How To Repair A Honda EU2200i Generator That Won't Start

[@shanwar9844]

Nice job! I love people sharing information on Honda equipment.

[@austinado16]

Thanks! I'm currently waiting on a fresh set of decals for it, and the upper mount bushing parts, but it runs great, and I actually used it yesterday. It was a fun little score.

[@robinlivingston5796]

Thank you, Your narration is easy on the ears.

[@austinado16]

You are welcome! Thanks for watching, and for your kind words!

[@freezerburn04]

Alright, I made it back to the cabin finally and did as you say and I’m back in business! Thanks a ton. So the intake was stuck open and I pushed the rope in and removed the spring, seal etc. and tapped down on the valve until the detent part at the end of the shaft was down to the level of the guide. Then the penetratant was able to work and get below the exposed side above the guide down into the combustion chamber where the goo was. Then it was good to go pretty quickly. Everything else liked so good I just buttoned it back up no worries. I will only use mid grade and a tad of seafoam from now on. My wood stove isn’t connected right now for cabin repair reasons and it’s been a long wet season and I needed my genny working so this was a big deal. Took me two hours lol. With your help all is good. Be cool Freezerburn

[@austinado16]

Outstanding man!! Great job fixing it yourself, and thanks for reporting back, because that'll likely help others.

[@freezerburn04]

👍🙏👋

[@Ranger-Al]

Great job, I was given the exact same Honda generator recently. It’s been used without much maintenance. It will run but then stops. Going to first clean the carb and move forward from there. How much oil does this engine take when you change the oil? This is one of the best videos I have seen regards to this generator. Thank you?

[@austinado16]

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad the video was helpful. The running and dying is most likely engine oil level that's low, or engine oil quality that is extremely poor (old and diluted/wornout/thin). When the oil is cold, it's thicker, so if it's not low enough to trigger the low oil level sensor, which is a float, and keep the spark turned off, the generator will start and run fine. As soon as the engine oil gets heated up and thins out, or, enough quantity of oil gets slung up into the engine case and bottom of piston, the oil level sensor float will drop, and cut off the spark. My suggestion, before touching the carburetor, is that you simply drain the oil, and refill with a high quality synthetic. They take 10w/30. As for how much do they take, I tip them backward at an angle, so that the fill spout is facing upward and is sort of level, and then I pour in about half a quart. Then I tip them back onto their feet, and level, and see if the oil level is up into the threaded area of the fill hole. If not, I repeat the tip-back method, and add more oil, until when level, the oil is right there at the top of the fill hole. They run fine filled to that level. If you had a carburetor issue, it either wouldn't start at all, or would surge at idle, or would die from idle if a load was applied to it. All of these running issues indicate the idle circuit is clogged. The non-starting issue is caused when the carburetor main jet is clogged. So in my opinion, based on what you've told me, you just an oil issue. Keep SeaFoam in the fuel year round, and you'll stop having carburetor issues. If you live with non-ethanol based fuel can be purchased, that's the fuel you want to always use in it. Ethanol based fuel chemically fails after 30 days, and becomes corrosive to the different metals in the carburetor.

[@Ranger-Al]

@@austinado16 Thank you so very much, I will follow your instructions. Hope you have a great week!

[@austinado16]

@@Ranger-Al You're welcome. I hope you'll report back on how it turns out. Hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

[@Ranger-Al]

@@austinado16 You have a great day also. It will be a while before I get to it but I will let you know my friend.

[@mikey27437]

Thank you! This a second video I found on u tube with exactly the same issue. A chunk of carbon stuck between a valve and valve seat. Except in the first video a guy took the engine into pieces to find out. Great tip! Thanks for sharing. Is this engine an interference engine? What is life expectancy of a timing belt? Thank you.

[@austinado16]

Thanks for the kind words! I don't know if these are interference engines, and I don't know the life expectancy of the timing belt. The belts appear to last a very long time, even if cracks are starting to appear on the outer skin. Infrequent oil changes have a negative impact on the timing belt life, because the caustic oil attacks the rubber.

[@freezerburn04]

This vid gives me hope.. I have spark and almost no compression. I first suspected the auto decompression assembly as it is a used but not ever abused genny. When I spray into the plug hole aerosol comes out of the muffler and the air filter box at the same time so something isn't right, lol. As you say it has mostly idle time and some deposits can be seen through the plug hole too. About five years old and I bought it new:) Right now I really can’t afford a new one or the shop even so I hope this works out. Thanks for the help on possible diagnosis and disassembly instructions 👍🙏👋 Be cool, freezerburn

[@austinado16]

You should see about 70psi compression with the valves adjusted correctly and the compression release functional. If you loosen the valve adjustment, you can repeat the compression test, and you should see 125 or higher. If you have carburetor cleaner coming out of the muffler and the front of the carburetor, you likely have valves that are being held open, either because they are stuck in the valve guides by the varnish (glue) created by old fuel, or they are stuck by a heavy build up of carbon due to an extreme amount of time spent idling.

[@freezerburn04]

Ok well I have some clear direction to go now and I’ll see where it goes. Hopefully there are things I can do with everything still in place and not take off the rocker assembly. Thanks 🙏 fb

[@austinado16]

@@freezerburn04 My suggestion is to remove the side covers and muffler cover so that you can easily work on it. It's a 10min job. Then take the rocker cover off, set the valves to TDC using the pull starter rope, and while doing so, watch the movement of the valve springs and stems, in order to see if the valves are simply stuck partially "down" and therefore, "open." With the valves at TDC (not in overlap), check the valve gap, and adjust if necessary. Or... loosen the adjustment sufficient that the compression release no longer works, and do another compression test. If you find that one or both valves are hanging up, remove the spark plug, stuff a bunch of rope down into the cylinder, and then bring the piston up to TDC, so that it smashes the rope into the valve faces. This will allow you to remove the rocker arms and their hinge pins, and then remove the top spring seats from the valve stems, and take the seats and springs of, without having the valves drop down into the cylinder. If you find valve stem seals, pull them up and off, and save them for re-use. Lowering the piston a little will now allow you to move the valves up and down by their stem, using your fingers to hold them. You can determine if they're stuck, or tight, or if they travel perfectly smooth. You can spray Kroil or PB Blaster down the valve stems and then pull up and down on the valves and get that product to help free them if they're stuck. There are more advanced steps you can take, but the above is a good basic starting point, and may be all you need.

[@freezerburn04]

Oh man, outstanding. I’ll give it a shot when I get back out to the cabin. Thanks for the replies! Freezer’

[@leguirerj]

Thanks for the video. It is very informative. I have 2 EU2200i's. I think I will know what to do if I have to change the pull rope. Or at least be able to tear it down and put it back together.

[@austinado16]

You're welcome! It would have been nice to have been able to show how to get the 2 screws loose that are located up in the handle, using an impact driver, and a long phillips head screw driver bit from Snap-On. Rarely do they ever come out with just a screw driver and normal hand pressure.

[@mattwaters6987]

Nicely done. Thanks for sharing. Did you figure out how many running hrs roughy on it?

[@austinado16]

No I didn't, and a neighbor has been using it out at their rural property, so it's back in service, and living that Honda life.

[@ron827]

Well done for a tailgate mechanic. BTW, adding oil to the cylinder and compression testing can be done without removing all the shrouding but not rope repalcement.

[@austinado16]

Correct! No need to remove the generator body just to do a dry, and then a wet, compression test. Thanks for watching!

[@BaseheadEntertainment]

Good video buddy

[@austinado16]

Thank you! I appreciate the comment.

[@kacy633]

What part of the the US do u reside and do you do repairs on these generators? I need a repairman in sacramento california.

[@austinado16]

I'm sure there are quite a few power equipment dealers in the Sac area.

[@bulkchart3239]

why didn't u change the timing belt before it breaks and ruins the engine?

[@austinado16]

That was day 1 with the machine, and was merely an attempt to take it from it's unknown condition, to running. Parts have been ordered for it, and should be here later this week.

[@billcoomber4642]

Replacing the timing belt is a major tear down and unless this generator has a ton of hours and the belt is cracked, it will be just fine.

[@chrischris1782]

how many hours did this have on it? the green power indicator blinks when you first start it. each blink is 100 hours.

[@austinado16]

I'm aware of the blink indicator. I didn't check.

[@freezerburn04]

One thing I might add was that the two handle screws were exceedingly tight and I almost stripped them with a regular size Philips screwdriver. But the #3 apex or larger bull nose Philips fit those two screws and made short work of that but the normal size one felt right but would have stripped the screw heads..

[@austinado16]

I use an impact driver on them, and I have a couple of bits that reach down in, and also fit the heads of those screws correctly. Otherwise, yes, the heads strip out, have to be drilled off, etc.

[@freezerburn04]

I’ll snag a few impacts in that size to add to my collection of bits:)👍🙏🙏👋✌️

[@austinado16]

@@freezerburn04 You'll find the best fit with a "Pozi" bit, which is what these screws actually are, and why a standard philips will strip them. I re-install with copper anti-seize, and the screws come out easily in the future.

[@freezerburn04]

I had assumed jis because of my vintage Honda stuff but the fit was as you say, wrong. I’ll be picking up a set of pozidriv drivers. I wonder when Honda transitioned to the pozi’s?

[@austinado16]

@@freezerburn04 When you see a philips head with a tiny dot stamped into, that's a pozidrive. I have a motorcycle from '86 and it has them, so I'm guessing that these companies started using them decades ago. But I'm no authority on them.

[@sommaykongmalay8492]

Hello, I have an EU2200i generator that won't start. It's about 5 years old but has only been used three times, each time for a couple of hours. I removed the carburetor, but it looks brand new but I cleaned it anyway but still won't start. The oil is good and at the right level, and I have fuel in the carburetor bowl. I've also confirmed that there's a spark. I just installed a new OEM carburetor, but it still won't start, and it feels the same as with the original carburetor. I haven't checked the compression yet because the generator is almost brand new. Am I missing something? Thanks in advance.

[@austinado16]

Tough to keyboard diagnose due to it's age, intermittent long term storage, and other factors.

[@shelley131]

Same thing happened to me, only ran it twice using non-ethanol fuel. Took carburetor apart cleaned the jets with a pin , put it back together and it worked. Eventually I converted both of them to propane fuel too.

[@davidalbright7335]

The cord wears horribly from vibration during use, as it vibrates against the recoil assembly. About five to six inches from the handle, the cord gets chafed and chewed. This is a design flaw of the Honda suitcase generators.

[@austinado16]

IMO, this is the wear that occurs when the operator pulls the starter handle out of the machine, which winds up being 4-6" before the starter pawls grab, and from that point, the starter rope is pulled out the rest of the way during normal starting. It's not uncommon to see these generators with rope burn lines cut deeply into the upper areas of the plastic body, because users are pulling the rope upward against the machine, instead of just straight out from the side. It's very rare that I ever put a rope into one, and I've worked on many.

[@davidalbright7335]

@@austinado16 , I have owned two Honda generators in the last ten years. Always start on the first pull. Proper ergonomics. Same chafing for both units and I know many others in the sailing and cruising community who experience the same. A pull start cord on a Honda generator that is used often will exhibit this failure. Liveaboard sailors use the generators often, especially in the summer.

[@doglegjake6788]

This cheap American gas carbon's up Those small engines really bad.

[@austinado16]

It's only an issue on the gensets that sit all day running at idle, especially at "off-grid" home sites. The models that are used normally, don't have an issue.