Engine stops after running smoothly for a few minutes

Previous owner had way overfilled crankcase oil. Oil had gotten into carb and clogged air filter. Drained oil to correct level. Ran engine but kept cutting off-see above. Took off carb cover cleaned housing and ran without air filter-ran fine. Unsuccessfully tried to clean air filter with gas-did not work. Apparently, the engine could run just long enough to exhaust the air in the old filter and cut off which is why it would start back up after a few seconds. Bought new air filter-whole thing-about $15 at Carquest. Put in some carb cleaner and installed the new filter and it runs perfectly.

Check your oil level. This machine has a "low oil shutoff" safety mechanism. If the oil is low it shuts down.

Honda had a problem with the gas cap not venting properly, but commonly it will run for several minutes at a time before stopping. 30 seconds sounds like possible fuel delivery problem like a sticking float or dirty carb jet..especially if you have to run it with the choke on. A bad air filter...very dirty, or oil soaked might do this. Check your oil level. Sitting, oil is a little higher level than when running and these motors will not run if the oil level is too low.

I have the exact same pressure washer and have had the same issues with it. The cure for me was to simply run the washer with the gas cap loose. For some reason the fuel gets vacuume locked and stops flowing into the carb. The fuller the tank is it seems the shorter the time is between the time it starts and the time it shuts off. Or you might find a way to vent the cap. Hope this helps.

Could be that the motor is low on oil, if the Honda engine runs low on oil it will shut down after running for a couple minutes. I would check that first. If you still have a problem next time before it shuts down take the gas cap off, it is possible that your gas cap is bad and is causing a vapor lock in the tank. Anything other then these items will indicate that something is wrong with the carb.

It sounds like vapor lock or other lack of fuel. Premium gas will cause detonation and "may" have something to do with it. Drain the fuel the best you can and add regular fuel, after a couple minutes the engine should be burning mixed fuel and if the problem goes away you have fixed it, if not you obviously have other issues.

Sounds like you put too much oil in your vehicle- The engine is under pressure and when the oil is filled past full it makes it hard for the crank to turn because the engine has nowhere to displace the pressure being the oil is over filled. You should never use a warning light to determine weather or not you need more oil or any other fluid for that matter- Warning lights rely on sensors and if a sensor faults or fails it can give false signals (like yours did) thats why you should always use your engines dip stick to determine if you have proper fluid levels!- Drain your oil and try again. If your lucky you didn't bend a rod- if you did bend a rod your going to need repairs or a new engine (depending on your choice of direction in repair)

Some suggestions:
Is the gas old? If in doubt replace it.
Try removing the air filter and spraying carburetor cleaner into the carb Then try starting it. If it runs for just a minute, then stops, the carburetor needs cleaning.

Check to see if the oil is over filled. check if the oil smells like gas, could be a gas leak into the crank case.
More than likely the head gasket is blown internally, causing excessive crank case pressure

Hi k2times01
It is a always a good idea to clean out the gas tank and use new fuel, however, this sounds like an RPM problem. Try adjusting the RPM up a tad and see if it runs better when you load it. If the RPM isn't the problem, you may have to clean the carburetor thoroughly.