Honda 5.5 problem......with solution

[woodmills1]

About a month ago the honda engine on my wood splitter started to run funky.  It would pop once in awhile.  I figured it was because I had used the left over fuel in one of the sawmill gas buckets, so I had introduced some debris and water into the honda.  I figured I would run it dry then fill it with fresh fuel.  The day I ran it dry a customer pulled in the driveway just as I took off the filler cap.  Wouldn't ya know I got busy and forgot all about splitting.

Two days later I went to split and saw the cap off.  Rain water, leaves and bugs inside the tank looked bad.  Put some gas in tank and flipped the machine over to dump..... ??? bad idea.   Seems the oil filled the air filter and it didn't run very well at all till I found out what I had done. :D

Got every thing cleaned, started to split and every time I put the engine under load it would sputter, pop and die.

So, opened and cleaned the carb and checked and cleaned the plug and all was well.

Went to split yesterday and same stalling condition under load.  Drained the sediment bowl, but it was clean, so I started it and began to look around at the govener action.

Thank God It Was Cloudy  when I pushed the control valve I could see ribbons of red spark shooting from the plug wire end at the plug directly to the motor block.

Ten wraps of electrical tape later and she is just purring.

[Quartlow]

Bet you don't leave the gas cap off any more  :D

I like to run things in the dark every once in a while. I had a Chevy one time that was running a little poorly. Plug wires looked good so I never suspected them. Till I opened the hood in the dark and saw what looked like a fire works display  :D

[submarinesailor]

Bad spark plug wires.  I still remember the first time I saw the lighting storm under my hood.  It was on my 1971 Chevy Nova with the 307 V8. 

One thing I also learned that day – don't buy cheap wires.  They were just as bad as the old ones.

Bruce

[woodmills1]

I saw that show only once before on yes.........a datsun B210(it was my first wifes)

trouble is the Honda is like a year and a half old....factory wire.

[ely]

i could go one better than that. i got tired of working on my 5.5 honda and gave it away. i will call the guys and tell them to check the wire out, they may be tired of jacking with it too. :