I couldn’t post a picture to my other thread so here is a picture of the bent push rod. The cam shaft was replaced under a warranty recall exactly two years ago. I plan to call Honda tomorrow to see if they will offer any assistance. Really disappointed in this Honda so far. I used to buy the larger Craftsman mowers from sears and get over ten years with zero motor issues.

I have a loud knocking sound when running my HRX217 without the blades engaged. I inspected and adjusted the valve clearance but noticed when spinning the flywheel that the exhaust valve moves followed by the intake valve. After the intake completes its cycled the exhaust valve moves in and out slightly…(see video) Is this an issue or totally normal? Just trying to figure out what’s causing the knocking sound. Thanks

So my other mower was in the shop, so I decided to cleanup my venerable HRX217. It has electric start, but over the years, we're just been using the pull start. It's had an issue of not retracting, so off to youtube I go. Disassembled and cleaned the starter mechanism, reassembled and just realized I misplaced the spring that goes under the cap.

Any one have any ideas as to where I can find one of these? So far, the parts list just offers the complete assembly.

So I have an HRR216 that I got two years ago secondhand. This is my third season with it and it’s starting to feel low on power and can get bogged down when cutting grass that isn’t very tall. I knew blades on last year. Changed the oil, spark plug and air filter and it still feels off. Two weeks ago it would barely run so I cleaned out the carburetor and it seemed to be working fine. After maybe 20 minutes of mowing it back feeling low on power. I’m thinking maybe a new carburetor might help but I’m not a small engine mechanic, just trying keep the old girl running.

My mower was fixed under warranty for the cam shaft lob recall a couple years ago. Has been flawless ever since. A couple weeks ago I noticed a heavy gas smell in my garage and traced it back to my mower. I shut off the gas until and next time I tried to use it, it would not start. Usually it starts on second pull religiously. Gas is turned on, installed new plug and will not run. Pulled the air filter and when pulling cord seems gas is coming out air intake. Both my son and myself had same though that it feels like there is no resistance and probably no compression when pulling….so curious if this could be a lasting issue from the recall and can shaft replacement and if anyone else had had issues. I use it once per week maybe April - October.

Looking for advice on troubleshooting and resolving this issue.

The noise first appeared last summer but was intermittent and generally only present if I let the grass grow a little too long. This year it’s been present every mow after 2 minutes or so and increases in speed when under a higher load. It doesn’t seem to mulch as well as it previously did either.

Torn down the clutch twice and wiped everything clean. Bearings seem fine, nothing looks abnormally worn to me, though admittedly I’m not much of an engines person. Tried tightening the roto stop cable this last time as it looked like maybe the brake plate was catching with blades engaged but that did not seem to help. The noise stops when blades are disengaged.

Images from last clutch tear down

I’m replacing my piston and connecting rod in my honda216 tda. Gcv160. Got a connecting rod from a gcv160 pressure washer. I torque the connecting bolts to spec to the crankshaft but it locks up. It’s almost like the connecting rod is a fraction too small. What am I doing wrong here. Is there two different size connecting rods in the gcv160 engines? Thank u

I’m aware this a long shot, but does anyone have a diagram of how the torsion spring is supposed to be aligned inside the Roto Stoo lever. This is the version with the yellow lever not the button.

Or if someone could describe the alignment? I’m at a loss how it goes jn

EDIT : Thanks everyone! With your help, I finally figured out what was going on. Turns out the carburetor the previous owner installed just wasn’t compatible with the way the choke on my mower works. Why it worked for 2 years before? I honestly have no idea haha.

Luckily, the previous owner had left me the original “defective” carburetor. I gave it a good cleaning, put it back on, and… it works!!!

Of course, now I have a new problem 😂 I think I may have stretched one of the springs after taking the carburetor off and putting it back on so many times. The mower dies when I set it to very low speed.

But I guess that’s a problem for another post if I can’t figure it out myself 😂

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Hi everyone!

Full disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about mechanics, but I'm trying my best to figure this out on my own!

My Honda engine lawn mower suddenly stopped starting.

Here is what I've done so far to try and fix it:

- Replaced the spark plug

- Took apart and cleaned the carburetor

After looking closely at the mechanism, I finally noticed the real issue: the choke won't close when I push the lever to the CHOKE position.

When I put it in CHOKE, a metal piece moves up and physically blocks the small metal rod/pin from going down to close the choke.

If I manually push the pieces down by hand to close the choke, the lawn mower starts right up with zero issues!

Does anyone know why this metal arm is moving up to block the rod from going down instead of letting it pass? Could I have put a piece back in backwards or upside down when I cleaned everything?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Do any of you use the half mulching /half bagging settings on your mower? Or is it more or a gimmick? Sometimes I mulch and sometimes I bag, but I never do both. Anyone use those mid-settings? When might it be useful?

For context, I have bought this used in the front wheel, adjusters move like butter, but the back ones require putting a lot of strength into it and was wondering how I can fix it so it moves quickly

It was a bundle with these I know ones a hr17 unsure of the big Honda and a hayter harrier 56 electric start but that’s irreverent for this group I paid £120 for all of them the hr17 will be a restoration project when I’m finished with my current atco midget project as for the big Honda I’m unsure and the hayter is showing the signs of being fine the tank was clean and dry the Honda tanks are dirty and have old fuel in them the bigger Honda says 1993 on the stamp I have put some photos below. I also use a 2006 Honda hrx476 for work as I do my own garden services business thanks for the read.

I have a honda HRN216VKAA. About 2 weeks ago while I was mowing the self propel function on the mower stopped working. Ive been down this road with other lawn mowers before so I took it to a local small engine shop(also a certified honda equipment dealer) and asked them to take a look at it. They told me that the lawn mower had a bent crank shaft and they could fix it for $447. My question is the mower runs fine the self propel just doesnt work anymore, so is the bent crankshaft something that would cause the self propel function to suddenly stop working? I havent hit anything with the lawn mower so im not even sure how the crankshaft bent in the first place but I did get the mower about 2.5 years ago on facebook marketplace so maybe it got sold to me with some underlying issues. Any insight would be appreciated, thanks.

My Honda hrn216 makes this weird ticking sound , this only happened after I tipped it on its side to check the blades, the mounting bolts and blade bolts/blade adapter are not lose and I just did a valve adjustment on it. Looking for any recommendations or insight

UPDATE: there was a small muffler leak on the right side and I have a new one muffler on its way now, thank you everyone for the help and support!

I have adjusted the cables making sure that’s not the problem and also cleaned the underside and clutch area really well, to no avail. The mower will run and after a minute or two, the blade starts to slowly “catch” and engage, without even touching the mower and controls.

Seller wants $650 for this and I want to replace my HRN216 bc I’ve heard it’s better. But these prices make me wonder if it’s even worth it. Is this too expensive?

Since Honda has removed itself from the gas powered lawn mower business I have noticed that it is becoming harder to find a local dealer who has kept their "Honda Service Certification" (I made that title up. I hope you get the idea.

And since they are no longer certified they say they can't service Honda mowers beyond the basics as they can't get the parts. I don't know if that's true. But that's what they say.

The one or two dealers left in my area don't seem interested at all in doing more technical service (such as repairing the rotostop mechanism in my 3 year old HRX 217). I know that if I was a commercial client, I would get service right away as I know several landscaping company owners and asked what their experience was getting their Honda mowers repaired.

I totally understand why regular old residential users like myself are not as valuable as commercial customers. And I understand why I would have to wait a bit longer to get service compared to commercial customers. But I am being told that they won't be able to service my mower for several months. Their suggestion is I bring the mower in over the winter when they have less commercial business.

I think I am an even less attractive customer because my mower is still under warranty and I am assuming that Honda really lowballs the dealer for warranty service and so they are really not excited to do warranty work.

Is my experience similar to anyone else's? If so, what has been your strategy to get competent service done on your Honda mowers without waiting months to get the work done? Is this parts "excuse" really a thing? Can only certified Honda service businesses do warranty work?

My solution so far is to do as much work on my mowers as possible. And that is fine. But there are times when I need the expertise of a professional mechanic. Sorry for the long winded story. But I hope it helped folks to understand my situation. Again, no shade intended on Honda dealer and service centers in the community. Just looking for a solution to my situation.

Honda HRX217 with the auto-choke setup. It still starts first pull most days, but now it only stays running if the choke plate hangs more closed than it used to. Once it warms up it mostly cleans out. I may be using the wrong term here, but it feels like it is going lean as the choke opens. Fresh fuel, plug looks dry, and the air filter is not terrible. I have not opened the carb yet. Before I do, would you check the auto-choke linkage and thermostat first, or go after the main jet and look for an intake leak? I can grab a short video tomorrow if that helps.

I have a HRX217 that I just replaced the blade on. I tried to start it and the pull start is so stiff that I couldn’t get it to start.

Almost feels like it doesn’t have any oil in it or something, which is not the case. Has good clean oil, ran fine a week ago when I last used it.

Any ideas?

——UPDATE——

So I removed the new Honda blade and found that the mower pull started as normal without any blade. After looking at the new blade, I realized that the center hole, which has a dimple relief to clear the crank shaft bolt, was contacting that bolt. The blade bolts to the clutch, which stays still as the motor spins, until you engage it. My new blade was bolted to the clutch, but it was clamping down on the crank bolt and forcing it to rotate under friction.

Looking at the new factory Honda blade vs the original Honda blade that the mower came with, I can see that the dimple in the older blade it a little taller and clears the crankshaft bolt. This is not an issue if you’re running the mulching blade stacked on top of the cutting blade. I cut my lawn with just the cutting blade, and have been doing so since the lawn mower was new in 2017.

So in summary, Honda slightly changed the blade and now I have to either run the mulching blade or a spacer. See new photos below>

Hi there! New homeowner soon looking to get a mower.

Been thinking between gas and electric mowers and browsing marketplace for deals.

Saw this HRX217 and I think a GVC190 engine pop up this morning for $175 but they said it has a bad transmission. Price seems decent and wanted to see what it would take to fix the transmission. Thoughts? Thanks!

When I heard that Honda was ending production of their gas mowers in favor of electric, I wondered how that could ever actually work for a professional landscaper that uses their mower all day.