OT: New Toy

[Sundown]

Always wanted one of these, Karcher, 6HP Honda OHV, 2060 psi.

[HMW]

A word of caution on the small Honda engines. Keep them "FULL" of oil. Some have oil minders [oil alert] that will shut down the engine if low on oil, but sometimes its to late. Error on the side of to much oil. Interesting thing is they don't usually sieze the rod up like some engines but actually seize at the PTO end of the crank. Which ruins the base. I bet I've seen 20 of these engines do this. Most were brand new. Of course Honda would not warranty them becasue they were low on oil. Don't screw the dip stick in to check the oil just stick it in. Other wise great motors

[my father owns an equipment repair shop]

[Sundown]

A word of caution on the small Honda engines. Keep them "FULL" of oil. Some have oil minders [oil alert] that will shut down the engine if low on oil, but sometimes its to late. Error on the side of to much oil. Interesting thing is they don't usually sieze the rod up like some engines but actually seize at the PTO end of the crank. Which ruins the base. I bet I've seen 20 of these engines do this. Most were brand new. Of course Honda would not warranty them becasue they were low on oil. Don't screw the dip stick in to check the oil just stick it in. Other wise great motors

[my father owns an equipment repair shop]

Thanks for the tips, I will be sure to ckeck the oil before each use.

[HiHo]

I recently bought a DeWalt's 13 hp power washer with a Honda engine. My dipstick has nothing written on it saying where the oil level should be. It just has hatching pretty much the whole length of the dipstick. The owners manual refers to a lower limit mark which I assume is the bottom of the dipstick. The manual does say the upper limit is the bottom edge of the oil fill hole.

The engine came shipped with the oil level at the very bottom of the dipstick. Just to be sure, I added 10w-30 till it was at the bottom edge of the oil fill hole. I found it weird that it left the factory with the oil level at such a critically low level.

After having used it, I wish I would have spent the extra $$ to get the model that comes with the hose reel.

[Sundown]

Mine came with no oil in the case at all, only a quart of oil to put in it. The dipstick is the same as yours with no level markings, just some kinda of vauge statement about where the level should be. I do find it kinda strange that a company like Honda would not put a mark on a plastic dip stick after all it's not like it would cost them anything. Even though I don't care for Honda cars, good though they may be, I must admit that this little 6 hp motor runs really good.

[Richard]

HiHo and everyone,

the reason that they sent the engine with only enuff oil to barely tutch the dipstick is because its all about the doller.. if they leave every engine a quart low this will save them lots of money. .at $2.25 a quart for every engine they send out X thousends of engines.
..Thats why cars come new from the factory with just enuff engine oil and trans fluid and Diffrential oil to get it to the dealer and the dealer is supost to check and fill all the fluids and the Manufator saves money on all the oil they dont put in. ... so if its one quart low at $2.25 times millions of cars, thats a lot of money
when I used to work at a oil change, I used to see so many new trucks come in with the Diffrential fluid very low. as well as other fluids that were supost to be checked and filled at the deallership when they charged the costomer for it. under the dealer prep charge. ... hummm
I would sugest all you guys out their with welding rigs check and fill the Diffrential fluid.

[silverbackman]

The cost of oil is one reason, another is the cost of shipping. Oil isn't that heavy but when you multiply it by X number of engines-BAM-huge shipping costs. Like you said-the all mighty $.

[HiHo]

The thought was always in the back of my mind that they're trying to some $$ by skimping on the oil. Makes sense, I guess. But I'm not convinced that's the real reason. If they ship out the engine with very low oil, they have to expect that most people will just gas it up and run it as soon as they take it out of the box. They would have to realize they'd have to deal with alot of complaints and, hence, get bad reviews, which ain't good.

At most, it probably took about 1/4 quart to take it from the low limit to the high limit.

[fyoung]

My guess would be some dumb jackass working there that don't give a crap and may not know any better..it's hard to find help that cares these days...I once worked at a shock absorber plant and we caught guys adding water in place of oil..when questioned they said they thought it would be funny when winter came and the shocks froze and wouldn't move..they said they could just amagine the ride the driver got..we caught people doing this more than once. We've tore shocks down before and found empty cigarette packs,butts, nuts, screws etc. in them...just plain crazy!

[Richard]

fyoung,

yea I know a lot of those kinda guys, hek I work with a lot of them.
its sad
I'm just glade and thankfull that I had great parients to teach me well and my Father to spank my but. although I proble needed my but spanked more than I got.