Help diagnosing/troubleshooting start issues on my late grandpa's Honda HR214 lawn mower.
Hello,
TL:DR at the bottom, more detailed information directly below.
I have my late grandfather's Honda HR214 that I use for my lawncare. I was very close with him and when he passed it was tough on me and I kept a few things of his as reminders of him. One of those items being his lawnmower. He was always the kind of man who would fix and take care of his stuff himself in terms of maintenance and repair. So it might seem a little silly but I wanted to keep up that tradition with at least this item. So far I have kept it running well for a number of years but have hit a problem that I can't seem to figure out and was looking for some help or guidance. My fiancé says I should take it to a shop and have someone fix it for us since I've been putting a lot of time into trying to figure out and fix it. But I know it likely seems foolish, but I want to be the one to fix it and keep it running like he had for so many years.
A few days ago I finally got around to my yearly maintenance of his lawnmower. It is a Honda HR 214 push mower. On the model plate it says HR214-LF and has a SM sticker in the front. I started by starting it and letting it run for a few minutes to warm up. I then closed the gas line and tipped the lawnmower in the correct direction to drain the old oil. Once that was done I put the oil cap back on.
Next, while still tipped I removed the lawnmower blade and went ahead and sharpened that. I broke out the power washer to clean the cutting deck of any built up remnants. After that I reattached the blade and tightened it back. I tipped the lawnmower back so that it was on all four wheels again.
Next I went ahead and gave the outside of the lawnmower a quick spray with the power washer (not too aggressively) to clear away some of the built up dirt and grime. Once done I took my air compressor and blew the lawnmower dry. Next I replaced the spark plug with a new one, checked that the plug distance was correct and made sure to install it correctly. Put the line back on the spark plug.
Took apart the carburetor and gave it a quick cleaning with carb spray and put everything back together. I finished it off with putting in the new oil. The manual says engine oil capacity .63 US qt so I put in 20 oz of fresh SAE 10W-30.
Before I did all the work I was able to pull start the mower very easily. After I finished everything, it wasn't starting correctly. I would pull the cord the full length and it wouldn't start up. I gave it a few more test pulls and was able to get the engine running if I quickly switched from choke to Hi while pull starting.
I removed the pull assembly and checked that everything looked good and it looked like the mechanisms were working correctly. When pulling I can feel that it is engaging and giving that resistance, it just seems like it isn't getting enough rotation to start it. With the pull assembly removed I grabbed a drill and a socket and attached it to the bolt head. With the drill I was able to successfully start the engine each time.
I assumed that I messed something up, so I went back and retraced my steps. I took apart and cleaned the carburetor again. I verified the correct amount of oil was added. I unseated and checked the new spark plug, and reinstalled it. I took apart the pull assembly for the engine start and greased it as well as added an extra rotation for more tension on the spring.
After all of that the pull start was slightly better in that it started pretty quickly, but if I turned off the engine and tried starting it again it wouldn't start. At this point I needed to actually cut my grass in order to beat the rain that was coming. It was running well but I thought that when I pulled the Roto-Stop Lever (turns on cutting blade) it was sluggish to engage and get up to speed. At the time I thought it might just be in my head. As I was finishing my lawn the Roto-Stop Lever (turns on cutting blade) definitely was more sluggish to engage and I do not think was reaching its full speed even if I would lift the cutting deck off of the grass to limit any resistance. At this point the engine stopped running, just kind of slowed down and stopped.
I checked that there was plenty of gas in the tank. I tried to start the engine again with the pull start and could not get it started again. I ended up with a strip of the lawn uncut and then the rain came so I was forced to give up for the day.
What could be causing the issue where the pull isn't able to start the engine? I must have done something during my routine maintenance, which I've done for several years without issue, that caused an issue this time. Does anyone have any ideas or thoughts on what could be causing this issue? I can provide any additional information or pictures as needed.
Shop manual:
TL:DR: Did maintenance on my Honda HR 214 push lawnmower. Replaced oil, spark plug, cleaned the cutting deck, sharpened the blade, cleaned external of mower, cleaned carburetor. After all of that the pull start is not working. It pulls and you can feel it engage, but it won't start the engine. I can start it using a drill though. Retraced steps by taking apart and cleaning carburetor again, verifying correct quantity of oil, checked the spark plug and greased the pull start assembly. Trying to figure out what could be causing this.