OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Victa Two Stroke Engines Victa 2 Stroke Key Start

Well I managed to find something pretty decent this weekend in my travels. Well I thought it was pretty good anyway.
A 2 Stroke Victa Power Torque fitted with a key start feature (minus a battery). The mower came with a mulch plug and the new style catcher.
I thought there was no way this engine wouldn�t be scored however close inspection through the exhaust revealed no scoring at all, so that made me really happy! All for a total of 20 bucks!
I fixed the pull cord and bought a battery today. Upon connecting it up the starter motor tried to work however it�s not engaging on the fly wheel. I didn�t get a chance to test the pull start as it was too late however I�m confident it will start manually without to many issues.
I would appreciate some pointers before I start playing with the starter motor to try and work out what is going on.
I would also appreciate some advice as it appears I am missing a piece of the battery mounting gear. See the photos.
Looking forward to any thoughts.

Yes it is a good score for 20 big ones well done. Yes you are missing the top cover for the battery bracket. Which is kind of important as it holds the battery in place. With the starter motor strangely theirs not much different to a car starter. You would really have to pull it off and make sure the throw out gear is engaging and spinning freely. Possible may just need some lubbing up. As it could have been sitting for many years. Also check the flywheel make sure it is clean and free from junk. Oh also make sure it has teeth on it as I have seen some with no teeth. Hope this is of some help.

Righto thanks blumbly.

I will take the engine off the base as it appears you cant disconnect the starter completely without removing the engine. that should give me the best view of the throw out gear. Lets just hope it needs some lubrication.

I'll be sure to check the flywheel and let you know what happens.

Can I use the pull rope on this engine to manually start it? I didnt want to screw it up by trying to manually start the engine.

Yes you can use the pull start without affecting the starter. It has a similar style of throwout to an old mini, no solenoid just a centrifical drive that sometimes gets jammed up with old grease/leaves worst case a new gear for it is pretty cheap from memory.

Worst case let me know, I do have a few keystart ones here that are destined for the bin after I strip them.

The best bit of luck you have had there is the key itself, I've seen enough of these pop up, in various conditions, roadside, or at tiny's, however 9 times out of 10 the key is missing, which, well, you could always buy an alternative key switch, but really, it's a lot off hassle that comes from a small peice of missing metal.

As blumbly said, your start point is the motor, it could be as simple as gunk jamming the drive cog, causing it not to descend, engaging with the toothed rim of the flywheel, or a matter of the teeth having work or broken on the starter motor, or even a segment of the flywheel (although this is less likely)

or, the gearing system within the starter motor could have failed, the starter motor can be broken up to three active area's, the motor, the reduction gears, and the engagement gears.

The Motor is a high torque electric starter motor, the reduction gears lower the speed of the output drive, and increase the torque, and the engagement gears lower down when starting, engage and turn the flywheel, then retract after starting.

In this diagram, (A) is the Motor (B) is the Reducing Gears and (C) is the engagment gears.

The victa key start lives again! The starter motor throw out gear just needed cleaning. I also re-greased the motor to help with longevity.
I was a bit disappointed as prior to stripping it down for a general once over after getting it going because I found the crank bearings were absolutely stuffed. The mower ran but the bearings were stuffed!
So after new crank bearings (top and bottom), new battery, battery cover, new carby seals and carby primer as the existing one was flooding the mower everything now runs pretty sweet.
I did find the fuse going to the earth I think (happy to be told otherwise) was blown so I replaced it with a 1.6 amp 12 volt fuse and it appears to work well. I could not find a replacement 2 amp 12 v fuse at the store. The mower starts easy (both via the electric start and pull start) however I wanted to make sure the existing fuse would be adequate?
I did find the mower will only start via the key if the engine is above idle. Does anyone else have experience with this or is it normal?
Otherwise this mower is ready for a few test mow�s and then off to a new home!

Would appreciate any thoughts.

Thanks

The fuse is there to protect the charging circuit from overload, say if the battery becomes shorted or too much load is placed on the ignition coil (the ignition coil is the alternator) while the smaller fuse may work well when the battery is fully charged, you may find it will blow if the battery is somewhat discharged and pulling higher amps on a recharge rate.

As to it not starting on idle, generally I start any of my 2 strokes on full throttle and never had an issue, the starter motor does turn the engine slower than the starter rope, that may be a compounding factor.

Hi everyone, Joe Carrol the bit you wrote on the fuse has helped solved a problem with my sons car . What they must get up too! New stereo running all night at rainbow beach and you could guess the rest . I asked him what he had been doing and I got the usual answer "I dunno' so thanks for that Joe .
My wife says that it's the best time should hire a teenager!' while they know everything' .lol.
Jaffa J , I' always keep my eye out to get an electric starter at the recycling centre but so far I've not been so lucky although I have seen a few go past as I'm walking in at times. I've never worked on one but look forward to it, so good on you , it looks great.

Joe thanks for the advice. That makes a lot of sense. I will get a 2amp fuse before moving the mower on although I am a little inclined to keep it as its a great mower. It is a little too fancy for me though.

Roebuck this is the first one I have found in my travels. Now I know they are relatively easy to work I'm out the hunt for more of them. They do tend to get a little expensive especially when you need to get a new battery. Picked one up for $40 from the local battery shop so I was pretty happy with that.


I think this thread can be closed and hopefully be of use to some others.