# Honda GCV 190 governor issue after crank replacement



## Cranky (May 21, 2010)

Hi everyone,

Just replaced the crankshaft on a GCV 190 Honda lawn mower HRX 217 TDA that had hit an inmovable object. Everything ran fine for a few seconds, but going from idle to fast with the throttle, the engine guned all of a sudden and I had to use the kill switch. Will not idle and RPM out of control. If I hold the governor arm down, RPM OK. Sounds to me like a governor issue inside the crankcase, and a new tear down is in order. The governor lever does not stay in the down position when engine is running, but lift slightly at any throttle position, disturbing the RPM. But before I re-do this job, I would like to check with the community in case I'm missing something far more easy to deal with. Thanks for your advices... New parts came from Honda dealer, genuine Honda parts. I'm a first timer at this.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Try performing a static governor adjustment first. If the adjustment is off even a little the engine can race.


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## Cranky (May 21, 2010)

Thanks 30yeartech. But being a novice at this, I do not know what it means and what to do. When installing the governor lever back on its shaft, I was careful to reposition everything the way it was before disassembly, and also checked to make sure the lever travel back and forth the same way as well. Thanks for explaining in details the static governor adjustment procedure, or send me to a link that do so. Thanks in advance.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Locate the governor shaft where it comes out of the engine block. 

Loosen the arm that is attached to the shaft. 

Hold the throttle on the carburetor to the wide open position and note which direction the arm attached to the governor shaft moves. 

While holding the throttle wide open rotate the governor shaft in the same direction it would turn to open the throttle, turn it until it stops. 

Tighten the arm back down to the governor shaft. 

That's the procedure for making the static adjustment on any internal governor, horizontal or vertical.


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## Cranky (May 21, 2010)

Thanks for the explanations. I did just that. No improvement. I have a good GCV 160 for comparaison. When running the good engine, at idle, the governor shaft stays down, and resist somewhat when applying upright pressure. With the troublesome GCV 190, that governor floats freely, like the engine was off, and if not held down with the finger, RPM will exceed engine max speed. Wouldn't you agree that what's left is that something happened with the internal governor weights ? What puzzle me is what could have gone wrong during reassembly of the oil pan...nothing was forced. I checked the governor internals and it looked good. Was I suppose during re-assembly to hold that governor shaft a certain way ? I would assume that the governor plastic gear just made contact with the gear on the crankshaft at a 90 degree angle upon re-installing the oil pan...? Thanks for sharing your opinion on this...


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Well it does sound like your going to have to tear it down again. If the flyweights were not under the spool when it was reassembled then the spool will not be lifted by them to actuate the governor arm. That all I can think of anyways.


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## Cranky (May 21, 2010)

It makes sense. Thank you for your advices. This project will take place in a few days. I'll let you know what I find.


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## Cranky (May 21, 2010)

OK, I took the oil pan off again, and found absolutely nothing wrong with the governor assembly, its weights, gears, etc... I even showed it to the Honda dealer, just to make sure. So I put everything back together, and the governor works fine now. I have no idea what could have gone wrong the first time, since all these parts can only fit one way.

One word of caution for those who will attempt such a job (crankshaft replacement) : the aluminum parts are very fragile on the GCV 190, and won't take many cycles of bolts off - bolts on. It is a well designed engine, always starting on that first pull, even after 2
tear down, but definitely not commercial grade, and probably not meant to be rebuilt either.

Thanks for the help provided by this forum, especially 30yearTech.


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