OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Victa Two Stroke Engines Victa Tornado VSX160 2 Stroke - Not Starting

Hi,

I have a Victa VSX160 Tornado 2 Stroke. It hasn't been used for over a year and that's because it stopped working. Finally i have decided to look at it.

I purchased a new spark plug as the old one was black and i can confirm that it is sparking. I also purchased new fuel and emptied out the old fuel.

However, i am not sure that the motor is getting fuel. There is a hose that runs from the carby to a big round thing that is attached to the motor near the spark plug. I'm assuming this is the fuel line to the motor? I removed the fuel line from this big round thing and tried priming the fuel and starting the mower but no fuel seems to be coming out of the hose.

There is also another lead that runs from the carby to the base of the engine, i'm not too sure what this is.

So, how can i test that fuel is getting to the engine?

If anyone could let me know where to go from here it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Adam

Hi Adam, and welcome to Outdoorking. I'm not a Victa plastic carburetor guy, but perhaps I can get you started until one comes along. Simplistically, there are three things your engine needs before it will start: fuel, compression, and spark. You need to ensure it has all three. You could start by removing the spark plug, grounding its body with the plug lead connected to it, set the controls in the starting position, and pull the starter cord while watching the spark plug gap. You should see a series of blue sparks. If you don't, that has to be fixed, and we'll talk about it. If you do see sparks, move to step two. Reinstall and reconnect the spark plug, disconnect the fuel line from the carburetor and put a tin under it, and turn on the fuel. You should see a stream of fuel coming out of the hose into the tin. If you do, remove the spark plug again and squirt a modest amount of fuel into the spark plug hole, reinstall and reconnect the spark plug, then pull the starter. If it fires and runs briefly, then stops, your problem is inside the dreadful plastic carburetor. If that happens we'll try to find someone who can help you with that without throwing up.

Thanks for the prompt reply grumpy,

It does seem to be sparking.

There are 3 different lines going to the carb:

Fuel Tank -> Carb (i get fuel)
Carb -> motor (big round thing attached to motor near spark plug - i get no fuel)
Carb -> some place at bottom of motor (not sure what this line is and havn't tested it for fuel)

If no fuel is coming out the fuel hose from the tank with thefuel tap on you probably have gummed up fuel in the filter, this just slides up and off hte top of the fuel tap, it can be seen easily if your fuel filler is on the left side of the machine or the whole tap assembly can be unscrewed from under the tank.

Adam, I'll leave this to Joe to lead you through to a solution - you couldn't be in better hands.

Hi Joe,

I am getting fuel from the tank, not a steady stream though, sort of a dribble. But no fuel at all is coming out of the carb. For fuel to come out of the carb, does a lot of fuel need to be coming from the fuel tank?

Thanks.

Hi adam,1-remove the fuel tank,drain your good fuel into a tub and unscrew the fuel tap carefully as it is plastic,pull off the little gause filter and wash it in petrol and put it all back together.2-wipe the out side of the carby with a rag and unscrew the brass nut(main jet)that holds the white cover where the fuel hose connects,take off the cover and clean the little needle and seat and float-take care not to lose the needle and care of the "o"ring on the end cap.put all that back together and line up the horizontal line on the primer cap(where the fuel line goes)3-the hoes that goes to the bottom of the engine is for vacuhme,the other hose connects to the decompressor(round thing)if the decompressor is not working replace it with a spark plug just to seal the hole and block off the hose.if you do this you will notice the pull cord will be harder to pull due to full commpression on start up.hope this helps a little...ken

mower man, the decompresser has a hose running to it. Isn't this the hose that delivers fuel to the otor? You are suggesting that i block it off. If it isn't, that only leaves one other hose (the vacuum one) which i assume does not deliver fuel. Or is it delivered through the mount connecting the carb to the engine? Sorry, i have no idea about mowers!

I will try all of the above and report back. Thanks.

Thanks, ill check it out.

The hose that goes to the decompresser is just a vacuum line and should have no fuel in it. The other line is an air pressure line and it controls the RPM governor, that shouldn't have any fuel in it either.

Clean out the little brass screw/jet that holds the white plastic piece on to the carby body. While you're there clean the needle and seat. Make sure the needle is in place when you re assemble it, there's also a line in the white peice that says "this line must be horizontal", that's fairly self explanatory I think.

Thanks

Hayden