Honda generator won't start.

[wdchyd]

He 's got to do a diagnostic of some kind . After the repair is done he will either get the cash or the gennie .

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Unfortunately if the repair is just to squirt some gas down the throat of the carb to jump start the cleansing of the carb bowl, your time to drive it there will be more time consuming than the actually repair.......

 

[whistlepig]

Unfortunately if the repair is just to squirt some gas down the throat of the carb to jump start the cleansing of the carb bowl, your time to drive it there will be more time consuming than the actually repair.......

I do most of my own repairs on almost everything. Not that I am that handy ambitious, or smart but with the gosh awful prices they charge for repairs these days it pays me about $150.00 an hour to put disc brakes an axle on my trucks in my garage. And in less time than the trip to and fro from the dealer. The generator is going back to the dealer. One too many things for me to deal with.

 

[tsteahr]

pretty far for me to travel for a gallon of gas......can this type of fuel be obtained in say 1 or 5 gal cans......I wonder how it would be shipped, UPS wouldn't like it..

Sorry, I meant to post the dealer link, not the distributor link: Dealers

Regardless, it's still a long way for a bit of fuel. It's sold in 5 gallon pails and 55 gallon drums. Some outdoor power equipment dealers sell fuel. A local one to me will sell any small quantity, but you pay a little more per gallon than buying the whole pail.

Another outlet can be firefighting equipment dealers. Often local fire and rescue departments use this type of fuel to enhance the reliability of their small engine equipment (rescue saws, etc).

I have no idea how shipping would work, but it may be possible. My local dealer gets the 5 gallon pails delivered to his shop somehow. Some time on the phone making calls might be in order...

 

[hr3]

Ethanol free fuel is still available in our area. I have never bought any fuel with ethanol in it. Right now I am considering that the Stabil that I have used has done me more harm than good.

Why would you Stabil the gas then drain it all out,, I have the EU6500 by Honda never shut the gas off never drain it,, Just run it every 2 weeks or so.. You say you don't drain your ATV or mowers with no problem,, How long has it been sense you ran the generator last ???

 

[MotorSeven]

Why would you Stabil the gas then drain it all out,, I have the EU6500 by Honda never shut the gas off never drain it,, Just run it every 2 weeks or so.. You say you don't drain your ATV or mowers with no problem,, How long has it been sense you ran the generator last ???

I was having a rash of carb issues a couple of years ago, boat motor, chainsaws, generator. Ethanol is the culprit, so if you can get ethanol free fuel, do it.

Also, regular red Marine Stabil does not kill ethanol. You have to get Marine Stabil(wallyworld sells it) and it's green. I add this to all of my container gas and never drain carbs & have not had a carb issue since I started using it. I have read that draining the carb exposes the metal parts to residual fuel and air, which accelerates corrosion.

My chainsaws are precious(I have 7 of them), so I only run 110 octane race fuel in them. Races fuel has a shelf life of years not days like the current crap pump gas.

WP, double check the oil level, some of these engines are very sensitive to minute low levels and will not start, or start then die in 30 seconds.

 

[s78wingrider]

I never drain fuel, but use Sea Foam from time to time. My Honda engine on my saw mill can set all winter and start on first crank. I have a couple other small engines that will do the same thing. :thumbsup: :confused2:

 

[Lloyd_E]

whistlepig,

I hear your pain. But sometimes the easiest solution is to fix it yourself.
I am no mechanic but have learnt a few things over the years with all of the gas engine
powered equipment I have. As an example I went to start my snow blower the other day. Full tank with conditioner in it. I top up all of the my gear before I put it away. Thing wouldn't start. Drained carb bowl and cleaned, drained all gas. Amazing there was a little bit of water in it. Sprayed with carb cleaner, oiled/greased everything and put back together.
Filled with fresh gas and it started second pull. This took all of 15 minutes.

I try to run stuff every month but sometimes don't get to it. Most of the problems I think come from condensation/water. Doesn't take much.

I would give it a try and if it doesn't work go see the dealer.

Best of luck.

 

[JB4310]

I do most of my own repairs on almost everything. Not that I am that handy ambitious, or smart but with the gosh awful prices they charge for repairs these days it pays me about $150.00 an hour to put disc brakes an axle on my trucks in my garage. And in less time than the trip to and fro from the dealer. The generator is going back to the dealer. One too many things for me to deal with.

Nothing wrong with taking it back to the dealer, if it's under warranty. but I think you need to know how to get it running yourself.
In an outage there may not be an option to bring it in.

I've never had a small engine I couldn't start, even with all the carb issues, they will still start, just run like crap.
The guy that works for me, has become an expert at running these small engines, every time we take a piece equipment out of storage they need some attention. Often carb cleaning.

You need fuel, compression and spark.
First thing is to establish that you are getting spark, Usually you are, but you have to eliminate that potential before you do anything else. Pull the wire and hold it close to the plug, or pull the plug and hold the base to something grounded on the machine.

Next is to force feed it some fuel, the best surest way is to put a little right down in the cylinder from the plug hole.
Assuming you have compression, and spark, it has to start.

That will usually be enough to start the fuel prime thru the rest of the fuel system, you often will still need to clean the small jets and passages in the carb, but it should run, often needing partial to almost full choke. that's a clear indication that carb needs cleaning. If it wont stay running there is a more serious blockage in the fuel system, bowl float stuck etc.

In the future you need to run it more often.

Good Luck, JB

 

[coobie]

Try marine grade stabil(dark color not the red stuff) or star brite star tron gas additives.I had used both & engines start everytime.coobie

 

[whistlepig]

Whistlepig,

I bought a new generator this past March and went to start mine back in July and I had the same trouble....

My new generator had less than 2 hrs on it and I knew it wasn't getting any gas also....always used stabilizer in gas too

I found an old windex bottle and misted new fresh gas in the throat of the carb while tweeking on the choke to force it to purge the old gas out of the fuel bowl while it was struggling to run

it took 5 to 10 mins or so to finally clear up the old gas and since it has been fine

Back on Halloween weekend I ended up putting 58 hrs on the generator hour meter without fail during a poweroutage......

They other thing I added was a tee in the gas line with a shut-off on the drop so I could easily drain out the tank in order to change to new gas...

try the spraymist bottle and choke to see if it'll clear up before taking somewhere.......

I got over my mad spell and worked on the generator today. Pull starting a 13 HP motor that won't start really sucks. The spray mist bottle in the carb was an excellent suggestion. A pretty simple idea but something I would have never thought of. I picked a spray bottle up in town today and misted the carb with gas. Started on the first pull. It ran very rough unless the choke was left on. I drained all the gas from the tank and carb and replaced it with fresh gas. It ran like brand new after that. The gas I replaced was from this past February and it was treated with Stabil. It was brown looking when I drained it. Definitely going to have to rethink my long term gas storage situation.