Personally I think this is a really interesting discussion. I am an engineer at Honda R&D near Columbus, OH. At my location, there are over a thousand white collar workers, mostly technical. Within a hundred mile radius of me, there are a 4 Honda assembly plants, employing around 10,000 people. At other sites in the US and Canada, there are probably another 15,000 workers. Each of these plants is turning out thousands of new Hondas per day. Nearly every Honda/Acura sold in the US (by volume) is made in the US. The engines, transmissions, every major component. Furthermore, Honda actually *exports* cars from the US, something that the Big 3 can barely talk about. Sure, there are niche cars like the S2000 roadster that are 100% Japanese, but that is a tiny part of our market. I think these are pretty impressive numbers, especially if you consider that Honda is only something like the 7th largest market share in the US. Its been here since 1979, I'd wager that in those 27 years Honda has contributed significantly to Americans and their way of life. There are a lot of secure $25/hr plus full benefits jobs available in Ohio because of Honda. The US auto industry lost their way in the oil crises. They haven't been able to turn it around since then. They concentrate too much on short-sighted markets like giant fuel-guzzling SUVs. Its not that the Big 3 makes bad cars, its that they make cars that aren't in demand. Compare a Focus to a Civic. A Taurus to an Accord. Sure, those Fords might last 200k miles, but I'd much rather spend that time in a nice Accord than a hard plastic Taurus. I would rather support the thousands of American workers who build Hondas than support a few suits in Detroit and drive a Mexican Dodge. That said, my garage: 1980 Lawn Boy 7229 1996 Stihl trimmer 1997 Honda Accord (shocking, right?) 2002 Triumph Speed Triple (mc) 1976 Honda CB400F (mc) 1976 Suzuki GT550 2-stroke (mc) 1948 Johnson Sea Horse (outboard) 1949 Evinrude Zephyr (outboard)

roadbike -- Here are the answers to your questions with regards to my tiller : 1) No -- It takes me at least 6 month to go through 2.5G 2) Not sure -- a typical plastic gas certified container (is there something to look for?) 3) Yes (but perhaps not from now on) 4) Yes I spent $20 and rebuilt the Walbro WYL carb and it fired right up although it seems to have a minor issue with the high-end RPMs wanting to stall a little. There might be some other gunk further in I suppose. I was able to use it just fine last weekend. Darn carbs have itty bitty parts! BTW: IF I want to use something like MMO, is it a few Tablespoons in the volume of oil in the small Honda 4 strokes or ?? Unfortunately, this tiller does not see lots of use like the mower/edger/weed wacker.

"The 5.7 L in the 1500 should be perfectly adequate and get better mileage.." That is a inaccurate guess many consumers make. Just because it is a smaller engine they think that it gets better milage. Truth is, in the real world they dont. The smaller engine has to work twice as hard to get the same job done as a 2500 with a 6 litre engine. I am talking if you take a 1500 and a 2500 hook up a trailor to each of them that weights the same. With the same amount of fuel in the tanks. I will bet anything that the 1500 will have to stop for fuel way before the 2500 with the 6 litre engine will. "The 2500 rides like a dump truck.." If you are talking about a Chevorlet, You could not proove that by me. The Dodge 2500 and Ford F250 and F350's I have had did not give a comfortable ride at all. They were rough riders. DuraMax, Cummins, Power Stroke diesel's? Sure they are strong powerful engines. Cant afford to use them. 8 to 10 miles per gallon. Maybe 12 if you drive down hill a lot. Insurance nearly twice the cost of a gasoline in the same class. Parts..lol.. Take one $850 dollar fuel pump for a Power Stroke diesel, add a $250.00 cam sensor (wont run without one). I will stick with my Chevy 2500HD's.

What threw me was that you said you had a throttle body injector and most of those were just one step up from a carburetor. But you mentioned an engine module controller. If you have an engine module controller, likely you also have an IACS ( idle air controller). The IACS with the engine controller adjusts the engine idle speed. A serious vacuum leak can upset this system and this may be your problem. Find that leak. Many of the little plastic fittings in the vacuum hoses are restrictors - these have small calibrated holes to restict the amount of air flow. One such restrictor is in the vacuum feed to the heater/AC system that operates the various actuators in the air plenums. Thus, if any of these hoses gets pulled off, the amount of vacuum leak is restricted. Lean out problems may occur if any of these restrictor fittings have been replaced with standard straight-through fittings. Places for vacuum leaks: o Tubing o Fittings o Vacuum bottle (often on or near the fire wall) o Power brake o Vapor recovery system o Any AC vacuum operated parts such as a hot water diverter valve located in the heater hoses. If you can hear the leak, this helps in your search. I am not familar with the system for '88 Chevys. I had an older 1980 Chevrolet Citation, V6 2.8 L and I recall that it had a peculiar vacuum control. The vacuum was limited to say 16 inches. When the vacuum exceeded this value, a valve allowed air to enter the intake which leaned the mixture severely and stopped combustion. This was done to prevent backfiring in the exhaust and blowing off the converter. This came into play mostly when slowing down or comming down a hill with a closed throttle with the engine was in engine braking mode. This never gave any trouble, but could have if it stuck open. Good luck. Let us know what you find.