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Honda HS724 cheap!

14K views 26 replies 9 participants last post by  orangputeh  
#1 ·
So I just grabbed this tired HS724 today on the way home from work for a whopping $50 dollar bill.
The auger is totally shot, the hydrostatic drive won’t engage, but it starts up and runs with fuel gushing out of the carb. Lol (clean one owner)
The oil is like thick chocolate milk, Bad sign, and there is a bad tick-tick-tick that goes away after a minute or two .
Why is the oil like this on an air cooled engine?
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#2 ·
what does the oil smell like? gas? maybe water in oil.
$50 is a steal even if this turns out to be a parts machine. parts are probably worth $500-1000 on this machine even sold at half the new Honda price is what I do.

how is the hydrostatic oil level? if low, check seals on tranny on the drive axle. if a seal is pushed out , maybe oil leaked out there. they push out if cover of reservoir is on too tight and can not breathe. you can push seal back in and there is a bleeding procedure you can do without removing tranny.

Honda states you have to remove the tranny but I have done an inframe bleeding at least 7 times and it has been successful every time. not sure if that is the problem. 2nd thing to check. 1st thing is make sure the tranny lever is in the engaged position. to the right. 3rd thing to check is the drive pins on both drive wheels are present. these are easy fixes. other than that then an internal failure which is EXTREMELY rare on these HS hydro-static transmissions.
 
#6 ·
is the lever down near the pedal to the right ? the engaged position? for the hydrostatic tranny.


if the float is not working right the carb will overflow if gas valve is left on and drip into crankcase. see this a lot with machines that are left sitting for long periods.

usually just needs a good carb cleaning. change the oil out a couple times.
 
#7 ·
I’d bet your right with the carb float. It drips really bad. I’ll work on that next.
I changed the oil to the motor, and I’m going to run it today and see if the tick will solve its self. It’s weird because it ticks like crazy then goes away then comes back. I have a video bit not sure how to up load it.
The trans lever by the pedal is in the correct position.
Maybe the hand controls are way out of adjustment.
 
#9 ·
I’d bet your right with the carb float. It drips really bad. I’ll work on that next.
I changed the oil to the motor, and I’m going to run it today and see if the tick will solve its self. It’s weird because it ticks like crazy then goes away then comes back. I have a video bit not sure how to up load it.
The trans lever by the pedal is in the correct position.
Maybe the hand controls are way out of adjustment.
I forgot another obvious thing. take off belt cover and see if belt is there and engaging .
 
#8 ·
if the carb is leaking it will fill up the intake which will usually work its way into the cylinder and then into the crankcase. you may definitely want to see about getting the carb cleaned out and that leak fixed first. you will likely need to do another oil change after you get the carb to stop leaking just to get the all the gas out of the crankcase. had a similar issue happen to my brother in laws snowblower and had to do 2 oil changes to get most of the gas out of the crank case but it will usually stop smoking after the first oil change.
 
#10 ·
do you have any idea on ticking? I agree about changing the oil a couple times and maybe adding some MMO ( Marvelous Mystery Oil ) with the oil. not sure how much.

Maybe 10W-30 rather than 5W-30. That gas in oil can really cause problems . Hope it's not a crank or rod end scored.
 
#15 ·
Carb rebuild or New; chocolate milk oil means water in it, when this happens to me I do a flush with kerosene, do not use gasoline as I've read do not do it because there is a chance of an internal explosion which means a grenade with fragments and death.
 
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#18 ·
No, kerosene does not vaporize in the same way that gasoline does. Its flash point (the temperature at which it will generate a flammable vapor near its surface) is 38 °C (100 °F) or higher, whereas that of gasoline is as low as −40 °C (−40 °F). This property makes kerosene a relatively safe fuel to store and handle.
 
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#20 ·
I dont think there is a part number for those O rings. You have to buy the whole set which would probably help you in the long run. about 12 bucks from the Honda dealer I believe. That includes all the O rings. even the little one for the idle circuit and everything else for carb. it's called the gasket set.
 
#19 ·
hopefully the float bowl looked a lot nicer than that when you re-assembled the carb. if the seal on the bolt that holds the float bowl on is fine the needle is most likely not seating properly which is why gas keeps flowing and pouring out of the carb. you might be able to replace the needle and have it work like it should but might just be better off replacing the carb with how that float bowl looks and since you are having issues with the carb leaking.
 
#23 ·
I thought he said it was leaking from the sediment cup? pretty common when that O ring cracks. anyway I would rather rebuild/clean an OEM Honda carb than replace with a clone.

I have used some aftermarket carbs on my equipment with some success after having to tweak them. for someone else's machine if I rebuild/clean and it does not work right ( only has happened a couple times out of hundreds ) , yes I will replace the carb with a OEM one.
 
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#24 ·
I sure hope that the picture of the bowl is not a picture of it after he cleaned it. :unsure:
Fittie bucks good deal. (y)
 
#25 ·
I don't even bother with rebuilding a carb, I have had great success with the 12-15 dollar ones ... Only exception is the 120.00 pull choke older Briggs $ Stratton gas tank top mounted carburetor, which I use the 15.00 rebuild kit on...
 
#27 · (Edited)
a guy gave me a free blower last month because it kept breaking belts. so got around it today. the lower belt guide was so bent that it was interfering with belt. thus breaking it. replaced valve guide and now it works like a charm.

unbelievable to me. I even offered to repair for this guy but he said he was tired of dealing with it and got a new blower.

okay by me. beer and pizza money for quite some time.

oops . wrong thread.