OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Honda Engines Honda manufacture origins

I recently picked up a second hand GXV160. The seller claimed the engine was 4 to 5 years old. It seems his age call was correct. I also noticed the sticker on the back of the to cover, made in China.

Is this engine a copy as in fake or a genuine Honda made in China? Most comments I have read seem to indicate Hondas Chinese venture as a recent thing.

Apologies if this has been covered, I could not find it.

If it is a honda it will have honda cast into the engine block along with engine size.
Well as far as I am aware.


If it has honda cast and was not made by honda, the company that made it and the one that sold it as such would want to have deep pockets.

Hi Aldot, Honda have a manufacturing plant in China and have been producing engines for quite some time. I am sure you have a genuine Honda that has been manufactured in China.

I agree with Bob, no one in their right mind would stamp it as a Honda....if it wasn't.

Thanks. Is the GXV160 produced in a number of countries?

This is my first Honda mower engine so I am keen to see how it goes.

There seem to be engine models still produced in Japan, and others that have moved to China. However I'm not clear on what overlap period exists when production is transferred. A Honda engine dealer can probably tell you which model is produced where, at least for the ones he stocks.

As a further complication, Honda has a range of reduced cost engines (the overhead cam, or OHC ones, which have a GC prefix for horizontal crankshaft or GCV prefix for vertical crankshaft). I haven't figured out where they are made. It seems to me they are clearly inferior to the pushrod ones, but they seem to be cheaper to make up for that.

Post Edit: Here is a list of plants where each model of Honda engine was built through 2010, with serial numbers, prefixes etc:
http://www.aapowerequipment.com/honda/2012_Honda_Model_Chronology.pdf

Hi Grumpy, Bruce is a certified dealer....a PM to him might give us the answer.

Although it would be unwise for a chinese copy company to brand one as a honda, next time I am at the farm I will take a photo of the air compressor there, they didnt steal the name but they did label it as a gx160!!

I would hazard a guess but he gxv I would hope if a japanese motor, I am almost certain all of the honda replacement carburettors a made in china now though. A lot of companies dont advertise such a manufactuing move, I cop a blasting from americans from tiem to time that still belive all their engines are made in america.

I was in at my local today and I grabbed a plug. He had a GXV160 on the shelf abd it didn't have made in China on the back of the steel top near the rear fuel tank screw. It did have China printed on the tag hanging off the oil fill tube.

I popped in the new plug, fresh oil, new air cleaner and pulled off the fuel tank, rinsed it and the strainer and put it back together.

I pulled it over 4 or so times and it started. They certainly are quiet.

This one has no throttle control, just flat out. I'll suss it out in more light tomorrow to see if there is something I can do about that.

Aldo, the GXV160 should have an attachment point for a speed control cable if it was made for a lawnmower. I have a chonda version of the GXV160 that is on a pressure washer and it has no provision for a speed control, because it is intended for a job that doesn't call for one. If yours is the same as mine, you would need to replace one or two parts on the external controls to attach a cable. Also, it has a push-pull choke - to couple it to the speed control for lawnmower use you would need to change a couple of links there too. It may be easiest to just transfer the whole external controls panel from a blown-up ex-contractor lawnmower GXV160. That way you'll get a more predictable result with less trouble (and a few useful spare parts as well).