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

Given Situation: Engine has been fully warmed up and the throttle is set to fast.   

Scenario: My Honda snowblower surges when it comes out of the load.  If I blow the snow with the throttle at either low or medium speed then the engine does not surge when the load is light but when the throttle is set to fast, the engine will surge when the load is low or minimum.  As soon as it gets a full load, no surging.   I took the blower to the dealer today (since no snow for few days and the wait is not too long) as I felt this was not right.  I had this problem since it was brand new in Dec 2010.  I will let you know what the fix is or if this is normal.  Any similar experiences from Honda snowblower owners?

If and when I bring my vehicles (don't do cars/trucks) to a repair shop for maintenance such as timing belt and pulleys, I advise them that I want to see the old parts before I pay the bill. 

Friiy's point is that, the dealer didn't do you any favours.   Had you been paying out of your pocket, you would have seen the $400.00 charge.  Dealers know they can't hoodwink the manufacturers for more money to do a particular job.  That stuff is basically flat rate for parts and time.  However, they can and probably did bill Honda for a carb/labour and likely only changed or opened up the jet in your original carb.   That way, they put in a $2.00 jet and bill Honda for the full price of a carb, pocketing that money.  It's nothing new.  Actually, I wouldn't doubt that it's pretty much common practice at a lot of dealerships.

friiy and borat,

you are correct - what do you want me to do?

MN_Runner wrote:

Sounds to me like folks just makin' conversation.

MN_Runner wrote:
Keep $400.00 on hand for when the warranty expires.  

borat wrote:
Would you know it came off your car/truck or from a box of old crap they keep in the back for people who ask to see the "old parts"?  If they slapped some timing belt on the counter, pretty sure I wouldn't know if it came off my car or  some other vehicle.

Borat is a smart man.  He would mark the timing belt before he goes to the dealer so he can verified that it was changed. 

MN_Runner wrote:
A few years ago "60 Minutes", I believe, did an undercover type show on auto repair shops.  If I recall they purposefully made a minor elementary mis-adjustment to the engine...and they did secretly mark parts, and had a young women take the car in.  Only like one shop out of ten said that it was just a simple adjustment.  The rest quickly did the adjustment but then went on to replace, or claim to replace, all kinds of things.  Struts, calipers, rotors, seals, exhausts, and other gismos. 

You might recall that Sears Auto paid a 20 million dollar fine to settle state filed fraud charges. 

Paul7 wrote:
There are a lot of videos about that on youtube.  I think it was Jiffy Lube and a lot of places like that.  They did the same thing with computers too.  Disconnected the cable between the motherboard and hard drive and took them in to places to be fixed.

OPE or Auto are not the only place people get taken. There are a lot of organized churches (any form of organized religion) which can take people for a ride.  There are many churches that are there truly to serve and help.  OPE and auto dealers are the same, there are honest and dishonest people just like anywhere in our society.

After the carburetor replacement, my engine runs much smoother and quieter.  So it was a good fix whether the dealer used a $2 part or $50 part.  Replacing a jet inside the carburetor is just as much as work (maybe more) then simply replacing the carb.

"Replacing a jet inside the carburetor is just as much as work (maybe more) then simply replacing the carb."

Not necessarily. 

On most OPE engines, all you need to do is pull the float bowl, unscrew the main jet and replace with another.  To remove the carb, you have to disconnect the throttle linkage, and governor linkage.  Then you need to remove the bolts/nuts that attach the carb to the engine.  Often that requires, cowling to be removed to get at the screws and linkages.  From my experience, with the machine in it's maintenance position, a jet change is relatively easy.