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2017/10/20 02:39:45

OldNick

Honda GX160 keeps popping, dying

I have a GX160 Honda attacxhed to a fire pump. It has sat through the winter, with two starts.

Symptoms:
The engine starts great, but then starts popping and dies after a short time running.
I mimagine it was reasonably warm after I had tried several timnes, on a warm day in the sun....I know I was :(
It dies faster the harder I run it. If I try to pump water, which causes the governer to haul on the throttle, it dies within 5 seconds.
same if I haul on the throttle.
If I run it with minimal load, it takes 40-60 seconds to die, but then pops and dies. Some 10-15 seconds later or so, it will start again, only to repeat.

All of this sounds to me just like progressive fuel starvation caused by strangled fuel supply.

What I have tried.
(1) loosen the fuel tank cap
(2) run without air filter (this caused popping and dying instantly).
(3) Checking the main jet.
(4) Running with the choke on a bit, just to the point where it doies not cause actual stuttering.
this _may_ have delayed things, but then the engine will pop and die.
(5) cleaning the spark plug.
It was black after I ran with the choke on, but not later when I did not.
(6) Checking the fuel flow. It seems pretty healthy.
no bowl 125cc/minute
bowl no screw 125cc/min
bowl with screw loose and me holding the bowl flush...you guerssed it...125cc/min
= 7.5 L/hour ~ 2 US Gal/hour.
(7) checking the float bowl fuel capacity, both after the engine has died and I immediately turn the fuel off (so run run, pop pop pop, die OFF!, and also after I allow the bowl to fill without the engine running. The result was 19.5cc in both cases. A visual gave me maybe 6-8mm (1/4" +) above the "turn" of the bowl.

Any help appreciated

Nick

3 comments Leave a comment

OldNick

OK. Since nobody seems to have a clue, I will post this in the hope that somebody else learns and passes it on.

It was the plug. I can only think that as it gets hot, right inside the cylinder, the little ceramic insulator at the negative pole breaks down and shorts. Hence the fact that the engine does not need to be at all hot and even at cold the plug will get hot enough to fail in 10-30 seconds. My spark testing outside the engine will of course hide the fault.

Bye. It's been ......and I think I am gone.

2017/10/25 05:43:10

AVB

I have been on limited computer usage for the last week here. Local power serviced the lines and when they powered back up sent a surge thru my system taking out the home system.

Yes plugs do fail under compression loads and work fine out the compression environment. Coils also can do this too as it take a much voltage to jump a high compression environment. One of the reason i tried to get everyone to try a known good plug as I have even plug out the box to fail. They can fail any where from to start up to hot. I had one that would run all day in the air compressor setup to only fail when the compressor went to rebuild pressure at the normal recompression setting. I had them to only on hot restarts after 30 minutes of with a 15 minute shut down.

2017/10/25 09:10:22

OldNick

Hi. Thanks for the reply. The thing that really fooled me was the fact that the engine would run for some time before it died, but not to a point where it was actually hot. Also, if I kept trying, the motor _would_ get hot after a time, of course, yet it behaved exactly the same as it did from cold....to me this just screamed fuel. I have had engines behave badly when cold and hot, due to carby problems etc, but this one had me beat.

Nick

2017/10/26 00:17:20

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Honda GX160 keeps popping, dying

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