Honda 130

[wetterthebetter]

My engine is three years old. It was fully serviced last month and has run perfectly in the 14 months I've had it. However, it recently started missing, especially on low revs. When the fault was investigated it was discovered that the cylinder head is cracked! To the best of my knowledge, the engine has never overheated, it has relatively low hours and has always been serviced. Unfortunately, as it's a grey import, it's not covered by the Honda UK warranty. Anyone experienced anything similar?

[speedy]

Yes exactly the same problem, but.....our engine is a total scrapper because water entered into cylinder no3 from the several cracks in the head and caused a top to toe split with hydraulic pressure. Not a happy puppy, will never have a car derived engine again!

[stephenmcdermot]

Our Honda 130 recently gave up too. It started by slightly idling rough, then progressively getting worse.
When it conked we took the cylinder head off to discover that the head was pitted, almost as thoughy one of the rings had deteriorated, in cylinders 3+4 and damaged the pistons and head quite badly. Under closer examination it was found that the head is cracked and the block is cracked top to botton down chamber 3.

Not impressed as you can guess, it has never overheated ar been ran low on oil.

I spoke with the Honda racing team in Southampton who thrash the 130hp and they have never heard of this happening. Is that why the cooling system on the Honda 135 is totally different now?

Not had a great time with the engine from the start since buying it second hand. Firstly it started pumping out white smoke under the hood, the alternator had cooked due to a loose main feed. The the coils, ecu, main relay all blew due to this. Got another month or two out of it before the above happened.

Looking for a replacement, any ideas?

[Cypman]

I admit that I may be somewhat biased but believe that the Suzuki 4-Strokes are very good value and have not had many reliability problems. The DF 140 has proved itself to be a good all-rounder, whilst the newer DF150/175 are also earning a good reputation.

No doubt others will make alternative recommendations , in the end it is your choice, good luck and good Ribbing.

[stephenmcdermot]

here is a wee picture of the damage to the Honda 130 head

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