Leave carb drain open on Honda gen in storage?

Thanks for the explanation! But I am still wondering why it did not need priming, even though the carb was drained -- does that mean that there was still fuel in the lines?

bfast54 wrote:

profdant139 wrote:
So, Niner, check this out -- I go into my garage, close the little drain valve, pull the cord gently once. Just for laughs, I then pulled it hard. Started right up -- no priming, no nothing. I am totally confused.

By the way, in case other struggling and ignorant Honda generator owners are reading this, someone on this forum once gave me a great tip -- when you are getting ready to really pull the cord, pull it out very slowly till you can feel that it has grabbed onto some internal gear or mechanism. Don't just pull the handle straight out of the red plastic body of the generator. Wait till it engages. Not sure what is engaging with what, but you can feel it, and the starter works a lot better when you first slowly pull out the slack.

(And my guess is that some more knowledgeable person is just about to tell us what that grabbing sensation is all about!)

That is the Compression stroke. Where the gas gets Compressed,then sparked.then Boom.piston shoots down....and it starts all over again......L.O.L.

When you start pulling the starter rope, the fingers start camming, and radiating out from their resting positions, to the point that they then engage a notched flywheel, for the fingers to engage into which then starts the rotation of the crank and engine. When the engine starts, it turns faster than the fingers and they slide back in radially, to their resting position, inside the center of the flywheel, where they don't engage.

profdant139 wrote:
Just for laughs, I then pulled it hard. Started right up -- no priming, no nothing. I am totally confused.

What's confusing about its starting? Unless you've drained it, it should.

profdant139 wrote:
So, Niner, check this out -- I go into my garage, close the little drain valve, pull the cord gently once. Just for laughs, I then pulled it hard. Started right up -- no priming, no nothing. I am totally confused.

By the way, in case other struggling and ignorant Honda generator owners are reading this, someone on this forum once gave me a great tip -- when you are getting ready to really pull the cord, pull it out very slowly till you can feel that it has grabbed onto some internal gear or mechanism. Don't just pull the handle straight out of the red plastic body of the generator. Wait till it engages. Not sure what is engaging with what, but you can feel it, and the starter works a lot better when you first slowly pull out the slack.

(And my guess is that some more knowledgeable person is just about to tell us what that grabbing sensation is all about!)

That is the Compression stroke. Where the gas gets Compressed,then sparked.then Boom.piston shoots down....and it starts all over again......L.O.L.

In my observations... winter California gas is absolutely the cr*ppiest stuff out there, cut with ethanol, oxygenators, and is problematic to store in your Honda Generators. The stuff from Oct1st to April 1st needs to be turned over and burned off, frequently. All in my experience and IMHO.

profdant139 wrote:
(California gas, maybe?)

I think you are on to something there. Even when living in CA we never used CA gas in the Honda. Not out of any concern about it causing trouble with the gennie, but because we would top off all the gas cans in AZ or NV for convenience and price. Never had a problem and never drained it. I do put StaBil in it occasionally and run SeaFoam through it a couple time a year.

BTW, a lot of pilots have engine failures in aircraft that use auto fuel due to the ethanol added.

LS

So, Niner, check this out -- I go into my garage, close the little drain valve, pull the cord gently once. Just for laughs, I then pulled it hard. Started right up -- no priming, no nothing. I am totally confused.

By the way, in case other struggling and ignorant Honda generator owners are reading this, someone on this forum once gave me a great tip -- when you are getting ready to really pull the cord, pull it out very slowly till you can feel that it has grabbed onto some internal gear or mechanism. Don't just pull the handle straight out of the red plastic body of the generator. Wait till it engages. Not sure what is engaging with what, but you can feel it, and the starter works a lot better when you first slowly pull out the slack.

(And my guess is that some more knowledgeable person is just about to tell us what that grabbing sensation is all about!)

Most of us, if we travel a bit out of polluted big cities, would be much better off buying our gasoline in small town rural markets, in larger quantities. I never have problems with gas bought along rural I-15 on my way to go camping in Yellowstone, or gas bought in West Yellowstone, or ST George, UT, on my way there, or on my way home. Even the Chevron I bought in Quartzsite is problem free.

It's the junk fuel that is cut, that I buy in the South Coast Air Quality Management District of Southern California, for emergency use,that is problematic in storage to my carbs jets on my 3 Honda EU's.

Small town pollution standards are less restrictive than big city standards.

profdant139 wrote:
But I am quite certain that my generator, for whatever reason (California gas, maybe?) needs special handling, and even then it is very fussy..

You're not alone. I drain mine for anything over 2 weeks of non-use.

I made this post a few months ago. Unfortunately picture was deleted. Anyway, it's the tube coming out of the top of the carb.

profdant139 wrote:
John, on page 51 of the manual, it says that to store it for less than six months, just put in fresh gas and add stabilizer. I can tell you from painful personal experience that this is bad advice -- the carb jets will eventually gum up.

For those who have not had to do anything to store their generators, I say, "Congratulations!" But I am quite certain that my generator, for whatever reason (California gas, maybe?) needs special handling, and even then it is very fussy.

I should add that I store it in my garage on a shelf, and my garage is bone-dry -- none of my tools get rusty, ever.

It is most likely the California gas. Check the website I posted and see if there is ethanol free near you.