Honda kicker hard to start

[staying alive]

I have a 2006 Honda 9.9 pull start, runs all day ,purrs like a kitten. However cold starting is a ***** 12 pulls or more sometimes , kills my arm on a 3 day trip. Primer bulb ,spark plugs are good
Here’s my question my spark plugs are heat range 5 ,if I change them to a hotter plug (4) do you think that will help and could it do any damage not being manufactures recommend type
Bought it a couple of years ago should of held out for the electric start ,but this is what I have

 

[Stizzla]

Have you cleaned the carb lately?

 

[ship happens]

Manual choke on that engine ?

 

[staying alive]

Yes it’s manual choke , I could take carb off and clean it I guess , not to difficult , reading other forums about this issue a lot of people seem to have this problem

 

[Sea lyin’]

Try and run some sea foam through it before you take anything apart. I’ve brought more than one motor back from the dead by doing just that.

 

[ship happens]

All small engines with carbs have that problem unless you use them all the time.

 

[staying alive]

I’ve never pulled the carb since I bought it , think I’ll pull it and see what it looks like inside, clean it and see how that does.

 

[Sharphooks]

Honda kickers are notorious for either hard starts or no starts due to fuel varnishing in the carb. If you don’t drain the fuel bowl after each and every use (unless you’re using the kicker day after day without it sitting around) pull start or electric start, you’ll run into issues

Seafoam might work. IF you do pull the carb, take special care to clean the carb jets...that’s why Hondas are so finnicky...very small diameter in those jets.

I had several BF15’s over the years. I never ever ran into issues ....both purred like a kitten each and every start up. But I was relentless when it came to draining the fuel bowl. I kept a long-shafted screw driver with a narrow thin blade in the stern specifically to loosen the fuel bowl drain screw and drain it. My Hondas had two pee holes—-one for the cooling water and one connected to the fuel bowl. I held a small cup under the pee hole for the gas, drained the bowl, tightened the drain screw back up, then dumped the gas back into the tank

It was a pain in the neck pulling the cowling every time to do this, but the pay-off was a kicker that started first time, every time.

 

[staying alive]

Just went out and pulled one of the plugs ,it looks very good no fouling no over burn , looked at the carb can see the drain hose , it’s not a big deal to pull the cowling
Guess I will clean carb and do the draining after each use , hopefully it will save my arm

 

[ship happens]

Go to lordco and grab a can or CRC carb cleaner. Comes in a tall red can. That stuff will take anything off of anything.

 

[staying alive]

thanks sharphooks for the tip , guess I will go get new carb gaskets they will probably get wrecked taking it off , probably going to buy a new needle valve and float if I’m taking it apart might as well change it

 

[noluck]

thanks sharphooks for the tip , guess I will go get new carb gaskets they will probably get wrecked taking it off , probably going to buy a new needle valve and float if I’m taking it apart might as well change it

just clean it with the CRC ship happens suggested.

 

[staying alive]

So what are you saying just clean it in place and forget about taking it out

 

[Sea lyin’]

So what are you saying just clean it in place and forget about taking it out

I’d try that first. Spray carb clean will work on the outside. You’ll need to run some kind of carb cleaner through it to clean the insides. If you get lucky it’ll work. Cheapest easiest thing to start with. Drain carb. Mix carb cleaner with fresh fuel in a jug. Might want to drain the hose before you pump the fuel to the carb depending how fresh it is. Get it running and let the carb cleaner do it’s thing. If your already plumbed for external tank, great. Mix it up and go fishing. You might get lucky. I know that it’s worked for me more than once.

 

[noluck]

So what are you saying just clean it in place and forget about taking it out

sorry i was unclear, yes pull it to clean it, including the needle and seat

 

[ship happens]

I use welding tip cleaners, compressed air and CRC.

If you remove the high speed jet, there is a small tube underneath that is the throat for the main jet into the venturi of the carburator. Remove that. It has little pinholes in the sides. If it seems stuck, grab a flathead screwdriver and push it from the venturi side of the carb. Spray everything with crc, and blow it out with compresses air.

 

[staying alive]

Thanks ship