Small honda motor won't stay running

Case450

Member
I have a 2003 Norwood sawmill powered by a 20hp Honda motor. Tried to get her fired up today. Put the jumper cables to "er (battery wasn"t disconnected or anything over the winter and the store is closed so"s I can"t replace it) and she fired up good. Took the cables off, made one cut and noticed the deck wasn"t bang on so I shut "er down and re-levelled the deck. Boosted her and she started again and was running so"s I took the cables off and after about 30 seconds she died. Boosted again, same thing. Son of a gun, the gas must be bad as she"s getting air, spark and fuel so I put in fresh gas with treatment and stabilizer and changed the fuel filter just in case. Boosted her again and she ran even smoother, tried to make a cut and got about ten feet down and she died. Boosted her and she did it again.

It seems like this lil motor is dying when I take the cables off it. With that being said it should run off the battery anyway, these lil gas motors should have a alternator or something of the sort to keep the electricity flowing shouldn"t it? Must be some kinda magnet/flywheel generator I would imagine so"s if there is such a thing, how would I go about testing it to make sure it"s making it"s own electricity for the 2 sparkplugs?
 
You probably have a honda gx620. The engine generates it"s own spark and has a stator to charge the battery. If the battery is junk, the charging system may be overloaded and can"t keep the battery voltage high to provide power for the carburetor fuel solenoid. My guess is with a new battery everything will be fine.
 
I don't know all of the model numbers, or the way they are setup, but the first thing that came to mine when I read your post was it sounded like what Larry is saying is the problem. The alternator doesn't have enough output to keep the electrical system supplied at full voltage, and the battery isn't accepting a charge. Basically the alternator is using everything it's got to charge a battery that won't accept the charge, and the result is an electrical system that is only as strong as it's weakest link, which is a dead battery.
 
It was the battery. I put a new battery in and she runs like a top. Unfortunately it"s a manual sawmill it"s powering so I think I like it better when it wasn"t running! lol

Thanks for all your help boys!
 

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