Honda mower surging
This video walks you through the process of fixing your Honda engine surge, from cleaning your carburetor idle jet, to carburetor removal, teardown, clean and reinstall.
A bad spark plug can be the route of many problems, be sure to check the plug before performing carburetor work.
Over View
You’ll find useful resources on this page, tips, links to tools, parts and supplies required to complete your repair. Congratulations, you own a fantastic mower, I love Honda and I know the Honda engineers love us too because it shows in the little details, plug wire holder, easy oil draining, gas bowl drain bolt.
All mowers however suffer from a common complaint, clogged up carburetor and Honda are no different. Surging is a common Honda issue and it commonly occurs because the carburetor idle jet is blocked.
Cleaning the jet usually fix’s the issue, I say usually because sometimes the whole carburetor will need to be removed, stripped and cleaned.
Other common causes of surging Honda include a bad spark plug, bad gas and moisture in the gas bowl, so eliminate them first.
A worn out carburetor happens too and a cracked manifold, or damaged carb gasket will cause a vacuum leak, which results in a erratic idle.
This video covers the removal, teardown, cleaning and refitting of the carburetor.
Before working on your mower be sure to remove the plug wire to prevent accidental starting, see “Repair Safety Video”.
Tools & Parts
To nail this procedure you may need the following tools, parts and supplies.
Ratchet Tool Set
Before we can do anything, we'll need tools. I've selected this set as I own some Craftsman tools and while I have worn some out, they did do a lot of work. So I expect this set will last the occasional user quite a long time.
This set carries both metric and standard sockets and that's important, because some mowers will have both type of fastener sizes. Set includes spark plug sockets. Picture links to Amazon.com
Gas Line Clamp
Drill/Screw Gun
GCV190 Carburetor
This is a Hipa GCV 190 carburetor fitted to the Honda GCV190 engine only, not the GVC160 or GCV135. It comes with gaskets, plug, air and fuel filter and fuel line.
Fitting isn't difficult, just a little tedious, take your time and some pictures of where the old gaskets are positioned and their orientation. Picture links to Amazon.com
GCV160/135 Carburetor
This is a Hooai GCV 160 carburetor fitted to the Honda GCV160 and GCV135 engine only, not the GVC190. It comes with gaskets, plug, filter and fuel line.
Fitting isn't difficult, just a little tedious, take your time and some pictures of where the old gaskets are positioned and their orientation. Picture links to Amazon.com
John Cunningham is an Automotive Technician and writer on Lawnmowerfixed.com. I've been a mechanic for over twenty years, I use my knowledge and experience to write "How to" articles that help fellow gear-heads with all aspects of mechanical repairs, from lawn mowers to classic cars.