You can see the black air cleaner and fuel hose that I cleaned out.
The wheels raise to 5 positions.
It has an OHC (overhead cam) Honda 4 stroke engine.
3 forward speeds - 21 inch blade.
Serial Number
There is a cosmetic dent in the valve cover. Not a big deal. A little soap and water and it was ready for action.
Honda specs from Internet
Many times when you find a good deal on Craigslist - it turns out to be some kind of con - or the item is rubbish. Not so this time.
At 1 PM this afternoon - someone posted a Honda mower in a curb alert. Curb Alert means that someone gave up on an item and put it out for the trash.
I have a soft spot for anything Honda. I know new Honda mowers are expensive. I thought if I could get this one - do a little work on it - and I would have a nice trimmer mower for spots that are too tight for my tractor. Lulu had the Prius which I use to pull my trailer. I had to be quick so I threw a couple tarps in the trunk of Lulu's convertible. Away I went - top down - cruising about 5 miles north. It started to rain on the way there - so I put up the convertible top. I wasted a vital 2 minutes - maybe I would lose the deal because of that. Then I thought - rain is good for me - no one else would show up at this obscure place to get an old mower.
The rain stopped. There was the mower on the driveway at the curb. It looked good - dirty - but good. The owner posted that it needed a new spark plug wire - I looked - and could see that the clip was stretch open. I also check and found out it had a full tank of gasoline.
I opened the trunk - spread out the tarps - folded the mower handle and placed it in the trunk. The lid would not go down but that didn't bother me - as long as nothing was rubbing. As I finished loading - an SUV with a trailer arrived - slowed down - did a U-Turn and left. If I had stopped for lunch - I would have lost out.
I got it home - lifted it out of the trunk - and quickly ran for my starter fluid. I tightened that plug wire with a pliers. I opened the air cleaner - gave it a squirt of starting fluid. On the first pull of the cord it fired up! Then it died. More squirts - tug again - it fired up - this time I kept squirting. Surly this mower was getting good spark - the fuel line must be blocked. I pulled off the fuel line and gasoline squirted all over. As I plugged the line hole with a bolt - it was obvious that gasoline was getting to the carb.
I took my compressor air gun - and shot air into the carburetor. You could hear the air clearing all the passages and jets. It must have been gunned up from someone leaving gasoline in it for a long time. This time - I fired it up and it kept running and running and running. Surely it could not be that easy.
I gave the mower a test - and it cut beautifully. The engine is very quiet. The drive wheels have 3 speeds. It cuts 21 inches wide paths. It has a rear bagger - but it also has a 4 armed blade for mulching.
I looked the model up on the Internet and it says it cost $479. We'll see how long it lasts. So far - so good.
Next day story on the Honda Mower - The guy that I beat to getting the Honda Mower from the curb alert wrote this on Craigslist - "I get to the mower to see this guy in leather sandals - fancy shirt - fancy shorts - loading the mower into the trunk of this fancy Chrysler convertible. You could tell he didn't need the mower - I needed that mower - mine has been broken all summer and my lawn's a mess. That guy is a piece of s---!"
Somebody flagged it and the flame was removed from Craigslist. That guy made my day with that post. If he would have asked I would have given it to him - but he didn't even wind down his window. This is the world of Craigslist.
No comments:
Post a Comment