I went to Bunnings to buy an Autosol metal polish and Felt Pads for cleaning. I punch hole the felt pad and glued the disc into the other end of the rod which acts as polishing/buffing disc with autosol. Now I have sanding on one end and polishing/buffing on the other end which really works and shows big improvement. I have to do this on all our primer cap stocks. I'm no sure if other sellers of the same product will do this fix. There are two known minor issues with our primer cap that I need to address to make sure our primer cap is guaranteed to work and not leave to the customers to fix it. See attached photos.
Hi Mowerfreak,
Just use carby cleaner and compressed air to clean the primer cap seat and remove the autosol then finalise with the pointed end of a BBQ stick. Let's save money and don't buy expensive tools.
It’s been an issue since the g4 was released. I “prepare” the seat using fine valve paste and a bamboo skewer.
My method is to use the larger size skewers and cut the first 3-4mm off the taper and then apply the valve paste to the next 5-6mm section of the taper on the skewer. I just dip the end in and get a fine layer on. Placing the skewer into the seat I rub the stick between my two hands using the same motion I use for seating valves on engines.
I’ve not had a failure with this method and employ it whenever I replace the needle or contact components in there. The paste impregnates the taper of the skewer which deforms to the correct shape. I take special care to clean all the paste off before reassembly.
I wouldn't say that the original Victa needles and Victa primer caps leaked .
If there was a problem.
1, Millions of Victa mowers would not have passed Quality control to be sold. 2 , If the original carbs failed early on there would be millions of people saying how bad a Victa is .
The Problem is manufacturing in China ,there can't be any testing with a lot of the new primer caps flooding.
I've compared the first G4 taper (the cap with the remote mounted primer) with the new G4 primer cap from China and the new caps have a much smaller taper.
Hi Max, The problem with Chinese manufacturing is they can copy things that look exact replicas but they often just miss the detail on the vital components but the overall look is identical to the original. With my eyes I can't see any taper at all, if it is there it is minute but I hope my and I guess everybody who has followed my needle dramas over the years are happy to put this to bed with a happy ending.
In that sense you are right with Chinese manufacturers they balance more on quantity than quality. I cannot really say they are not good in manufacturing since our manufacturer is from China or Chinese but they only followed my specifications. If I missed the important details, they also missed it. Reason why I have correspondence and feedback to them to improve the product base on our findings and solutions. I must be thankfully to them for the opportunity to reproduce a product that could improve the purpose especially with viton tip and new float lever. I would say Chinese are excellent in manufacturing not because I have quarter Chinese blood. I have contacted some Australian manufacturers but way beyond economical expense and not willing to cover the cost of tooling where in China, they cover the cost of the tooling, provide CAD design with only few orders especially for small market. It's a big help for us to make things happen. For us, if the manufacturers won't be able to address this issue at the moment, I have to make sure that I fix all our primer caps which I have done most of them.
Norm, At least you put this needle drama to an end. Thanks for solving this issue with new primer cap. Do you agree that combination with your solution on fixing the seat with the new float lever is the final fix.
Hopefully we will have the float levers available soon.
Good that we now have a fix for these primer caps and CM you are right about by having a very wide seat in the primer cap, it will hold the needle up (sticking needle) as the early G4 cap with the wider seat doesn't let the needle drop as quick as the smaller seats.
This is why I suggested a 80 degree cut in the seat .
I think the needle lever is a great idea as the 2 mowers I've fitted the Viton needle and lever in both start first time cold with only 2 pushes of the primer.
I've heard some people use a 60 degree cut on the seat with a 70 degree needle but I'd like to try a few different angle combinations to see what works best with the new caps.
The worst part with Chinese manufacturing is seeing the documentary's showing how the factory workers are treated , it's not uncommon for workers to jump off the roof.
Now that I am past my needle problems I am now back to my other big problem and that is finding enough wheels to put these mowers together. Motors are not a problem I have heaps of them
I have fitted umpteen types of wheels by fitting new axles but then I still have to find a matching set of wheels. I picked up another 34 motors today so I have to get serious about wheels now
Scalped the lawn and verge on thursday (about 50 catchers worth total as corner block). 3 full tanks through a 99 Pace Powertorque. Sat in shed for a good year and half.
Has carbymaster primer cap, needle and lever. The cap and needle were in there when I bought the mower from the tip - the guy threw $50 worth of parts on it but got a sticking needle. Was running a plastic needle since until now.
I understand what max means about opening the lever hole a tad.
Started 1st pull, first tank fine, second tank the needle stuck open, flooded everything. 3rd tank fine.
So next job is to make the tool and sand/polish up the seat
Hi Tyler, I have filed the bur off a number of caps now and everyone has worked well. I am going through all the mowers I still have here and filing the seats on all of them
Hi Tyler, What I got was a pack of 10 3mx140 long round diamond needle files. I ground a bit off the tip so it wouldn't go out through the back of the primer cap. I use it in the battery drill and only give it a couple of seconds to clean the bur. So far good success This is not what I bought but the look the same and half what I paid for mine
No worries Norm, I just searched "pack of 10 3mx140 long round diamond needle files" and they came straight up. Will buy a pack and it should sort it out
I had a look at a dud GA spares cap - the bloody seat is pressed in at a 25 deg angle
