OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds Honda HR194

Wasnt free, bought this one from the scrap yard.


Handles are all stuffed up down at the base.
Base looks fair.
Being a '4' its a GXV120

Motor felt OK, drained carb and it was OK, good fuel.
Air filer wasnt too bad but pre filter was cactus.
Had oil in it.
Wouldnt start.
Plug was clagged up. Put another old one I had here in it and it went first pull.

Smokes a bit, see the pics. lol.
Ran it for a while, got a little better. Will start it again later in the week and give it a good run and see what happens. Id say it had been tipped over.

Glad you posted that Bob, it's interesting. An early HR194 - I could probably figure out approximately how early from the serial number and the details underneath it. I'll send you a PM.

Away it went, 2nd pull.

Still smoking.


Nost sure whats going on.

Because those Hondas have a chromed top ring, compression remains perfect while the cast iron oil ring wears away to the point of becoming ineffective. I'm guessing it has passed through a contractor's hands - it would be difficult for a private owner to wear out the rings. It's only one to two hours to replace them - un-chromed ones are $15 including shipping, and chromed ones with steel rail oil rings are about $19.50 including shipping. If you don't wreck the gaskets it is a cheap job - though you will almost certainly at least need an intake pipe gasket, because they always split. Only $1 for those though.

Im not sure what to do.

I would assume that the coil and starter are the same as a GXV160 And the throttle control and cable. Im happy for it to sit here for now until i know what is going on with them. I think theres 3 or 4 160's there. I want one to go on a 4 stroke super 600 that i bought.



I dare say you might end up with the base Grumpy, but theres no hurry.

I just went and restarted it the other day. It was low on fuel and I hadnt got round to putting some in. Havent dipped the oil again, checked the colour of the plug or any of that.
It has splattered a bit of muck out the muffler.

Its in safe hands. I might even wash it in the next batch.

The starter is not the same as either GXV140 or GXV160 - they are all different designs. It is not impossible that it will fit the 160 more or less by luck. Carburetor is different too. I don't know about the coil: it isn't the same, because the GXV120 has a weird plastic boot at the spark plug end of the HT lead, but it may fit anway - probably depends on whether it is the same diameter flywheel. Throttle control and cable look similar but I think the 4 height lever mowers have larger diameter handles (the whole handle design is completely different, and much more elaborate on the 4 height lever ones).

Maybe not on the coil if the flywheel is different. But i would find it a bit strange if the block architecure for the 3 different motors was not the same. But then I am not up on the specs, bore and stroke.

There are a few different covers, seems the GXV140 has that one particular type, but the 120 and the 160 ive seen with the other two types.

I would have expected the carbs to be different. If not in overall design at least in jetting.

I will get a chance to look at the 160's one day.

Bob, the GXV120 has a Keihin BE03A, GXV140 has a Keihin BE52B, and GXV160 has a Keihin BE66C. They are all Keihin BE, but while the 03A and the 66C have a built-in fuel tap on the carburetor, the 52B does not. They all have the same layout otherwise, and a lot of the parts seem to be interchangeable. I've been told that you can fit an 03A to a GXV140, and a 52B to a GXV120. They will also both go on a GXV160 except for a minor difference in the mounting studs on the 160 engine - some filing seems to be called for. So, it seems you could adapt the BE03A from your HR194 to a GXV160, probably with a bit of minor work. Idle jet seems to be the same. There is probably a minor difference in the main jet and emulsion tube, but the way it runs may not be objectionable.

I haven't found out anything about the ignition module - there's a good chance the GXV120 one would work. The GXV120 starter looks broadly similar to the GXV160 one but I don't think it is actually the same part. The GXV140 one is very different from both of the others.
Post-edit: The GXV120 ignition module has different mounting points from the one used on both GXV140 and GXV160. The GXV160 starter is not the same as the GXV120 one, despite a superficial similarity in appearance. It is taller, heavier, and uses a different drive dog approach.