Honda EB3500x Generator engine starting issue

[rlrobinhood]

Hi all,

I recently pulled this old generator out of my dad's shed. It hasn't been used for many, many years but ran once. Anyways, I'm having a real hard time getting it to start. I replaced the carburetor, replaced the fuel line, replaced the shutoff valve, sparkplug, and air filter. I have confirmed there is fuel to the carburetor and confirmed there is spark.

I'm convinced it is a linkage/carburetor issue but just don't understand this carb. It has two butterfly valves in it. If I manually hold the linkage where the innermost (nearest the engine) butterfly valve open, I can get it to run for about 1-2 seconds then it cuts out. I suspect the outermost butterfly valve is staying closed and choking it out. But, I can't figure out how to determine if this is really happening. In the attached pic is a yellow arrow pointing to a vacuum pot that I think open the outermost butterfly valve. Is this what this does? The vacuum line goes to the green "thing" with the red arrow. What is this green "thing"? and then the vacuum line continues to the carburetor.

Can you help me out with these questions? Does anyone have one of these generators or carb/choke setups that could answer some questions for me so that I know the linkages are all correct? I believe they are.

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[5030]

Did you bother to flush out the gas tank????

 

[rlrobinhood]

Did you bother to flush out the gas tank????

Good question. I did. I cleaned it and put high octane fuel back in.

 

[JPRambo]

I sometimes begin with a splash of gasoline on the air filter element to see if it could run. Then a tiny wire pushed into venturi(?) from fuel bowl to check if it is clogged with varnish from old gasoline.

I reread your first post. You get it to run for a second or two after changing carb.

 

[5030]

Sounds to me like the carb needs to be removed and given a soak in Berryman's B12 Chem tool. You need to remove all the internal parts and soak them as well. Just record the settings on the needle valves so when you put it back together you can set it back to what it was at and put an inline filter between the tank and the carb too.

 

[Richard001]

Sounds to me like the carb needs to be removed and given a soak in Berryman's B12 Chem tool. You need to remove all the internal parts and soak them as well. Just record the settings on the needle valves so when you put it back together you can set it back to what it was at and put an inline filter between the tank and the carb too.

In the OP's first post, he said this:

I replaced the carburetor, replaced the fuel line, replaced the shutoff valve, sparkplug, and air filter.

So I don't think that cleaning the carb is the answer.

 

[Richard001]

rlrobinhood​

The new carb you purchased, is it an exact replacement carb from Honda ?

Richard

 

[JPRambo]

I use a web site like ereplacement parts dot com they have specific models and exploded views with part descriptions.

 

[Richard001]

A few questions.
- Do you have the throttle control connected and does it work ?
Throttle control

And I see that there is a fuel shut-off solenoid. Is this connected and does it work ?

Shut-off solenoid is #12.

 

[thepumpguysc]

More than likely it has a “low oil” shut down in the system.??
MAKE SURE the oil level is good..
That would account for it starting for a second and shutting off..
Good luck

 

[rlrobinhood]

rlrobinhood​

The new carb you purchased, is it an exact replacement carb from Honda ?

Richard

Thanks Richard. The new carb is not an oem.

 

[rlrobinhood]

A few questions.
- Do you have the throttle control connected and does it work ?
Throttle controlView attachment 764223


And I see that there is a fuel shut-off solenoid. Is this connected and does it work ?
View attachment 764224
Shut-off solenoid is #12.

Thanks again Richard! It does have a fuel shutoff and it is new. I'll try testing it. Relatively simple test.

 

[rlrobinhood]

A few questions.
- Do you have the throttle control connected and does it work ?
Throttle controlView attachment 764223


And I see that there is a fuel shut-off solenoid. Is this connected and does it work ?
View attachment 764224
Shut-off solenoid is #12.

For the throttle control, which it does have, is there a way to test it? I was thinking this may be suspect. Thanks again.

 

[TractorTech]

Also, on the EB series, you should be able to manually choke it and override the throttle with a screwdriver to manipulate the throttle.
I would think that since it is not an OEM carb, that taking the old carb and soak in Berrymans, clean the jets and trying that may be the better route to eliminate what might be happening. Hondas very easy engines to work with so this doesn't make a lot of sense other than the carb change being the change in the picture.

 

[5030]

Also, on the EB series, you should be able to manually choke it and override the throttle with a screwdriver to manipulate the throttle.
I would think that since it is not an OEM carb, that taking the old carb and soak in Berrymans, clean the jets and trying that may be the better route to eliminate what might be happening. Hondas very easy engines to work with so this doesn't make a lot of sense other than the carb change being the change in the picture.

Hard to beat Berryman's Chem Tool for cleaning a carb or an EFI unit. I have mine (Chem Tool) in a heated ultrasonic cleaner. (like Mustie uses on You Tube) and I use it for other stuff as well, like cleaning my handguns and reloading dies as well. Chem Tool will 100% clean and remove and gunked up gasoline and varnish in a carb but you do have to take it apart before you soak it.

After market carbs, especially those sold on Flea Bay and Amazon are always questionable in build quality anyway, especially those of Chineseum origins.

Small engines carbs have small passages inside and even smaller jets and just a tiny amount of gunk can clog them, especially the idle jets and cause a motor not to run and the choke issue tells me the idle circuit is clogged.