OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Victa Two Stroke Engines Victa 1970 2 stroke pull starter and no spark

Hi,

I have an old Victa 2 stroke probably 1970 CR****** model can't remember. I just restored it and put it back together then the pull start won't lock onto the flywheel, but the assembly all appears ok? Ive been doing some research as to what might be the problem, how tight must the blade plate be? perhaps that is the problem? There is also no spark coming from the spark plug and its brand new? If its shorted for what ever reason how can I fix that? Any help would be much appreciated.

To determine your spark and starter issue we need to know what engine you have I am about to set up a thread with a photo of the different victa engine types to help you. I will link to this thread here soon...

OK, so ive spent the whole afternoon trying to diagnose why there is no spark and I still can't find the problem, it has compression, ive played around with the kill switch wire still nothing. The only other thing I can think of is the spark plug boot which has rust around the screw, I don't know how to pop the boot off so I can clean the screw?

Ok good solid engine there you have, I would be thinking of there is no spark with the kill switch wires pulled out and separatedyou may need to clean the points which are under the flywheel. I dont reccomend removing the whole ignition plate thats under the flywheel just cleaning the points in situ as removing the plate requires resetting of ignition timing.

Thanks Joe, will give that a try and get back to you.

A rear facing utility, except for the cover having the fuel tank out the front they were the best of the lot.
Ive had some issues with spark shorting out on the side facing ones in long wet grass.

Power torques are good to use too, nice and low and you can shove them in under things.


First up i would suggest that you fix the starter, you will not generate spark spinning it by hand, you may using a rope around the starter cup. Its easiest with the starter.

To fix the starter can be a pain, its trial and error.
Is the wheel the cord goes around alloy or plastic? There are two tabs that throw out when you pull the cord, you can remove and reverse them. The outer edge that contacts the cup needs to be nice and square so its bites. How does the surface inside the cup look??? A new one is only $8 or so.
Also the recess in the main pulley where the throw out tabs go wear, the tabs sit needs to be square, they wear at an angle over time. I have not tried to sort this one yet, ive got spare starters layed on.
Make sure the spring is nice and smooth. If its not you may have to strip the starter and clean the spring with wire wool to get it smooth. Ive seen plenty that have had water in them. Go easy with WD40 etc on reassembly, dont want that dripping down in the starter cup.



Then once the starter is fixed you can get into it and get it winding over and check spark again. Ive had a few older points ones here that have had no spark, 10 or more pulls later and the sparks come back to life all big and fat. Must just have been stuck points from sitting.
Ive found it best to always grab a new spark plug. Most times its not needed, "a new plug and it will go" usually means ive got no clue whats wrong with it so i will tell you that so you feel good buying it, but i have been caught out a couple of times with plugs that looked OK that were dead.


If you do need to get in under the flywheel, its probably best to buy an electronic module for a power torque and wire that in. It costs the same as a set of points and a condenser and its no where near as dificult to set up.


Another tip is, before you fix anything, undo the nut that holds the starter cup on and take it off. Then spray a heap of CRC/WD in around the shaft, dose it up well and put the starter cup back on. Then if the flywheel needs to come off you could be in with a fighting chance. They can be a bit rusty/cruddy. The three holes in the top of the flywheel tap out to 6mm as they are and you can use a 3 leg puller.
You can also use levers and the like but take care not to damage things. A few sharp raps with a hammer on the bumps on the top of the flywheel can also help.


Cheers, Bob.

Hi Bob,


Thanks heaps for your help, I managed to get the flywheel off and it was the two points that needed fixing. It starts now but I need a Blade Disc (280mm) 11 inch diameter. Any ideas where I can get one?

Thanks for your help Joe, you advice was worthy. It now starts but I need a new 11inch (280mm) Blade disc. All the ones on the outdoor king website are 257mm. Any ideas?

A disc and blade from any 18" victa mower will fit there are however specific utility ones. I have used discs from 18" rear catcher mower many times without them fouling anything with fitment.

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_17_88_275_276&products_id=1702

I will grab a photo later of one of these fitted to a utility.

Ok, ive added some photo's of the orig disc and underneath, it's a side dispenser model, if you could give me a recommendation to the best disc that would be much appreciated or if the one from the link you already posted is best suited can you let me know? Thanks Joe.

I do not think you can use the blade disc off a power torque on that.
Thats the oval disc. It hits on the bolts that attach the handle to the base. Might be OK on yours as they look to be nut up.


Theres two disc diameters. A smaller round one that takes long utiltiy blades. And a 2 different large round ones and the oval one that use the shorter utility blades.

So the one in the store thats smaller, if its listed as utility only, with the long blades it will be right.

Your disc could be the larger one. (was fitted to rear catcher full crank and early power torques) and it works on a utility with the shorter blades. These blades are a lot easier to get. Bunning have them on the shelf. (bloody expensive, less blade and near twice the price of the normal blades)

The other style large ones were crack prone. Ive had to throw everyone ive found in the bin.



I should have asked this first, whats wrong with the disc??? Looks OK in the picutre.

Had a quick measure. Small disc is 230mm bolt centres and 260mm on the big ones. Looks like its 280 over all on the smaller disc and the 257 could be bolt centres on the larger one. Confusion??

Like i said the oval disc does not really work on the older utilitys. The later utilities with the power torque had the handle mounts extened forward past the front of the engine so that the blade disc would miss them.
Ive tried trimming a power torque disc (because i only had short blades at the time) and im sure it would have worked if id had a way to ballance the disc.


I fished these out of the scrap pile and took a pic
Then went back out grabbed a couple more and some blades and took another pic.
(had to upload on image shack as the site loader was not working, messed about for ages with no joy, if we could fix that this might make a good stick post) ((now the code wont show it, click the link to see the pic)

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/222/blades004.jpg/
[img]http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/222/blades004.jpg/[/img]


Top Left ive no idea, one only got the one, only ever seen the one and its had it. Stupid design, i can see by looking at it why its got those great big holes in it.

Top centre and right. Old style disc. These crack at the bottom of the step down at the back of the recess for the blades to swing back into. The ones with the vane/lip on the top are not so bad but they still do it. Bad design.

Centre right is the small utiliy disc that takes the long blades. These also crack inwards behind the blade. Need to be checked when changine blades. Id say age might have something to do with it.

Centre is the oval Power torque. Same bolt/blade spacing as the 3 discs at the top. Good design, never seen a cracked one.

Centre left is a masport disc, can be bought as a universal type. These are bigger than the large Victa disc so you need the propper 18" masport blades to use the disc on a Victa. Just so happens that baby bob blades are pretty easy to get and you can put 4 of them on.

Bottom left i think its a jetfast or similar same diameter as the masport/universal. Not sure what blades you would use, not very common blades.

Bottom right, early Victa, Blades sit on top, has blade bolts with a big square head. Not sure if there were utility type blades for this disc. I think there were as some versions of this disc had two blades top and two flat blades mounted underneath.


The blades sitting on the Power torque disc left to right, older utility, power torque utility (same length as the common victa rear catcher blades), baby bob.

Im not sure if the long utility blades are the same length as the 19" Victa ones.

Rear catcher baldes do not work very well on utiltiys anyway.

Dont think ive missed any.

All in all its not that complicated, well not as bad as the rovers.

Bob.

Wow bob, thats a heck of alot of information, Thanks for that, rather informative. Well when I go to start it the plate makes a scraping noise underneath. There is a bit of movement between the rectangle washer maybe 1-2mm and the crank (should this be a snug fit?) maybe it just needs a new washer? Seems like a bloddy big hasstle to get a plate the same diameter. The blade is all intact not cracked or anything.

Whoops, meant to say the plate is all intact.

well every utility I have fitted an oval disc to has never fouled, i will just butt out this thread from now on.

Like i said Joe, the bolts on his are nut up, so one might fit.

The two i tried it on were nut down and the oval plate would not fit as the plate hit the bolts and would not spin.

Got plenty of small utitlity blade plates here now so i havent had to bother with it.


In the end id say the problem is just that your not doing it up tight enough.
That washer is meant to only go on one way. its marked on the washer. There is a recess in the face of the nut to allow the tabs on the crank boss to clear the face of the nut so it will clamp the blade plate tight.

Id suggest a trip to a mower shop. A new nut and new washer would not be much more than $10. Every shop ive been in has stocked them.


What are you doing it up with???

I actually just bought a new spanner specifically for that nut, so its a bertha with enough torque. I tightened it up tight as I could whilst holding the other side of the plate and exerting, so it must of come loose again, probably the nut and washers fault. Will buy the new nut and washer.

You need to lock the motor up so you can get the nut done up tight enough.


Coil of rope in through the spark plug hole.