I have this Chinese knock-off of a Honda that, so far, has been mostly reliable. I use it to power the sawmill. Honda parts are completely interchangeable. The service and parts distributor told me they're not really all that cheap in quality as far as the actual parts go that make up the engine. What is lacking is the way they're put together. For example; Chinese assembly worker #1 may put the connecting rod and bearing cap together and hand tighten the nuts, then pass it to Chinese assembly worker #2 who torques the nuts. More often than not, #2 forgets to torque the nuts. So what this distributor told me was before his company lets an engine go out the door, they take the end cover off the engine and check all the critical bolts for proper torque. Only takes 10 minute start to finish and keeps his customers happy. Tonight, I had the chance to test that 10 minute theory.

While running the mill today, I stalled the engine by running the end of the crankshaft into a chain guard. (Yes, I know... stupid move on my part) The motor was idling at the time, so it didn't take much to stall it as I have the idle set as low as I can get it in order for the centrifugal clutch to stay disengaged while I'm potentially in the area of the blade.

When I went to re-start it, it would not run. Not even a 'pop' in an attempt to fire, with and without the use of the choke. I thought maybe it got flooded, so I decided to pull the plug to have a look. Plug was dry as a bone. While the plug was out I turned the engine over to verify I had spark, which I did. A very good spark in fact. Put the plug back in and tried it again. Nothing. Poured just a little gas down the carb. Still nothing, not even an attempt to fire. Poured a whole LOT of gas down the carb with the intention of drowning the *&%#$%*& thing! Yes, I was angry; The customer was standing there waiting for lumber to come off the mill.

So anyway, I figured this was it for the cheap Chinese knock-off engine. I had gotten 185 hours out of it, and it was never intended to be a permanent member of the saw team anyway. It was a cheap way for me to experiment with a machine I had built that I wasn't sure if I'd got everything straight and square on. If it wouldn't cut square and true lumber, what was the point of an expensive engine? And I didn't know how much power it would actually need either. I thought maybe a 20 - 26 HP motor would be ideal, but who knows. Maybe the 13 HP would suffice. And it does to a point, but I can see where a little larger engine would be beneficial.

I started looking around on Craigslist, ebay, etc and found nothing except a questionable 18 HP about an hour from me. Unknown if it would run and I really wanted something over 20 HP anyway. The 18 would work, probably better than the 13 HP Chinese special if it would run, but for what the guy was asking, ($375), I could buy another Chinese Honda with a 2 year warranty.

So tonite I decided to yank off the end cover, just for grins and giggles, to see what I had done to the stupid thing. I found...



NOTHING.



The oil was clean, no foreign objects, filings or crud. It was still lining up its timing marks. No teeth missing off of any gears. No wear on the cam shaft lobes and the cross hatching was still in the cylinder. Everything turned perfectly.

So back together it went. Even with my inexperience and my rooting around in there, the whole thing was back together in 20 minutes.

Knowing MY luck, I decided to turn it over just for the heck of it. In not even one revolution of the crankshaft it was running just like nothing had ever happened. So tomorrow, I guess I'll put it back on the mill and try again.

Anyone have any thoughts on why it wouldn't run after it had been stalled? I'm at a total loss. From my limited knowledge and experience, I would think if it had spark, fuel, compression and it was in time, it should at least TRY to fire.

 

This could be an absolute shoot in the dark but does the engine have a oil level auto shut off? I have a log splitter that I can be working on a slight grade then shut it off to refuel. The when I try to start it back up the low oil safety indicator will keep it from running. After I level the motor she'll start up just fine.

 

Good thought Eric.
But #1, this is always level.
#2, it had plenty of oil.
#3, it had spark, which is what gets killed if the oil level shut down gets activated.

 

while you had the plug out, are you getting compression?
Have you changed plugs recently? In a pinch, I went with a colder plug in my Husky. Once it was warm, it wouldn't restart.
Double check your timing and make sure your not 180 out.

 

Next time it happens, test for spark. If no spark, your module is bad.

If you have spark and nothing happens, try removing the air filter and see if it starts up. Had an air filter on a small engine fill up with fuel (turned over engine by accident) and the mixture was so rich, that it wouldn't fire up.

Keep a can of ether next to you, and next time try it. Usually does the trick.

 

With the saw dust involved could the gas vent cap be clogged?

 

Yep. Don't have a compression tester and don't know what it should have anyway, but I put my thumb over the hole and couldn't hold back the compression, so it has SOME at least. Can't manually pull it over if I pull it slowly with the rope. I have to yank on the rope to get it past the compression point with the plug in.I've never changed the plug. I wouldn't think in 185 hours it would be bad and it looked good with the proper gap, but I guess it could be going bad.The marks were lined up when I pulled the cover off and now it runs fine, so I assume it's timed properly?That's the first thing I checked and it had great spark. Doesn't mean it will still have it under compression tho I suppose.Air filter was off as soon as I started pulling things apart. Poured gas down the throat of the carb too and it still wouldn't fire. I'll be getting a can tomorrow!

 

That's a good thought too. I didn't immediately remove the cap either. But I did take it off after the repeated attempts to get it going, just to see if I'd run it out of gas. Still had a 1/2 a tank and the situation didn't change after filling it up.

 

Okay my last and final thought.. Are you running gas or gas / ethanol blend?

Ethanol is heck on small motors.

 

I'd assume the blend. It's just the 87 octane stuff, nothing special. Been running fine on it tho.

 

I didn't catch the part where it was running fine now.

Spark plugs are better than they used to be, but the impact may have broke it and its opening up when under pressure that your not getting when its open.

 

That's a good thought too. I'll pick up one when I'm out tomorrow.

 

That was my only thought on it also. Probably not your problem but my sisters gen had a low oil sensor that was apparently failing. When I would check all the normal stuff and put it back together it would run fine. Than when it died again, I apparently moved it around enough to make it run again. On hers, I was able to bypass the sending unit and ordered another one (hasnt been installed yet).