# Honda 928 electric chute not working



## RParsons

The electric chute on my Honda 928 will go up and down but will not go from side to side. Suggestions on what to look for?


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## [email protected]

RParsons said:


> The electric chute on my Honda 928 will go up and down but will not go from side to side. Suggestions on what to look for?


Are you in Canada? I know USA-spec HS928 models have a manual chute crank. You may need to find a Honda dealer there with service materials who can help:

Honda Canada


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## Saint Paul

I have a HS928 now going into its second season. It is equipped with a manual crank to move the chute from side to side, and occasionally, the chute will freeze so the crank will not move it. 

This happened just yesterday, and I had to loosen the three bolts that attach the chute to the machine, free it up and then retighten the bolts. 

Is there a lube I can use to prevent this from happening?


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## dirac007

RParsons said:


> The electric chute on my Honda 928 will go up and down but will not go from side to side. Suggestions on what to look for?


I had the same problem last week. You do not need to go to the dealer to fix it. If you have few tools, you will be able to remove all the pieces to reach the snowblower chute actuator and also dismantle the 12v electric motor from the actuator. The problem is simply because the actuator is not seal anymore and your actuator is probably full of water. Try to figure out to remove the actuator which is not very complicated. 
1-Remove the red hood from the top of the snowblower. 4 screws to unscrew and the light bolt to unbolt and then gently pull out the hood.

2- Remove the 3 relays from the steel support. It is easy, this is the piece with rubber cover. just pull them out with your hand. 

3- Remove the chute by unscrewing two bolts in front and two nuts in the back. Be carefull, not to lose the two spacers in the front and in the back where the bolts and the nuts were located. This spacers are located in a black plastic body. 

4- Disconnect the actuator electric wire supply. Only press on the top of the white connector and pull out on both side. 

5- There are 3 nuts to remove in order to detach the actuator from its stand. Two in the front and one in the back on the strap and driven pulley side.

6-Now you should have the actuator in your hand.

7-Remove the motor cap by unscrewing the two screws. Make a mark with a felt pen on the motor cap and gear case to make sure you will put the cap back at the same location, otherwise your motor will turn on the wrong side. Now you need to remove the cap by pulling it out. Be careful, because when you going to do that, you will also remove the motor rotor and the two little carbon brush springs may fall and be lost. Also, when you remove the cap, oily water will fall on the floor, thus to this job over a pan.

8- Now that you remove the motor and you set all you screws and springs aside, you need to dry out out the parts. Remove the motor rotor from the motor cap by pulling it out with your hand. It's easy. The is a ball at the end of the rotor shaft, make sure to not lose it. Use a compressor to dry the part ( inside of motor cap, the rotor, and the gear case).

9-On the back of the gear case there is a cap that you need to remove. unscrew the 3 screws. Water should come out. Dry the inside. 

10- I think the water come from the gear shaft hole. So, to avoid that water accumulate in the gear case, I drill 3/16" hole in the gear case cap to continuously drain the gear case. This hole facing down will help draining water by gravity. You will notice, that they put a water draining hose near the motor, but this hose is located on the top instead of the bottom. I think this is an engineering design mistake.

11- replace the gear case cover after drilling the draining hole. Add some grease inside of the gear case by the rotor shaft hole. Do not put any grease at the carbon brush location.

12- Carefully reinstall the carbon brush springs, and correctly (check the curve on the face) insert the carbon brush in the way. You will need to find a way to maintain the brush in place before inserting the motor rotor in the gear case. Be careful, do not damage the brush and the motor rotor with tools.

13- Insert the motor rotor in the gear case. Make sure the brushes are well located and the can freely move in their way. Use a string to maintain the rotor in place after inserting it to the gear case. Place a fine string on one side of the gear case, use your thumb to press the string against the gear case. Pass the other end of the string over the rotor poles and bring this end on the other side of the gear case. Maintain this string end against the gear case with the index finger of the same hand maintaining the other string end.

14- Insert the motor cap over the rotor by maintaining a good pressure on the string to avoid rotor displacement. When the cap is almost at its place remove the string by pulling it out from one end. Now the cap is in place, put back the two screws.

15- Reconnect the 12v wire to the actuator and make a trial. You only have to turn the key, no need to start your snowblower. If it doens't work remove the motor cap again and make sure everything is ok. When a repair mine, I need to do it twice before it works.

Don't worry, it is easy and fun.

Good luck.


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## dirac007

See dirac007 message post 1 dec.


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## Blue Hill

Nice tutorial dirac007, welcome to the forum!


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## Prime

dirac007 said:


> I had the same problem last week. You do not need to go to the dealer to fix it. If you have few tools, you will be able to remove all the pieces to reach the snowblower chute actuator and also dismantle the 12v electric motor from the actuator. The problem is simply because the actuator is not seal anymore and your actuator is probably full of water. Try to figure out to remove the actuator which is not very complicated.
> 1-Remove the red hood from the top of the snowblower. 4 screws to unscrew and the light bolt to unbolt and then gently pull out the hood.
> 
> 2- Remove the 3 relays from the steel support. It is easy, this is the piece with rubber cover. just pull them out with your hand.
> 
> 3- Remove the chute by unscrewing two bolts in front and two nuts in the back. Be carefull, not to lose the two spacers in the front and in the back where the bolts and the nuts were located. This spacers are located in a black plastic body.
> 
> 4- Disconnect the actuator electric wire supply. Only press on the top of the white connector and pull out on both side.
> 
> 5- There are 3 nuts to remove in order to detach the actuator from its stand. Two in the front and one in the back on the strap and driven pulley side.
> 
> 6-Now you should have the actuator in your hand.
> 
> 7-Remove the motor cap by unscrewing the two screws. Make a mark with a felt pen on the motor cap and gear case to make sure you will put the cap back at the same location, otherwise your motor will turn on the wrong side. Now you need to remove the cap by pulling it out. Be careful, because when you going to do that, you will also remove the motor rotor and the two little carbon brush springs may fall and be lost. Also, when you remove the cap, oily water will fall on the floor, thus to this job over a pan.
> 
> 8- Now that you remove the motor and you set all you screws and springs aside, you need to dry out out the parts. Remove the motor rotor from the motor cap by pulling it out with your hand. It's easy. The is a ball at the end of the rotor shaft, make sure to not lose it. Use a compressor to dry the part ( inside of motor cap, the rotor, and the gear case).
> 
> 9-On the back of the gear case there is a cap that you need to remove. unscrew the 3 screws. Water should come out. Dry the inside.
> 
> 10- I think the water come from the gear shaft hole. So, to avoid that water accumulate in the gear case, I drill 3/16" hole in the gear case cap to continuously drain the gear case. This hole facing down will help draining water by gravity. You will notice, that they put a water draining hose near the motor, but this hose is located on the top instead of the bottom. I think this is an engineering design mistake.
> 
> 11- replace the gear case cover after drilling the draining hole. Add some grease inside of the gear case by the rotor shaft hole. Do not put any grease at the carbon brush location.
> 
> 12- Carefully reinstall the carbon brush springs, and correctly (check the curve on the face) insert the carbon brush in the way. You will need to find a way to maintain the brush in place before inserting the motor rotor in the gear case. Be careful, do not damage the brush and the motor rotor with tools.
> 
> 13- Insert the motor rotor in the gear case. Make sure the brushes are well located and the can freely move in their way. Use a string to maintain the rotor in place after inserting it to the gear case. Place a fine string on one side of the gear case, use your thumb to press the string against the gear case. Pass the other end of the string over the rotor poles and bring this end on the other side of the gear case. Maintain this string end against the gear case with the index finger of the same hand maintaining the other string end.
> 
> 14- Insert the motor cap over the rotor by maintaining a good pressure on the string to avoid rotor displacement. When the cap is almost at its place remove the string by pulling it out from one end. Now the cap is in place, put back the two screws.
> 
> 15- Reconnect the 12v wire to the actuator and make a trial. You only have to turn the key, no need to start your snowblower. If it doens't work remove the motor cap again and make sure everything is ok. When a repair mine, I need to do it twice before it works.
> 
> Don't worry, it is easy and fun.
> 
> Good luck.


OK its been awhile since you had a go at the chute motor. I have a similar issue. Mine would thaw after about 2 minutes with the engine running. Im wondering how this worked out for you. I took mine apart and cleaned it as per your tutorial.Went well. Brushes were a pita until I discovered the trick to it. Yes there was a small amount of water. Cleaned and lubed and put back together. See what happens. I think the water is getting in around the drive sprocket. There was a far amount of play in that one compared to tight on the other motor. Stands to reason the left / right motor is used much more and would wear out around the shaft sooner. I dont see a cure for this except allow a drain as you did to give it a place to go. I didnt think of it when I had it off, perhaps switching places on the motors would be a good idea. I may switch them. Put the better one wher it does the most work.


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## Prime

A rain day today. So I decided to switch the motors positions. The up/down motor is very tight and should be awhile before its a problem in the sideways position. One tip I picked up from another source is to keep alot of grease on the drive sprocket. This will help repel the water and less getting in the gears. Makes sense. So to me the moral of all this is as soon as you start to have a slight freeze problem take it apart, drain and re grease before too much damage to the unit occurs. Mine was is ten years old and slight freeze issues were starting to happen. Opening up the motor was a good plan. There was minimal corrosion and unit should go years before problems again. These motors on the HS928 are about $200+ to replace. Save yourself some $ and open em up when they start to leak.


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## dhashigu

*service manual info to setup preload on chute motor*

can someone look in their service manual (HS928) and see what is required when reinstalling the electric motor on the chute (preload etc. for the ball under the screw on the end of the motor shaft and the play on the motor to the chute)
there is some adjustment in the mounting plate to the chute as well as some adjustment in the chute hold down clamps.
also if there are torque specs as well that would be appreciated.


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## FullThrottle

I have the HSS928A,would the torques be the same has the HS928,if so I will take a photo and upload if for you.I think I saw on here that HS928 electric chute motors may be different, but not sure of the torques.



dhashigu said:


> can someone look in their service manual (HS928) and see what is required when reinstalling the electric motor on the chute (preload etc. for the ball under the screw on the end of the motor shaft and the play on the motor to the chute)
> there is some adjustment in the mounting plate to the chute as well as some adjustment in the chute hold down clamps.
> also if there are torque specs as well that would be appreciated.


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## dhashigu

they should be close. Please upload when you have a chance, thank you.


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## FullThrottle

Here are the photos from my HSS928A, service manual.Not sure if they will be of any help.hopefully you can see it ok,phone pics. aren'r the best for this type of thing.



dhashi said:


> they should be close. Please upload when you have a chance, thank you.


IMG_0164. jpIMG_5. jpggIMG_0166.jpgIMG_0167.jpg


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## familyhenderson

having major problems with my Honda HS828 snowblower

chute will not turn or go up and down .....all I hear is relays clicking

is there a main 12 volt feed to relays


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## Cragar

Greetings. Thank you for the in depth tutorial on how to repair chute direction motor. Mine was completely seized. Just a couple of questions...
A) Can the large gear be taken out of the case to be cleaned and re greased? I can not remove the gear?
B) Yep, i lost one of the tiny brush springs and i have no idea where to purchase? Any suggestions?
C) I have two ball bearings. Are they for each end of the commutator shaft?

Many thanks,
Craig in Midland, ON


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## headshok2002

Resurrecting this dead thread in the hopes that somebody will read it. 
I have an older Honda 928 track drive with electronic chute control (I'm in Canada). I'm going to attempt to drain-hole procedure as described above, but am really doubting that this is going to be my problem. 
I just pulled it out of storage. Started up right away via the battery which I kept on a tender and had run it with stabilized fuel until it quit after closing the fuel valve. All good. It's been stored in a dry shed for the whole summer. 
The chute won't turn. It's not cold enough to be frozen. I doubt there's even any water in there given the months of being in a hot shed.
I didn't run it long enough to find out, but this has been a problem for a couple of frustrating years now. It always starts working randomly at some point after running for a while. 

Does anybody have a part # for the motor? Somebody above mentioned they're about 200 dollars. I'll gladly pay it if I think that's a sure fix. May try to swap the motors to see if that isolates the problem. 
Any guidance is appreciated.


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## orangputeh

headshok2002 said:


> Resurrecting this dead thread in the hopes that somebody will read it.
> I have an older Honda 928 track drive with electronic chute control (I'm in Canada). I'm going to attempt to drain-hole procedure as described above, but am really doubting that this is going to be my problem.
> I just pulled it out of storage. Started up right away via the battery which I kept on a tender and had run it with stabilized fuel until it quit after closing the fuel valve. All good. It's been stored in a dry shed for the whole summer.
> The chute won't turn. It's not cold enough to be frozen. I doubt there's even any water in there given the months of being in a hot shed.
> I didn't run it long enough to find out, but this has been a problem for a couple of frustrating years now. It always starts working randomly at some point after running for a while.
> 
> Does anybody have a part # for the motor? Somebody above mentioned they're about 200 dollars. I'll gladly pay it if I think that's a sure fix. May try to swap the motors to see if that isolates the problem.
> Any guidance is appreciated.


i read somewhere that the contacts should be inspected and possibly need cleaning. Sorry , that's all I know. No personal experience.


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## tabora

Start with the joystick, not the motor. It may just be the contacts - test it for function with a meter. I recollect seeing where someone had disassembled his and cleaned up the contacts. If that doesn't work, the 35360-V45-A02 (revised) unit can be ordered for $35.42 and installed in about 5 minutes...


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## Johnny G1

Turning motor for HS828, $230 canadian, we just put one in last week, problem solved, brushes were done and no replacement.


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## headshok2002

tabora said:


> Start with the joystick, not the motor. It may just be the contacts - test it for function with a meter. I recollect seeing where someone had disassembled his and cleaned up the contacts. If that doesn't work, the 35360-V45-A02 (revised) unit can be ordered for $35.42 and installed in about 5 minutes...


Thanks for this suggestion!
I've been so busy and hadn't known anybody replied to my post.

Still haven't done anything with this machine yet... snowfall has been light and I usually grab my Toro single stage unless things get gnarly (as it's sooooo much faster and gets down to the pavement). 
Real snow is coming though, so I want to get this sorted.

I have to swap the motors (chute rotation & tilt) as a first step. If that gets it rotating again (and tilt stops working) then I'll know it's the motor. The chute moves neither left or right so I am reluctant to think it's the joystick as I'd assume it'd function one direction, at least for a time. The local Honda dealer gave me a quote of 226 dollars for the motor (36110 766 003) which stings quite a bit (given that the HSS USA version motors use P/N 36110-V45-A03 which is about 35 USD) 😖

The parts guy couldn't find a listing for the joystick though said he'd look into it. I will be sure to report back once I do the motor swap / when I find a resolution. Realistically, if I have to spend 230 bucks on a new motor then I will. It's a 1996 but still in amazing shape and a beast at doing what it was intended to do. I have little doubt it'll keep going for years to come (especially with my Toro doing 5 or 6 snowfalls for every time the Honda comes out). 

Stay safe out there folks! Thanks again!


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## orangputeh

headshok2002 said:


> Thanks for this suggestion!
> I've been so busy and hadn't known anybody replied to my post.
> 
> Still haven't done anything with this machine yet... snowfall has been light and I usually grab my Toro single stage unless things get gnarly (as it's sooooo much faster and gets down to the pavement).
> Real snow is coming though, so I want to get this sorted.
> 
> I have to swap the motors (chute rotation & tilt) as a first step. If that gets it rotating again (and tilt stops working) then I'll know it's the motor. The chute moves neither left or right so I am reluctant to think it's the joystick as I'd assume it'd function one direction, at least for a time. The local Honda dealer gave me a quote of 226 dollars for the motor (36110 766 003) which stings quite a bit (given that the HSS USA version motors use P/N 36110-V45-A03 which is about 35 USD) 😖
> 
> The parts guy couldn't find a listing for the joystick though said he'd look into it. I will be sure to report back once I do the motor swap / when I find a resolution. Realistically, if I have to spend 230 bucks on a new motor then I will. It's a 1996 but still in amazing shape and a beast at doing what it was intended to do. I have little doubt it'll keep going for years to come (especially with my Toro doing 5 or 6 snowfalls for every time the Honda comes out).
> 
> Stay safe out there folks! Thanks again!


I don't understand you. So simple to check and clean contacts as a SIMPLE first step.

If that doesnt work , then move up the chain of solutions.

...SMH.


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## headshok2002

orangputeh said:


> I don't understand you. So simple to check and clean contacts as a SIMPLE first step.
> 
> If that doesnt work , then move up the chain of solutions.
> 
> ...SMH.


I ended up switching the connections between the identical motors. The result was that left-right on the joystick now moved the tilt up-down, as predicted. I think this confirmed for me that the joystick was working properly so the remaining culprits were wiring to the chute rotation motor or the motor itself. Time is worth more than anything to me these days so I just took the risk and ordered the motor from Pro Cycle in Nova Scotia (good price; 10% off coupon for new customers). Was around 220 shipped after HST. 

Just installed it. It's working great! WOOHOO!


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## RIT333

Wow, $200 sounds pretty spendy.


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## Rooskie

RIT333 said:


> Wow, $200 sounds pretty spendy.


It's a Honnnda, y'know.
That is Japanese for 'spendy'.


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## highlight

I'm in Canada and got the electric joystick operated chute on the 928 model. The deflector goes up/down with no issues but the left /right function sometimes stopped working. I just took off the joystick then did the easy disassembly and took out the circuit board which is also simple to do. From there I poured isopropyl alcohol into the enclosed contact switches and pressed the switches to try and clean them. Then I liberally sprayed the switches the best I could with WD-40 through the tiny openings at the switch side and the bottom to try and clean/protect them as best I could given that they are enclosed little switches. I assembled it all and let it dry overnight indoors and reinstalled the joystick the next day. I never had any issues since I did this. The chute moves left/right, up/down the same as it did when new. I'm after using it 5 times now in very inclement and cold weather and the issue seems resolved.


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## Rooskie

Congratulations!


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## Antechrist77

I had this problem this week. Chute not moving left or right.

First I found that the fuse was melted. 20 Amp. so I changed it. But after the chute motor was working sometimes only and often after 10 minutes of running the engine. So I opened it and open the chute motor. It seemed ok so I put it back. There was a short circuit in between the positive of the battery and the two wires coming from the motor.. That is not normal. So I took everething out and unscrew the motor. There was a small bering ball that goes at the verry buttom of the motor inside so that the shaft drive well. This ball was on the losse in the motor and cosing short circuit. It was not easy to put it back beacose of the magnets of the motor but I did it and I also make a hole at the buttom of the metal plate down the gear so the ice can melt down by this place. Greace all that, put it back and worket verry well! Saved a lot of money!


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## Jean-Marc MontrealCanada

Hi, I had the same issue where the deflector was going up but was not going down. I called the dealer and, obviously, told me that he never saw that before. I read all the previous posts and I thought changing the joystick but after few researches, I found out that here in Canada after shipping and taxes, it would cost me around $115. I searched on Google and found these 2 YouTube videos where the guys are explaining that the problem is only a dirty contact inside the joystick. It took me 5 minutes to unscrew the joystick and 30 minutes to clean the 4 contacts (Up, Down, right, left).

I reinstalled the joystick and everything is working just fine. It cost me 4 Q-tips, 1 once of rubbing alcool and 35 minutes of my time  

As it is mentioned, take your time, make sure you do not break little plastic contact covers and you don't lose the littles springs. 

If it happens to you in winter, make sure that you bring the joystick inside and let it warm up as cold plastic is easy to break.

Here are the 2 You Tube links:


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## gsaarimaki

I bought my HS724 in 2004. Up until about 3 years ago, I never had a problem with the electric chute. Then the chute would not rotate and the deflector would not move up/down but only when the temperature was just below the freezing mark and there was a lot of blowing snow as I was using the blower. If it was colder than -5 C (23 F) then I never had a problem. When the chute did not work, I would put the blower in the garage, let it sit for about 10-15 minutes and the chute would start working again. Last Sept. I took the blower to the Honda dealer. Of course they insisted they never heard of the problem before. Told me it was probably the motors for the chute or the motor in the joy stick. In Sept of course, the chute worked fine and no way to test in cold weather. They were confident it was the 3 motors so they replaced them all ($900+ including labour). After the first snow fall, the chute worked fine for about 20 min. and then the same problem occured. I let the blower sit in the garage and after 10 min. the chute was working again. Now the blower is back at Honda...and they still have no idea what is wrong. I sent this forum thread to the service manager but still no answer. He says the tech guy does not want to drill any holes.


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