Honda GX390

Rapid HotClean said:
Ralph, have you made a move yet?
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No. I am going to change the carb on the honda in the garage first. I will buy one of those 15 hp sooner or later. Can't go wrong at $369. Do you know if I can put a honda coil on the lifan?

Hey Ted, On doing research. I saw you were having problems with your Chonda a few months ago. Did you fix it and what was the problem. You stopped inquiring about the parts so I assume you just fixed it.
 
Ralph Q said:
No. I am going to change the carb on the honda in the garage first. I will buy one of those 15 hp sooner or later. Can't go wrong at $369. Do you know if I can put a honda coil on the lifan?

Hey Ted, On doing research. I saw you were having problems with your Chonda a few months ago. Did you fix it and what was the problem. You stopped inquiring about the parts so I assume you just fixed it.
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Solid lifters. Valves out of adjustment. Honda's the same. PITA.

Moving forward am going to start check them with each oil change. Same with Honda. Failure in the field sucks. PITA.

I believe Kohlers are hydraulic? That requires an oil pump? More trouble with pump and/or leaks?
 
Rapid HotClean said:
Solid lifters. Valves out of adjustment. Honda's the same. PITA.

Moving forward am going to start check them with each oil change. Same with Honda. Failure in the field sucks. PITA.

I believe Kohlers are hydraulic? That requires an oil pump? More trouble with pump and/or leaks?
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How long had you run the engine before the valve problems? I think i'm a better mechanic than I really am! I 'm not making any valve adjustments. That's why I probably need three engines sitting around. I just took the honda apart and I think my problem is the fuel filter inside the tank. I couldn't get it out so I ended up drilling it out. Now I need another one.
 
al9226 said:
And it's electric start.


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www.anrcleanteam.com
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Hey Al. With doing some research , the predator is good but...it has very, very cheap components ie: wiring, filter. and it only has a 1 gallon gas tank. That is a non-starter for me.
 
At Home Depot the Lifan 13 HP with electric start and 1.8 G tank is $329. Comparable Honda is about $728?

HD has Lifan 15 HP electric start and 1.8 G tank for $369.

Same Lifan engine with 18 Amp alternator (power a burner) is $409. Honda with same features, but 13 HP is about $838.
 
Rapid HotClean said:
At Home Depot the Lifan 13 HP with electric start and 1.8 G tank is $329. Comparable Honda is about $728?

HD has Lifan 15 HP electric start and 1.8 G tank for $369.

Same Lifan engine with 18 Amp alternator (power a burner) is $409. Honda with same features, but 13 HP is about $838.
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Yep. The 13 hp lifan is only 17 ft-lbs torque though. The 15 hp has 18.5, comparable to a GX390 honda.

Can anyone tell me if I buy the 15 hp lifan with electric start. How do I keep the battery charged if it doesn't have a coil"?
 
I'm pretty sure there is a magneto or something that puts out enough to charge the battery.
 
Ralph Q said:
Yep. The 13 hp lifan is only 17 ft-lbs torque though. The 15 hp has 18.5, comparable to a GX390 honda.

Can anyone tell me if I buy the 15 hp lifan with electric start. How do I keep the battery charged if it doesn't have a coil"?
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It does has a small charging system in it. That's the point of having electric start. Theres a 3 amp and an 18 amp version like Ted was saying. The 18 amp version you can add a hotbox, the 3 amp version you can't.

I'm really thinking about buying one now lol.
 
Did some side-by-side testing this week between the 15 HP Lifan and GX390. Took them both to the same job site, concrete cleaning (four houses) in the same subdivision. Newer, tightly spaced two story homes (lots of echoing).

Mufflers on both look to be identical, but Lifan is MUCH louder - under load or not.

Mechanical noise, Lifan is louder. Probably not fair because it is direct drive, while GX390 is a belt driven Karcher.

Fuel consumption. Didn't do any real measuring, but Lifan definitely used more - maybe 10-20%.
 
Rapid HotClean said:
Did some side-by-side testing this week between the 15 HP Lifan and GX390. Took them both to the same job site, concrete cleaning (four houses) in the same subdivision. Newer, tightly spaced two story homes (lots of echoing).

Mufflers on both look to be identical, but Lifan is MUCH louder - under load or not.

Mechanical noise, Lifan is louder. Probably not fair because it is direct drive, while GX390 is a belt driven Karcher.

Fuel consumption. Didn't do any real measuring, but Lifan definitely used more - maybe 10-20%.
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Thanks Ted, will make my future decisions easier knowing this.
 
Rapid HotClean said:
Did some side-by-side testing this week between the 15 HP Lifan and GX390. Took them both to the same job site, concrete cleaning (four houses) in the same subdivision. Newer, tightly spaced two story homes (lots of echoing).

Mufflers on both look to be identical, but Lifan is MUCH louder - under load or not.

Mechanical noise, Lifan is louder. Probably not fair because it is direct drive, while GX390 is a belt driven Karcher.

Fuel consumption. Didn't do any real measuring, but Lifan definitely used more - maybe 10-20%.
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Noise isn't much of an issue. The only thing I don't like is the extra fuel consumption. The gx390 only gets 2.5 - 3 hrs tops as it is.

Ted Other than that you think it's built pretty sturdy?
 
Chad:

The Lifan had an oil leak from a bad valve cover gasket. Replaced it with a Honda part and the two gaskets were identical - even the rubber looked/felt the same.

Had the Lifan's exhaust valve go out of adjustment - stopped the music during a job. I think Jerry or Russ posted that a hard backfire can cause that. And yes, the Lifan is prone to backfiring on warm restarts.

The Honda's lifter rod guide bracket broke. That caused its intake valve to stop working, which in turn stopped the music during a job.

The additional fuel consumption? Maybe it's because the Lifan really does make two more HP than the Honda. But it seems that the extra power is unnecessary as they're both running very similar pump outputs and the Honda does just fine.

I know it doesn't bother you, but I really don't like the Lifan's louder exhaust.
 
Rapid HotClean said:
Chad:

The Lifan had an oil leak from a bad valve cover gasket. Replaced it with a Honda part and the two gaskets were identical - even the rubber looked/felt the same.

Had the Lifan's exhaust valve go out of adjustment - stopped the music during a job. I think Jerry or Russ posted that a hard backfire can cause that. And yes, the Lifan is prone to backfiring on warm restarts.

The Honda's lifter rod guide bracket broke. That caused its intake valve to stop working, which in turn stopped the music during a job.

The additional fuel consumption? Maybe it's because the Lifan really does make two more HP than the Honda. But it seems that the extra power is unnecessary as they're both running very similar pump outputs and the Honda does just fine.

I know it doesn't bother you, but I really don't like the Lifan's louder exhaust.
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Yikes, that's a lot of stuff going wrong. In what time span did all this happen, Ted? Will the thing at least, last 6 months? I just put a carb on my other Honda and it does the same thing....keeps surging. I've just about given up. It does run smooth when I put the choke half way. What could be the cause of this, that isn't the carb?
 
Cracked insulator or bad gasket between the card and head.
 
Ralph Q said:
Yikes, that's a lot of stuff going wrong. In what time span did all this happen, Ted? Will the thing at least, last 6 months?
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Valve cover gasket was the Lifan. Lifter rod guide bracket was the Honda.

Ralph, PW engines work very hard all day long. So sometimes chit is going to break. It ain't plug and play like a TV set.

Between the two engines the Lifan needs more tightening of exterior bolts and stuff. But I don't think that's the engine's fault so much as it is the result of vibration from being a direct drive. The Honda's a belt drive, so it's isolated from the pump.
 
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