Honda GC160 power washer engine fails

[midwestmark]

Ok, I'm back once again for some help here guys.

I have owned this power washer for a few years. It hasn't run for 2. Today i completely took apart the carb, cleaned everything thoroughly. The engine started right up and was running good, idled for a 5 minutes or so, engine died, could not get it restarted for anything,,,,,, pulled plug, check for spark, that was good.

I let it set for about 30 minutes, went outside, pulled once and it started right up, ran for about 5 minutes, and i shut it down. Once again, i tried restarting and would NOT start..

What am i missing?

 

[piston slapper]

Make sure the carb bolts are tight , and that you don't have something that resembles a carb gasket laying on your bench.
Might be another bad honda gas cap.
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[dutch1]

When you had the carb off did you check for a free flow of fuel from the tank to the carb? I'm not the brightest bulb on the porch but it sure sounds like a fuel delivery problem. On second thought, is the engine equipped with a low oil sensor? If it does, disconnect the lead from the low oil sensor at the harness it goes into. If the engine continues to run with the low oil sensor disconnected, check for proper oil level.

 

[NEW CITY LAWN CARE LLC]

Gas Tank Vapor Lock, loosen the gas cap or replace...

 

[dutch1]

Is the nonventing Honda gas cap a recent development? I've seen other manufacturer's gas caps that didn't vent properly but never a Honda--and never is a fairly long time for me.

 

[MowerMedic77]

The new gx chrome emissions caps have had issues, but the plastic gc caps have not. Think your response is the right direction for this issue...
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[midwestmark]

Guys, thanks for your help on this, its very frustrating.

A little more detail here. I did check for flow, while the tank was off, and it was working well. It does have the factory Honda plastic gas cap.

My local repair shop also suggested the vapor lock theory.

Let me ask this, on the side of the snout of the gas tank, there is a connection for a possible overflow hose. Could that be cut open, install a hose, and be done with the vapor lock theory?

 

[midwestmark]

Make sure the carb bolts are tight , and that you don't have something that resembles a carb gasket laying on your bench.
Might be another bad honda gas cap.
Posted via Mobile Device

Interesting comment, the first go round, this did happen.. Those gaskets are a PIA to get all three on correctly. Although, I guarantee you that they are in place now

 

[piston slapper]

The plastic fuel tanks do not have the gas caps that are experiencing the venting issues.
I would clean the carb again. It gets easier after a few times.
All it takes is a speck of crud in the main jet to make it shut down.
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[dutch1]

To add a bit to Slappers comments, if you didn't remove the main jet and the fuel nozzle, do so. As I recall, there are about 12 small ports in the fuel nozzle. I have occasionally found many of those ports obstructed or partially obstructed.