California lawn mowers ?


 

Lynn Dollar

TVWBB Emerald Member
Since so many in this forum live in Cali, this may be a good place to get an answer to a question. My Google searches have come up with nothing.

I bought a Honda lawn mower on-line from a dealer in California. I'm having trouble with the mower's engine. I'm wondering, since Cali has their own grade of gasoline and have strict emissions regulations, do the mower manufacturers make a special lawn mower for Cali ?

I'm thinking this mower was not made to run on the gasoline sold here in Oklahoma. Its two years old, and I've had nothing but trouble with it. Its in the repair shop now.
 
Quick answer is yes cali l has different emission standards for small gas engines than the other 49 states.
 
It's apparently NOT the gas though https://www.ocregister.com/2015/07/20/dont-be-afraid-of-cheap-gas-it-wont-harm-your-car-experts-say/

Whenever I have issues, it's because the throttle cable is sticking. Not the gas, not the carb, the throttle cable. I work it some (WD 40 helps to loosen the gunk) then prime. Starts every time.

I'm assuming your's is the kind where you hold the handle bar to the bar so it runs. If you let go, it releases and stops?? If so, I can take a pic for you of the part that sticks on mine. Save ya some repair money if it is.

Lemme know :)
 
Well, its at the shop now. I'm hopin this will be covered by my warranty. If its not, then it should be, cuz the thing has never run right.

I'll post what they find.
 
Well, its at the shop now. I'm hopin this will be covered by my warranty. If its not, then it should be, cuz the thing has never run right.

I'll post what they find.

I'm going to guess it's something with the automatic choke. Mine's a few+ years old & I just replaced the pull start & spent time looking at the schematics. Not sure if your jets will need to be replaced or adjusted, but I'm sure the locals shop will get it dialed in easily.
 
My lesson to learn, may be to think twice before you get a good price on something on the internets.
Price is ony the beginning. I try to research all reviews and user comments (especially user comments) because you never know who writes reviews.

Lost track of how many times I've read that sugar (or coffee) is good for you only to find out that the Sugar Mfg Assoc or the Coffee Growers Assoc sponsored the review !
 
Repair shop said it needed an air filter. Yeah, an air filter. They said the dirty filter was causing the spark plug to foul. Who knew ?

I'm skeptical, though I paid $46 to have them put a new air filter in the thing, something that would cost me $4 to do. I've borrowed my Father In Laws mower to mow my lawn last week, identical to mine except it has electric start. He's not put a new filter in his , in the four years that he's owned it.

I protested, said it had to be more than an air filter, they promised me that was the problem. I will find out how it runs tomorrow morning when I mow my lawn.
 
that's surprising. I've never changed my air filter either. I run fuel that has 2-stroke oil mixed in, so it runs a little rich I'm sure :), I just do that because I usually only keep 1 extra can of fuel around, and that's for my motorcycle & a couple of saws.

If you still have problems post the model # of the mower

Here's where I looked to find my parts: http://peparts.honda.com/powerequipment#/browse

There's also a forum I looked into 10 years ago when I got a used snowblower, I think this is the one: http://opeforum.com/forums/mowers-and-more.74/ if you don't like it search for outdoor power equipment forum
 
Repair shop said it needed an air filter. Yeah, an air filter. They said the dirty filter was causing the spark plug to foul. Who knew ?

I'm skeptical, though I paid $46 to have them put a new air filter in the thing, something that would cost me $4 to do. I've borrowed my Father In Laws mower to mow my lawn last week, identical to mine except it has electric start. He's not put a new filter in his , in the four years that he's owned it.

I protested, said it had to be more than an air filter, they promised me that was the problem. I will find out how it runs tomorrow morning when I mow my lawn.

You cannot believe how much trouble an air filter can cause. If your fil has never replaced his maybe it's about time. But they can clog VERY badly and it varies due to your own lawn conditions. My brother in law used to cut my dad's lawn and he told my dad "your mower is shot" engine chokes down, blowing smoke, etc." This went on for a long time and on a visit dad asked me to check the machine as I had no idea this had been going on. I ran it and it was choking, knocking, smoking, not coming up to speed and so on. I figured carb needed attention. Opened AF housing and it was totally packed TIGHT with junk. I replaced it and all was well. I was a little more than ticked off by this because it DID cause some engine damage due to allowing all that raw gasoline to be pulled in to the engine and because had it been his own mower my BIL would have followed instructions and looked at it occasionally. I guess he thought I did it routinely but I never did because I never cut dad's lawn and checking his mower was not in my routine.
Bottom line believe what they told you
 
Mower is two years old.

I've run Briggs and Stratton engines for years on the same filter. Hell, I can't recall the last time I put a filter on my roto tiller.

And my FIL's mower, identical to mine, is on the fourth year with same filter.
 
Mower is two years old.

I've run Briggs and Stratton engines for years on the same filter. Hell, I can't recall the last time I put a filter on my roto tiller.

And my FIL's mower, identical to mine, is on the fourth year with same filter.

Just because you ran one engine in a neglected state does not mean the next one will take that abuse. Not a very good analogy. Some engines can get away with being abused and it also depends on many other things. On some mower engines the air intake is different (even though to an untrained eye it may appear the same).
Lawnmower (heck all small utility engines) use carburetors and by their nature they cannot self adjust to changing conditions the way a modern auto type fuel injection system can. I have seen cars (back when I was running my shop with my buddy) come to us with air filters so clogged up the intake "whistled" at hard throttle and complaining of the sound and "slight loss of power". Open up the filter box and find the filter caked solid with dirt and debris. Why the car still ran decently? Modern fuel systems adjust the air fuel ratio continuously so they compensate for the bad filter based on air flow into the system. Your mower cannot. So if you reduce air flow the carburetor cannot reduce fuel and it begins to run richer and richer until the engine begins to "choke out" and blow smoke, knock and a host of other ills and even to the point of destroying the engine.
Now your CARB engine is even MORE sensitive to this kind of abuse. And BTW just because you ran an engine for XX number of years without routine maintenance does NOT mean you did it any good. It just means you got lucky is all.
I have been wrenching on engines either professionally or for doing my own work for over 50 years now so I am not coming to you from a position of not knowing what I am telling you.
Best of luck and TAKE CARE OF THAT ENGINE!
 
Just because you ran one engine in a neglected state does not mean the next one will take that abuse. Not a very good analogy. Some engines can get away with being abused and it also depends on many other things. On some mower engines the air intake is different (even though to an untrained eye it may appear the same).
Lawnmower (heck all small utility engines) use carburetors and by their nature they cannot self adjust to changing conditions the way a modern auto type fuel injection system can. I have seen cars (back when I was running my shop with my buddy) come to us with air filters so clogged up the intake "whistled" at hard throttle and complaining of the sound and "slight loss of power". Open up the filter box and find the filter caked solid with dirt and debris. Why the car still ran decently? Modern fuel systems adjust the air fuel ratio continuously so they compensate for the bad filter based on air flow into the system. Your mower cannot. So if you reduce air flow the carburetor cannot reduce fuel and it begins to run richer and richer until the engine begins to "choke out" and blow smoke, knock and a host of other ills and even to the point of destroying the engine.
Now your CARB engine is even MORE sensitive to this kind of abuse. And BTW just because you ran an engine for XX number of years without routine maintenance does NOT mean you did it any good. It just means you got lucky is all.
I have been wrenching on engines either professionally or for doing my own work for over 50 years now so I am not coming to you from a position of not knowing what I am telling you.
Best of luck and TAKE CARE OF THAT ENGINE!

Man, you must be really be bored. You're working very hard for attention.

You will get no more from me, on any subject.
 
And my FIL's mower, identical to mine, is on the fourth year with same filter.

Did he ever clean the air filter? I've had the same filter on mine for three years but I've cleaned it at least once a year. Before the first mow this year I took a soft brush and the shop vac to it. At first glance it didn't seem that dirty but there was actually a lot of dust and crud down between the folds. I'm sure replacing it would have been the better option but I'm not spending $26 on an air filter for this crappy mower. (Big mistake buying whatever happens to be on sale.)
 
Did he ever clean the air filter? I've had the same filter on mine for three years but I've cleaned it at least once a year. Before the first mow this year I took a soft brush and the shop vac to it. At first glance it didn't seem that dirty but there was actually a lot of dust and crud down between the folds. I'm sure replacing it would have been the better option but I'm not spending $26 on an air filter for this crappy mower. (Big mistake buying whatever happens to be on sale.)

No

He's as surprised as I am that the air filter was the cause of this problem. And neither of us are convinced , yet.

Tech also mentioned there was a governor spring that was loose that he reattached. I doubt that had much to do with plug fouling. I also had this same problem when the mower was brand new. At that time, I thought I had gotten water in the gas from hosing it down after done mowing. So I drained the tank and put in fresh gas. Nothing. Did an internet search and found that many had problems with the factory spark plug. Soooo, I put a new plug in, and problem solved.

IDK, from my standpoint, with my experience with the mower, the air filter thing is suspect.
 
Man, you must be really be bored. You're working very hard for attention.

You will get no more from me, on any subject.

Sorry it's too bad you feel as you do. I learned many years ago when there is someone with more knowledge on something than me to not shut them out but to absorb their knowledge.
 
Last edited:
Actually, my Owners Manual says to clean the air filter at 50 hours and to replace at 150 hours.

It takes 40 minutes to mow my lawn. I mow my lawn between 20 to 25 times per year. That equals about 15 hours per year on the mower , at the most.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Heard from Honda this afternoon. They make the same mower, nationwide. Mowers sent to Cali are no different than for any other state.

I guess , if I'd just had some patience, I would've gotten my answer from the horses mouth. But it took them a week.
 

 

Back
Top