plug for the GCV135 was a NGK BPR6ES. To decrease resistance in the ignition system you could replace it with a BP6ES but beware that the RFI will increase considerably from the increase spark strength and may affect nearby electronics. It would also increase the spark advance (timing) slightly due to the decrease time it takes the coil to produce enough voltage to jump the plug gap.

Opening the gap would only delay the spark timing slightly as the coil must develop a higher voltage before it can jump the gap which actually could damage the ignition coil although these coils should able to handle a .035" gap. An alternate way of changing spark timing would by adjusting coil to flywheel air gap clearance but even that has it limits. This affects the coil triggering electronics by changing the induced voltage timing.

AVB and Trev, I'm not sure that the spark plug was going to help in this situation, I'm sure if the thing had a primer it would start instantly but Honda didn't fit them to these useless motors, they must have been aware of the problem with them

NormK,

You're right in my opinion as I too think it more of lack fuel problem than spark especially since it starts readily when starter fluid is add to the air mix. Now it is harder for me diagnosis the problem as I more of a hands on person and respond better to what see in front of me.

I was just responding to spark plug comment.

AVB, starter fluid, being ether, is a lot more volatile that unleaded hence making it easier to combust under less than ideal circumstances. Opening the plug gap will create a more intense spark, as long as you don't open it too far, and is particularly useful in low compression situations. I thought these engines had the resistor inside the spark plug cap but perhaps they don't. Look inside the cap, if the brass part can be unscrewed as in some Honda models, there is a block of carbon behind it which you can replace with a similar size piece of metal.

Hi Trev, the annoying thing with these 2 Hondas is they only need the slightest whiff of starter fluid on the air filter and they fire straight up. It is the annoyance factor that gets up my nose. I will check the plug cap but I doubt it would have a resistor fitted