Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I dusted off the 1 yr old Honda HRB217HXA and did my usual maitanience routine last week. The problem I'm having is that the engine does not idle smoothly.

It surges high and low like it is running lean. On a Briggs or Techumseh I would just adjust the screw on the bottom of the carb until the engine picked up RPMs and ran smoothly.

Unfortunatly the Honda does not have this adjustment screw. The book included with the mower does not tell you how to make a carb adjustment...only how to adjust the choke. I'm not taking it to my friendly Honda dealer to the tune of $60 + an hour.

Can anyone give me some guidance?

I've always liked Briggs engines and have never had to adjust one on a yearly basis.

                                                                                                                                     Dan

Hopefully I won't have to take apart the carb...but it sure comes off easy enough if I do.

My regular matainance is to run the mower dry before storage, change oil and spark plug and sharpen the blades. Grease and adjust as needed. I always use a fuel stabilizer with every tank. 

                                                                                                         Dan