Engine problem ?

Pat Norman

Pat Norman

New member
Washed a house yesterday and had no problems. Big storm came through last night so I tarped over my skid.(tarp ain't in greatest shape though. ..it leaks some). This morning had to wash concrete on a restaurant. Get to the site and the motor Honda GX 670 was hard starting. Like really hard. It took several tries of long cranking but it finally came to life with some coaxing. It's never done that. Then it would run fine full rpm under no load (just in bypass). It wasn't missing or spitting or smoking, nothing odd. But under any load whether with a soap nozzle or especially a high pressure nozzle the engine was really bogging down. It was barely pulling over 2000 rpm and barely 2000 psi. So I am thinking the ignition module just got damp and after a while it will dry up and run right. So we started doing the job but it never got any better. The normal 2 hour job got done in close to three hours but the motor never ran close to full rpm under load. I got home and pulled the plugs they look fine and dry. Even under load the engine wasn't missing or spitting just bogging way down. I'm still thinking it's something to do with the ignition. I don't think it was bad fuel because that would surely have caused a lot of sputtering. I'm almost wondering if my K7 unloader is on the fritz. I've got a new one I guess I need to try.
Anyone have any ideas?
 
When my engine bogs down or even dies under a load it is always my spark plugs each time I have this issue so I put new plugs in there. They don't look that bad but are.

If you have another set of spark plugs, it does not take long to gap them and install them and try it out.

Good luck.
 
Spray a little bit of starter fluid in the air intake it will dry it up quick if it's water causing problems.Get ax large grill cover an put it over your skid so no more water.
 
New plugs did not fix it. I'll go try without the filter. But I'm still thinking it was fine yesterday then rained cats and dogs now it's acting up. I'm thinking ignition module must have gotten too wet or something.
 
Okay partly solved. It's not getting any fire to the left cylinder. Now I just gotta figure out how to change the module I guess. I would have never thought the cylinder was down. It still ran quite smooth and the plug wasn't "wet" looking like it wasn't burning off the gas.
 
I've never known a twin cylinder engine to run smooth with one cylinder dead. My Kohler Magnum 18S started acting up like that and come to find out it was low compression problem. I just finished putting a set of rings in it and it wouldn't start. Poured a little gas down the carb and it fired right up then died. Fuel pump was bad. I pulled the pump, took it apart and found a problem. Fixed that, put the pump back on and cranked it up. Ran the engine under load and it runs good again. Pat I wonder if maybe you have a fuel problem? How many hrs on it?
 
Rance said:
Ignition coil for sure then. Not a big deal to change out. Mostly time consuming. Are you your own mechanic? Make sure you get the air gap set properly.
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If I remember right they told me to use the cover from a pack of matches to set the air gap.
I checked the air gap before i took the old one off and it was close to the thickness of the match pack.
 
mike barrett said:
If I remember right they told me to use the cover from a pack of matches to set the air gap.
I checked the air gap before i took the old one off and it was close to the thickness of the match pack.
Click to expand...

Did you have to pull the flywheel or was the coil on the outside of the flywheel? I haven't tried to take the cover off yet.
 
mike barrett said:
If I remember right they told me to use the cover from a pack of matches to set the air gap.
I checked the air gap before i took the old one off and it was close to the thickness of the match pack.
Click to expand...
That's how most guys used to do it. Todays machines are engineered for maximum performance. If the gap isn't set at the proper specified gap it could reduce fuel combustion performance reducing MAXIMUM POWER! Set the gap using a feeler gauge. Around .010-.012 ballpark. You will have to find the right spec for your engine. Sometimes it tells right on the coil. Kohler does anyway.
 
Typically when one of these small engines runs fine in bypass but bogs under load I have found it to be either a bad plug, plug wire, or coil. The other issue I will come across it that it needs a valve adjustment. it will have the same symptoms that it bogs under load but usually if I remove the air cleaner I can hear it backfiring through the carb. The reason they run fine in bypass is because they don't need much horsepower to circulate the water at 0psi so the one running cylinder is adequate to keep it going smooth.
 
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