# Need help with Honda HR215 Project



## hocky88 (May 8, 2011)

Hello Everyone,

I have been reading here alot and just joined as a member. I am beginning to rekindle the fun I had as a youngster rebuilding lawn mowers. I recently purchased a used Honda HR215 mower which is in great shape deck/frame wise but has a bent crakshaft. I bought this for $30 with the idea that I would find another mower and swap engines. I now have acquired another which is in very similar condition but the crank is ok. Looking underneath the mower with the ok shaft, there is oil visible spread around the BBC. I am hoping this is not evidence of a bad seal, etc. My plan is to work on the mower with the ok shaft and use parts from the bent shaft motor to fix. The mower with the ok shaft has been sitting for a few years, the flywheel is rusted and I removed the carb becuase I am sure it must need cleaning. I plan to reassemble today and see how it goes. When breaking doen the carb, there was a black plastic plug which I removed using a screwdriver. I am hoping that was not a mistake! Can I reuse that part? Also, is it ok to soak these carbs? I am soaking for a few hours today and then was going to spray carb cleaner thru the parts then blow them all dry. What can I use to remove the rust from the flywheel? I tried a small brass brush last night but it di not work that great as there is still alot of rust. I guess I need to remove the coil as well. Appreciate everyone time here and will take any tips or advice you are willing to share. I will update my progress!


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

The black plastic plug on the carburetor is probably the pilot jet. There is a small O-ring that seals in and holds it in place, make sure it's on before reinstalling. Rust on the flywheel is not that important as it will not prevent the ignition from working, but will affect air gap setting between the flywheel magnets and the ignition module/coil.


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## hocky88 (May 8, 2011)

Right, thanks! I looked it up at boats.net and yes the part I was talking about is called the pilot jet. I did not see an o-ring when I removed... hopefully, upon further inspection I will see the o-ring. Today, I cleaned the flywheel with some sand paper and removed the coil and cleaned the contacts the same to remove the rust. I then power-washed the entire deck top and bottom - it looks great. It has the hydrostatic drive and electric start. I just hope I can get this thing to work! I soaked the carb for a few hours this morning and then I cleaned all the individual pieces with spray carb cleaner trying to ensure that all ports appear clean. It seems that the varnish build up is difficult to see and will only be apparent when I try to run this thing but that is ok. This is my project mower so I can take my time. When I get home again today, I will reinstall the coil try to verify that I have spark. Once that is done I will reinstall the carb along with everything else and see how it goes. The comforting part is that the other mower with the bent crank does run so I can always get parts from that if necessary. I am worried about the noticeable oil on the underside of the mower. I am not sure how severe of a problem that is going to be if it is leaking. If it is the crank seal is that a really hard fix? Any advice is welcome!


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

hocky88 said:


> I am not sure how severe of a problem that is going to be if it is leaking. If it is the crank seal is that a really hard fix? Any advice is welcome!


May not be anything to worry about, but even if the seal is leaking, they are not hard to replace. 

Honda mower engines don't have drain plugs on the bottom of the sump. They are located on the side and the oil drains onto the mower deck and down through a hole. If the oil is drained this way, it's pretty easy to get oil underneath the deck. It could be the previous owner changed the oil this way and that's how the oil got underneath the engine.


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## hocky88 (May 8, 2011)

it was a great evening working on the mower. I first reinstalled the coil and installed a new plug and checked for spark and it was working fine. I removed carb parts from solvent (Seafoam) and sprayed thru everthing again with generic carb cleaner. I changed the oil to mobil 1 synthetic 10W30. I assembled evwrything back together and filled with gas. Well, it started right up on the first pull! I was so glad. The carb seems fine. The linkages were not working as I could not get the controls to work. I manually moved it off choke and it was running fine. This is where my lack of experience begins to surface as now I don't know how to fine tune the carb and likages etc. The controls on the handle only seem to work in the choke position. You can move the choke open but ther really is no idle. If anyone can tell me about the adjustments that are available and how to methodically set everything that wouls be great. It was running well enough to try it out on my lawn but it seems as though it could be running faster. It sounds great and is very quiet! Thanks in advance for your help!


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