ALOHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If it’s hard to start clean the carb! They should be 1-2 pull if all is good.

 

Treat me like I'm a young child. Best way to clean the carb?

 

Can you provide the 6-digit model number instead of the generic ST824 model name?

 

Model number is 924082

Sorry should have mentioned that

 

Unit should start within a couple pulls, might wish to look into cleaning the carburetor. For the electric start however go for it, especially seeing it is for your parents.

 

People ask me this ALL the time.......wanting to install electric starter on a HONDA . More trouble than it's worth and costly. Need to change flywheel and some other parts. Can cost $500 or more.

When all you have to do is spend 30 minutes cleaning carburetor ( most cases ) or maybe replacing the carb with an OEM ( worse case )

Could even be a fouled spark plug, haha

YouTube is your friend.

 

The part number for the electric starter is 37000.

You can search previous forum threads by searching for that part number and you'll have all the details that you need.

As for the carb, here's a video on a nearly identical engine that shows you how to remove the old carb, followed by replacing it with a new one:

This process would be easier than removing the old carburetor to clean it. Here's one of several hundred carb clean videos on youtube:

Are either of these tasks within your range of skills?

 

The bottom line is if you can’t do that either learn how or pay for someone to do it. Replacement carbs are cheap too but if you don’t know the methods of preventing down time clogging then you’ll be in the same predicament next year. There’s a treasure trove of info here but in this smartphone age of fingertip solutions sometimes we are blunt.

 

With snow blowers raising in price quite a bit in the last few years i suspect many more will be spending that $30/$40 dollars to replace their faulty/gummed up carburetors with a few hours of work and eliminating the curbside carcasses that have made me so happy over these past few years! If the OP decides to do the old curbside let this fellow Canadian know and i'll drop on over and keep your property frontage clear for the neighbours eyesight haha.

I would suggest checking/changing the plug followed by cleaning/changing the carburetor as that should alleviate your concerns. Change the oil as well, lube, check belts and basic maintenance as too many people neglect to service their equipment for years on end and this might be a good opportunity to do some maintenance and gain knowledge about small engine equipment.

 

I don't think you have ANYTHING to worry about. We live in a "throw away society". I have seen people in my area keeping their older Honda's longer but i think that is because i keep pounding it into everyone's head around here that it is better to maintain their older ones rather than buy new or lack of new machines here from dealers.

Nothing to worry about , buddy....we'll be rich, rolling in the dough.... I hate to say how many I do every year.

 

Snake Oil isn’t the way to go if you want a real clean carb.

 

yahbutt -- Guessing from the intro that "just changing in a new carburetor" might be a stretch. Meanwhile a dash of fuel system cleaner is inexpensive and easy. If the start-up protocol isn't enough.

I have a fuel injector cleaner for in-car, and another for bench-top cleaning and testing. I use B12 in it with good results. Based on that, and the "hard to start" vs. "won't start", there's a reasonable chance that it will be enough. If not, a few dollars lost and on to the tools, the Visa card, and a new carburetor. Low risk, high reward probability based on description.

 

Replace the fuel primer bulb and hose if it is age-degraded and cracked or perforated.

Clean the carburetor: Close the fuel shut-off valve. Remove the heater box surrounding the carburetor. The carburetor float bowl attaches to the bottom of the carburetor body with a single threaded fastener. This same fastener has orifices. Clear the orifices with a strand of copper (only) wire. Don't use steel wire.

Test the float valve by opening the fuel shut-off valve. Gas should drip out from the carburetor body when the float bowl is removed. Raise the float by hand. Gas dripping should stop.

Remove the idle fuel:air mixture screw on the side of the carburetor after determining how many turns out from its fully screwed-in position. Spray carburetor cleaner into the open screw hole. At the carburetor air inlet, spray carburetor cleaner into any little hole you find. Cleaner should exit from the idle misture screw hole and from below the carburetor.

Find the vent hole (very important) drilled into the side of the carburetor body and clear it out with a copper wire and spray cleaner. link

Replace the idle mixture screw and position it to the same amount of turns out (from fully screwed-in) as it was before you removed the screw.

Replace the float bowl.

PS Recoil engine-start method is to slowly pull the rope until the piston is just past top dead center on the compression stroke then allow the rope to recoil then pull sharply. The engine flywheel will easily rotate at least 1-1/2 revolutions before the next compression stroke; developing sufficient momentum to carry it through the compression stroke. Your shoulder will thank you.