OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions on Other Engines Sanli OHV400 starter

And Norm, if you leave a Honda GX fuel tap on they usually flood into the sump!

I've had two Honda GX engines that client's thought were seized, but the fuel tap had been left on and fuel had filled up the sump hydraulically locking the piston as though it had thrown a conrod.

Nevertheless, a Honda GX will still start better than a Briggs & Stratton with the Pulsa-Jet diaphragm carburettor. It would have been good if B&S had used float bowl carbies much earlier and saved their reputation and not given Honda a market opportunity.

LRT, I would take a Victa 2 stroke any day over a Honda

The fuel leakage isn't something that is Honda related.

I believe you find the problem with the Honda engines is the soft seating of the needle as it doesn't always seat completely but the Briggs will also flood the crankcase at times due seating problems too. Even Kohler Courage engine with Walbro carbs here do it when the needle seat is worn (actual fuel etched). Kohler had to make available a repair kit just for replacing the needle seat because customers and techs were raising so many complaints about having to replace a $150 carburetor (now about $125) when only the needle seat was needing replacing.

These are the engines that I primarily work on. I just haven't seen any Kawasaki mower engines doing this but you will probably just about every motorcycle, ATV and UTV have fuel shut off valves installed or at least every one that I have worked on does.

Hi AVB,

Thanks for your informative response. Good to hear of and learn from your experience.

It's good to know that Kohler responded to the requests with a repair kit. It is such a waste of resources to replace the entire component rather than repair it. We sadly live in a throwaway society.

Yes, nearly all the small engines here have manual fuel shut off valves except for some ride on mowers. However, most owners don't shut off the fuel after use nor store their engines without draining the fuel out of the carby.

Briggs & Stratton are marketing the Vanguard horizontal shaft engines with 'Transport Guard'. The ignition switch and the fuel tap has been combined together to prevent the engine flooding when the engine is transported.

Also, the carbies fitted on the newer Briggs & Stratton engines look suspiciously similar to the Keihin carbies used on the Honda GX's.

The new Chinese made Briggs & Stratton CR series engine even uses the Honda GX ignition switch!

You no doubt know even more about such copies and exchanges. Some outsourced engines & components are of course well made. I recently was asked to rebuild a Daihatsu (subsidiary of Toyota) built B&S Vanguard V-twin that had done over 8,000 engine hours and the cross hatch was still visible and only needed new piston rings & valves. It is powering a 240V industrial generator operating a heavy duty wool press in a shearing shed & is still doing a great job.

LRT, something to keep in the back of your mind on any ride on with a battery you can fit a cheap fuel shut off solonoid so when the ignition is switched off so is the fuel

Hi Norm, thats a great tip. I'll keep it in mind. When I think about it, the diesel stationary engines that I service all have shut off solenoids.

Of course diesels have these valves so that they can be shut down easily.

The only other way of stopping them is to shut off the air supply, and diesels for use in 'flammable atmosphere' environments have to be fitted with that method as well.

Yes Gadge, you are correct. As you are no doubt aware, the GM Detroit 2 stroke diesels have an intake flap built in for an emergency shutdown. However, when the emergency flap is used, the suction can pull the blower seals in, and if there is still an air leak, the engine can runaway on its sump oil causing a rapid and spectacular dismantling of engine components!

Yep, there's some vids on YouTube of Jimmy's having runaways, until they hand-grenade!