"Nick Gray" wrote in message
...
snipped

Have you contacted the seller and raised your concerns? This should be
done
before you do anything yourself, but I have a feeling that if they sent
it
out like that they couldn't care less, BUT, they could be a fine
company,
be
concerned and exchange it for you.


Yes I've just emailed asking about this and they replied:

" I can confirm that the positioning of the engine to the deck is normal.
this ih how all the Honda engines are fitted to machines. "

He is saying that all Honda engines are mounted by three bolts with one
hole
left unused!!!


The hole alignment is probably so they can use either a Briggs and
Stratton
or a Honda engine on the same mower deck.

Yes it seems quite likely that it is designed to take more than one type of
engine but it looks like this particular Honda engine is not one of them.

If you've got it in writing that
this is how it is meant to be secured, then I wouldn't worry, although it
might be worth getting confirmation from Castel and or Honda (Honda
customer
service can be reached at http://www.honda.co.uk/contact/contactForm.jsp)
as
it's them that will be providing the guarantee.

Yes that sounds a good idea. Thanks