Hey, Saxman, speaking of automobiles, I am so old that I remember thinking that it was a very bad idea when, just before World War II they quite putting the receptacle for hand cranks on cars. With the arthritis I am beginning to have in my shoulders and wrists, my next lawnmower, if I ever get another one, will probably be an electric start. With the electric start feature, you would not necessarily need a blade brake clutch feature, which I have never had on a mower anyway. My present lawnmower, which is equipped with one of those Honda 160 GCV engines, was purchased in 2000, and has been used between 55 and 65 hours a year. I use it year round, cleaning up leaves, etc. during the winter months. I just changed the oil last month, at the 55 hour mark on the hour meter. It has never used any oil in a one year oil change interval, using Mobil 1 5W30 oil, for the last six and a half years. It is a Sears Craftsman mower, with front wheel drive, and other things besides the engine have required some maintenance. I have replaced all four wheels; the two rear wheels split apart, and the two front wheels wore off smooth and lost traction. About the same time I was replacing the wheels, the transmission wore out. I replaced it, $75, with the current replacement design which looked different, but the attachment points were the same and it works just fine. While I had it apart, I also replaced the drive belt. In the past, I would have thrown out a mower that required these repairs, but I am retired now, and have plenty of time to work on my OPE. I want to see just how long this consumer grade Honda engine will last, given once a year oil changes.

Clean the Main Jet in the carb.

Saxman you are correct that the mower engine cylinder head cover is attached using an adhesive, but incorrect that it doesn't leak bcos mine sure did :). The shop told me that removing this thin-metal part without damaging it is impossible, the adhesive is just too strong, it bends too much. Apparently a very small crack or flaw in the adhesive is plenty for oil to escape. My local shop put on new adhesive and a new cylinder head cover (part HON12310-Z8A-000, $4.50), charged 0.7 hours of labor, total bill of about $70.

Just a follow-up. It got sticky again. This time I took it off and ran a sinkful of warm water, got out my spray wheel cleaner, sprayed down the whole assembly plus into the spring housing, then put it under water and pulled the cord. Black stuff came out and spring action returned. I did this a few times to be sure before putting it back on. This engine is made to work on - three nuts and the recoil assembly comes off, and the shroud too if you want. Anyway, there must have been factory grease in the spring housing. Before putting it back on, I sprayed more DuPont Performance dry lube into the housing to displace all water, then drained it. You get to the inside of the spring housing where the end of the spring locks into the housing- there's a square opening there you can use for cleaning/lubing. I think all Honda OHC engines have a similar arrangement so if your starter cord recoil gets lazy, you can do this to refresh it. This post was edited by saxman1 on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 12:51