I have a Honda 4010 RV generator that refuses to start. By spraying a lite mist of starting fluid it will run. On the bottom of the carb there is a solinoid, I guessing it may be a fuel shut off. Anyone know.

I have an EV6010 that has both a choke solenoid and a fuel cut solenoid. I think the fuel cut solenoid bolts to the carb with two screws on ears. I am not at the gen now, but I think the choke solenoid is pretty obvious.

I'll dig out my shop manual tomorrow and see. I have on both hard copy and .pdf, so I can email pix to you.

Could also be the fuel filter of fuel pump.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
I have on both hard copy and .pdf,

That is interesting. Is the .pdf shop manual available online or what?

No. I had a friend at the local Honda place. He gave me the CD.

How big is the PDF file? Be great to get the whole thing. But will settle for pics

quote:

Originally posted by Gary Carter:
How big is the PDF file? Be great to get the whole thing.

Yeah, that would be helpful to several of us here.

quote:

But will settle for pics

I don't have much, but will try to share what information I do have..............

Do you need a wiring diagram?

Will THIS help?

Just click on your particular model number and a picture will magically appear.

After a start attempt, are you able to drain fuel from the float bowl with the drain screw? If the pump is good, that will tell you if the cutoff solenoid is letting any fuel in.

Have you checked the solenoid in question?

In my notes, it says you should read 7.5 ohms between the two leads. It gets 12 volts from the control box. The other wire is ground. Is the ground good? Is there 12 volts when you attempt to crank? If not, check that the connection is secure and clean.

The solenoid can also be checked by applying 12 volts with a jumper from a hot terminal. I am not sure here, but it might be a good idea to disconnect the connector to prevent a backfeed into the box.

And, of course, my SOP with carb or injector issues is to let it soak with a little Red Line fuel system cleaner for a while.

Another SOP for me and small engines is to use a higher octane fuel than the regular 87. I got that advice a long time ago from a moped shop, and it didn't make sense, but I did it anyway because his advice was always good. Sure enough, things worked a little better on all my small engines. My neighbors who followed suit also reported less trouble. I have seen that advice repeated here and there, too. Our gen guys at work do that with the little gas ones, too.

Sadly, Honda cautions against using gasoline with more than 5% methanol or 10% ethanol. It's kinda tough to get honest information on what's in your fuel these days. Regular use of SeaFoam can help.

One year at Quartzsite, I talked to some folks from a company in Iowa. Hickins of Hicklin or something like that. They seemed to really know the EV series well. They said call for help if needed. I have their card somewhere, but maybe a Google search would turn them up. Hunt them down and give them a call.

Shop manual is 4.29 MB. Owners manual is 1.61 MB.

PM your emails if you want me to send.

I'm a little late to the party on this, but I just received a Honda troubleshooting manual from eBay.

It looks pretty nifty, and has a bunch of pages on the EV4010, so send me your e mail addresses by PM and as soon as I learn how to scan into .pdf I will send copies to Rusty, Gary, and any other supporting member with one of these. I don't think .jpg files would be very good, but that is all I have done so far.

I have that one, but thanks for the offer!

quote:

Originally posted by Gary Carter:
I have a Honda 4010 RV generator that refuses to start. By spraying a lite mist of starting fluid it will run.

So.................How are things going?

quote:

Post

My first thought was that the shut off solinoid was not functioning. BUT it turned out to be dirty carb and 16 month old gas. Once I got the carb cleaned the old gas is sorta working until I put aload on it. Next step is to burn off some more gasoline and then add some new stuff.

Pretty simple carb. No adjustments. Just took it apart and soaked it in some carb cleaner and blow it out.

quote:

Originally posted by Gary Carter:

it turned out to be dirty carb and 16 month old gas. Once I got the carb cleaned the old gas is sorta working until I put aload on it. Next step is to burn off some more gasoline and then add some new stuff.

Do you use Seafoam or Stabil?

When I have old gas, I use the pump to empty the tank and keep it around for parts cleaning only. If you should be unsafe enough to put it in a glass container, some of that old gas is scary.

I have heard that the gas we use nowadays can go bad in as little as 2 months. I use stabil in anything that is not going to get used for a while and have never had a problem.

Once I got the gas thru the fuel line (rubber) and cleaned the carb the engine runs just great on the old gas.

A special thanks to Rusty for the shop manual.