# Darn, my new (to me) Honda HS55 snowblower has a couple of major problems... I took a video of it



## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

Hi forum, I'm back with a couple more questions about my snowblower. I took a video of what it's doing here: New video by Micah Gooch Basically, neither the drive mechanism nor the auger mechanism is working.  The engine starts and runs fine, the choke and idle adjustments work perfectly, and it starts in a few pulls.

The problem comes when you put it in gear and then squeeze the lever down for drive: nothing happens. The snowblower doesn't move forward or back. Doesn't matter whether the idle is slow or fast.

The 2nd problem is: as soon as you squeeze the auger engagement lever, the auger and thrower both spin a little bit, but then you hear a quick little squeal/cough noise, and the whole engine dies immediately. It's as if you cut spark all of a sudden, and the engine comes all the way down to zero RPM over about 3 or 4 seconds. Very consistently. Doesn't matter if you squeeze the auger lever really slow, or all at once. Engine dies. What on Earth is going on here? What could trigger the engine to die like that? It doesn't seem related to a load being put on the engine. It's as if someone just suddenly unplugs the spark plug wire. Any ideas? In the video (at the end), you can see there is nothing preventing the auger and thrower from spinning in there. There's nothing caught in the blades.


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## tadawson (Jan 3, 2018)

Does this machine have safety interlocks? It almost seems like the augur engagement is shutting the ignition down, as if an interlock was setup incorrectly.


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## CarlB (Jan 2, 2011)

did you check to see if the belts were on?
I would check for a safety interlock on the auger engagement handle.
If there is a safety interlock disconnect it and see if the engine stays running.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

you should check the belts man.......

the red cover between the bucket and engine is the belt cover.

then check back to see what's next.


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## JayzAuto1 (Jul 25, 2016)

That sounds like a dirty carb to me.....Just cant handle the extra load maybe.... Try it with choke on 1/2 way to see if it makes any difference.

GLuck, Jay


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## WIHD (Dec 15, 2019)

some kind of faulty safety switch came to mind the minute I watched the video.

Engine sounds good (to me) if carb was dirty/gummed it may not run at all which isn't the case.


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## vangasman (Oct 21, 2021)

So much to learn just removing a few covers.......


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

WIHD said:


> some kind of faulty safety switch


The HS55 is from the 1980s. What safety switches? We don't need no steenking safety switches!


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

JayzAuto1 said:


> That sounds like a dirty carb to me.....Just cant handle the extra load maybe.... Try it with choke on 1/2 way to see if it makes any difference.
> 
> GLuck, Jay


Nope it's not the carb, the engine starts and runs perfectly in a few pulls, even when it's below freezing out. I thought this too at first, which is why I tried to very slowly engage the auger, thinking that the extra load was bogging the engine down. It's not bogging down. The auger lever gets to this magic point and then the engine just suddenly dies. Even when you wait for this and then let go of the auger lever, the engine still dies as if you had the auger lever down the whole time. This issue isn't being caused by drag on the engine, I just know it...

As a matter of fact, I believe this summer when I bought the snowblower, the damn thing worked perfectly! The auger mechanism engagement spun the auger up to full speed and the engine RPM momentarily went down and then back up to idle again like it should, and the drive mechanism worked too! So something happened between now and like 4 months ago, with the snowblower just sitting in the shed not being used.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

orangputeh said:


> you should check the belts man.......
> 
> the red cover between the bucket and engine is the belt cover.
> 
> then check back to see what's next.


Thank you I will inspect the belts under this cover you mentioned, and I'll report back here.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

CarlB said:


> did you check to see if the belts were on?
> I would check for a safety interlock on the auger engagement handle.
> If there is a safety interlock disconnect it and see if the engine stays running.


Safety interlock? What the heck is that? What does it look like? I will look for this. That would explain it. Some type of safety shut-off being triggered, would exactly explain the way the engine dies. This is very interesting to me and I want to look for this safety interlock of yours....


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

tadawson said:


> Does this machine have safety interlocks? It almost seems like the augur engagement is shutting the ignition down, as if an interlock was setup incorrectly.


That would totally explain the problem all right. Is it obvious what the safety interlock looks like? I will look at the handle/lever for something like this and report back here. Thanks for your input and Merry Christmas!


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

OldHS55 said:


> Safety interlock? What the heck is that? What does it look like? I will look for this. That would explain it. Some type of safety shut-off being triggered, would exactly explain the way the engine dies. This is very interesting to me and I want to look for this safety interlock of yours....


NO! If they are speaking of what I am thinking that is on the newer HSS models.

please check belts. 5 minutes or less.

the engine is dying most ;likely because of a jam somewhere. if not belts off . broke or jammed I should have mentioned to check and see if impeller/blower is frozen to bucket.

could be sumting else


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## db130 (Feb 16, 2013)

http://cdn.powerequipment.honda.com/pe/pdf/manuals/31736601.pdf



I didn't see any interlocks mentioned in the manual. 

Check the belts. Check the carb. I had a snowblower that would fall flat on its face as soon as the augers were engaged (it had a slightly clogged jet).


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

I did the same thing on my 80. ( if not the belts ).
The snow melted/refroze in drum and froze the impeller up. used a heat gun to thaw out.

but in your case after watching the video all the way thru it is sumting else.


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## tadawson (Jan 3, 2018)

FWIW, I didn't suspect a jam since his video pretty clearly shows the impeller turning what looks to be pretty freely, so def. not stuck. Could be lean, but you can usually get those to recover by removing load, and can often "nurse" the augur drive in.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

tadawson said:


> FWIW, I didn't suspect a jam since his video pretty clearly shows the impeller turning what looks to be pretty freely, so def. not stuck. Could be lean, but you can usually get those to recover by removing load, and can often "nurse" the augur drive in.


okay thanks. I did not watch the last seconds. 

still would inspect belts and then move on to carb perhaps.


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## cpchriste (Jan 19, 2014)

Clearly a belt / brake issue. There's a brake under the auger pulley that should disengage simultaneously with the belt tensioner engagement.
And the traction drive worked until now? You need to have a look-see under the belt cover and maybe above the belly pan as well.


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## RickCoMatic (Dec 29, 2020)

You got BELT problems to investigate.
We've had a few of those through here that the wrong belts on them.
Wrong belts:
Wrong SIZE.
Wrong APPLICATION.
NON-Power Rated.
The Prev/Owner stuck whatever he had on it to make it go during a test drive that didnt involve moving snow.
As soon as those belts were stressed, ... they crapped-the-bed.
You've got a similar issue going for you.
I bet you find some kind of Drive Belt way out of whack, missing or tired as hell.
Dont be surprised if the PTO is on there w/o being "KEYED"


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

JayzAuto1 said:


> That sounds like a dirty carb to me.....Just cant handle the extra load maybe.... Try it with choke on 1/2 way to see if it makes any difference.
> 
> GLuck, Jay


Yep, this was part of the problem with the stalling issue. I found that even when the engine is fully up to temp, any load on the engine causes it to sputter and almost die, unless the choke is on about 25%. In other words the engine will die under load if the choke is 100% off/open. How does the choke work on this carb? I feel like if I need to leave the choke partially on, this is limiting the total airflow going into the engine, thereby limiting total horsepower. I have a feeling the snowblower could use a larger jet installed in the carb, giving it more fuel, allowing the engine to work at peak efficiency while the choke is 100% off/open. However maybe this carb is designed for the user to fine-tune the air/fuel mixture with the choke lever, and it's already making max power even if you have to leave the choke on 25%?


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

RickCoMatic said:


> You got BELT problems to investigate.
> We've had a few of those through here that the wrong belts on them.
> Wrong belts:
> Wrong SIZE.
> ...


Thank you for this very specific input here on common belt problems. I got my auger working last night after doing some more troubleshooting. I found out that I can only subject this engine to any load, if I leave the choke lever slightly engaged, around the 25% closed setting (even when the engine is fully up to temp). Then the auger works great. My guess is that this isn't ideal though, since I'm probably limiting the total airflow by leaving the choke on a little bit like that, and that a perfectly-adjusted and working carburetor will give me full power when the choke is 100% open.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

tadawson said:


> Does this machine have safety interlocks? It almost seems like the augur engagement is shutting the ignition down, as if an interlock was setup incorrectly.


OK I fixed it!!!

I went and did some snowblowing last night and it was awesome!!! The reason the drive wasn't engaging is because, in my infinite wisdom, I reinstalled the wheels without installing the axle pin correctly. This let the wheels free-wheel, allowing the axle to spin inside the wheel hubs, making the snowblower not move. 

And the reason the auger was making the engine die was for two reasons:

1) There is a secondary linking mechanism to the position of the drive lever. If the drive lever isn't down all the way, even in neutral, when you push the auger lever down more than halfway, the engine shuts off as a safety feature. As long as I'm holding down the drive lever all the way when I engage the auger, the auger causes a momentary load on the engine but then idle returns to normal and away we go!
2) The carb, even when the engine is fully warmed up, will die very easily under any load, unless you leave the choke lever at about the 25% position. That is, 75% open, 25% closed. This seems to deliver around the correct air/fuel ratio for the engine to have a load applied without sputtering and dying. Is this normal for these snowblowers? I like tinkering with carbs, so if I need to add a larger main jet or something, I'll bet I can do that on this simple carb without too much drama.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

orangputeh said:


> okay thanks. I did not watch the last seconds.
> 
> still would inspect belts and then move on to carb perhaps.


Ok I got it working, but let me ask you: if this carb of mine is running lean, and lets say I did a full carb teardown and cleaning and it still runs lean, can I make it run richer by using larger carburetor jets?


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

JayzAuto1 said:


> That sounds like a dirty carb to me





OldHS55 said:


> Nope it's not the carb


Clean the main jet and emulsion tube (nozzle).


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

tabora said:


> Clean the main jet and emulsion tube (nozzle).


agree with tabora above.

glad you got it close to fixed.....I'm done here.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

orangputeh said:


> agree with tabora above.
> 
> glad you got it close to fixed.....I'm done here.


Thanks for your input, I appreciate it. I love my little Honda snowblower now.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

tabora said:


> Clean the main jet and emulsion tube (nozzle).


Roger that, I know how to do that. Thank you. Will-do.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

RickCoMatic said:


> You got BELT problems to investigate.
> We've had a few of those through here that the wrong belts on them.
> Wrong belts:
> Wrong SIZE.
> ...


Great tips thank you! Good old drive belt troubleshooting. I can handle that.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

orangputeh said:


> you should check the belts man.......
> 
> the red cover between the bucket and engine is the belt cover.
> 
> then check back to see what's next.


I will check the belts, but I totally got it working by adding a little richness to the A/F mixture with the choke lever. 25% to 50% choke is where it likes to still work under load. It works pretty darn good now. And I got new tires and she's a snowblowing little beast now. Excellent traction with these new tractor-style 14" tires too.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

tabora said:


> Clean the main jet and emulsion tube (nozzle).


I know. lol I'm an R-tard, sorry.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

OldHS55 said:


> I know. lol I'm an R-tard, sorry.


haha thanks for the laugh......common issue especially the emulsion tube being plugged. it only takes a little bit.
word of caution for anyone attempting this. use a screwdriver that perfectly fits the slot. you may have to grind down sides so it fits in pick up tube.
being so old they are probably stuck so may need soaking with penetrating oil
lots of patience.
a clean idle/pilot jet , emulsion tube, main jet usually solves this problem. 

good luck.


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## OldHS55 (Jul 8, 2021)

orangputeh said:


> haha thanks for the laugh......common issue especially the emulsion tube being plugged. it only takes a little bit.
> word of caution for anyone attempting this. use a screwdriver that perfectly fits the slot. you may have to grind down sides so it fits in pick up tube.
> being so old they are probably stuck so may need soaking with penetrating oil
> lots of patience.
> ...


Thanks Orangeputeh, tell you what, when I get into the carb, I'll take pics of the jets and emulsion tube and stuff, and give measurements, and that will let people follow along themselves if they're trying to do a similar procedure.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

OldHS55 said:


> Thanks Orangeputeh, tell you what, when I get into the carb, I'll take pics of the jets and emulsion tube and stuff, and give measurements, and that will let people follow along themselves if they're trying to do a similar procedure.


hey i was the grasshopper at one time . this helped me a lot and it's members helping members. win win


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