Honda pressure washer wont turn over with pull rope.

[oldblue1968chevy]

Was pressure washing today with dads very $ pressure washer, this thing is less than 2 years old. Oil could probably be changed (Getting black). Well started to bog down and run rough. Ran it a lil longer 1 min. maybe. And cut it off. Well, went back to start it and you couldnt pull the pull rope to turn motor over. Motor has plenty of oil. This is a honda motor/cat pump. I was going to pull the plug but couldnt find a deep socket bigger than 20mm WTF I wanna work on chevys.

Have someexperience in small engines (ATVS). Hope I dont have to rebuild this. Its not mine its dads uh oh. Decided to post here. owners man. didnt have much in it to do with trouble shoooting. It said to take it to the local dealer

Any ideas?

[DPowers]

Don't those Honda motors have a low oil shut off? Is that a possibility?

[Sillyoldman]

Originally Posted by DPowers

Don't those Honda motors have a low oil shut off? Is that a possibility?

Thats what I was thinking too but that does not account for the way it was running. Two years on a pressure washer is nothing if it's not used commercially. I ruined a riding mower a while back by using too much oil.

[pritch]

Maybe a stuck relief valve? I know that when there is pressure against the pump the motor won't turn over. And yes on the low oil switch on the honda motors. I never saw one without in the last 10 or 15 years.

[Ron 586]

Hold the wand and trigger it like you are washing with it. Now try to pull the rope. It may be that the relief valve on the pump may be stuck. You can also take the bolts out that hold the pump and engine together and pull the pump off to see if it is engine or pump related. Good luck.

[Ron 586]

Pritch and I are on the same page.

[PanelDeland]

Also check the oil in the pump.You should have near zero problems with a Cat pump and Honda engine that new unless it's been run a lot or abused.I used to do PW service commercially.Cat pumps are the Longest lasting on the market(IMHO) and usually have no problems,though most that I have serviced were junk by the time they needed work.
Once you figure out which it is PM me if you need some guideance.

[Restrorob]

Hmmm,

This one's right up my alley, Been in the small equipment repair biz close to 20yrs now.

From what you explained "started running rough then quit, Now wont spin over" sounds like a piece of trash got under the carb float needle valve.

This lets too much fuel enter the engine "rough run" and can eventually cause it to die, Once the engine dies the fuel continues to enter the cylinder and will fill it up. Once fuel has entered the cylinder and you try to pull the starter rope the piston moves slightly then causes a hydro lock situation.
You can compress air but not a liquid.....

My suggestion;

Remove the plug and see if this is what happened, When you remove the plug MAKE SURE the plug wire boot is moved AWAY from the spark plug hole and positioned where it can NOT spark to a ground source before pulling the rope.

If this is the fault, Remove the carb float bowl and use carb & choke spray cleaner to clean the bowl and float valve area then re-assemble.

The "Relief" valve that other's have mentioned is actually a "Un-Loader", It's function is to un-load the water pressure on the pump head for easier starts. It also un-loads the head pressure when the wand trigger is released while the engine is running to prevent engine bog.

A bad/stuck un-loader will not cause a engine to lock up but only make it harder to crank over, The oil alert function only kills ignition spark and has nothing to do with the engine spinning over.

Most pressure washer pumps come with a specially formulated oil in them, If one can not locate this special oil a non detergent 30w oil can be substituted. Do not just add this ND 30w if the pump is a little low, Drain all the old pump oil first then re-fill with the ND 30w....

Hope this little tid bit of info helps.

[fastwillie 696969]

restorob i agree with you 100 percent i was going to say that the other day but i was interrupted and didn't go back to reply
but your diagnoses is right on i had a boat motor did the same thing after changing the fuel mixture to replacing the fuel screen found out it was a stuck float that hyrdo the motor until i took it off and clean it out ran great after that

[oldblue1968chevy]

well after church i'll play with it somemore. Couldnt believe the socket was as big as it is! Thanks guys keep ya posted

[Restrorob]

Originally Posted by oldblue1968chevy

Couldnt believe the socket was as big as it is!

It's not that big, Just a 13/16".....

[oldblue1968chevy]

Ok

separated pump/motor motor still doest turn over, its not hydro locked. Im looking for new motor (shortblock) or other options. I gotta get this fixed asap! Thanks as always guys! Im too lazy to rebuild it I got way to much going on, (trying to fix my wrecked dd truck, keep it going school etc)

[truckdude239]

yeah sholdn;t have any problems witht eh cat pump we run cat pump at work on our poressure washer at work our ran for 6 years before needing to be replaced and thats with ofver 10 hours a day run time

[oldblue1968chevy]

anyone?

where could a i get a short block cheap?

[truckdude239]

have you checked craigs listy? got the model number off the motor and google it

[oldblue1968chevy]

already did...craigslist huh...think I could score something off there lol...thanks!