OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Victa Two Stroke Engines G4 Float Needles

I'm afraid that saving a lot of Victas from the scrap heap was not in Victas best interest, manufacturers go broke if their product is too good or lasts too long

You're spot on. No one wants to make a car that will last 50+ years that can be repaired with basic tools either.

Same with the new no oil change engines that Briggs and Kohler are marketing. Briggs & Stratton did a study a few years ago and found that consumers on average turn over a lawn mower ever 2 years.

Greenfield mowers last well but their customer service is shocking. The typical Australian dealer exclusive system where you can't even get a parts list from them.

I think COX mowers have a much better drive compared to the Greenfield, but all the plastic panels look cheap. That is a reason why a lot of people in the 'suburban' country areas buy John Deere as it looks just like a baby tractor and turns sharply around trees etc compared to a COX or Greenfield.

Hi Everyone,

If you are looking for an ultimate solution for the Victa fuel leaking, please feel free to see our new needle design and final product below.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Metal-Type-Ne...p-/263057735256

Ok so after modifying about 20 of these primer caps I am having mixed results with them, sure the needle doesn't stick in the seat but I am having problems with some of them not shutting off and flooding the motor. My next option is to buy 100 of the primer caps and needles from the Carbymaster and see how they go. To get them at a decent price I have to buy a hundred of them so if anybody wants to try them I can get them for you at a decent price. Problem is postage of these in Aus is about the same cost as the float needle and primer cap

Ok latest report from the Victa front. I received my 100 primer caps and needles last night and set up a couple of my modified carbys using them and what a sweet feeling it is to know that these needles are guaranteed to work as they should. One pull starting is all I ask for. Well done to the Carbymaster for going to the trouble of getting these made and allowing me to save at least another 100 Victas from the scrap bin. Nobody would have half an idea as to how many hours I have wasted fighting the stinking needle rubbish that is being peddled by the ebay grubs that know they don't work and when you get a response from them when you ask why they keep selling rubbish that doesn't work and they reply, "because people keep buying them". These grubs I no longer buy parts from.

So I take it the two you have fitted have given you the desired results.
I hope this guy's efforts are indeed the magic bullet to stem the flow of these needlessly disappearing workhorses.
If so, it has come just in time after production has ceased.

MF this is the magic bullet for sure, I have re-furbed 15 carbs sitting in a box now so as soon as I get a mower ready, just throw one of these carbs on and I can in 100% confidence start this mower. Such a great feeling. Sad that Victa never made any attempt to solve this problem that has driven people nuts over the years with the frustration of a mower not starting and 99%of the people have no idea it was as simple as a stinking float needle that was rubbish. Now I have to salvage as many plastic carbed full cranks and Powertorques to save this fantastic mower from being lost to the world forever

Thanks for letting us know. It's great that somebody did the r&d to make these mowers great again...err... greater than ever!!

Hi Norm,

I have sent you a PM.
Jeff

Just as an update on these new viton tipped float needles and primer caps. I am getting the odd one here and there that do not work. This afternoon I had 2 new needles and new primer caps that just poured fuel immediately out of the primer bulb. I have had previously the odd one that would not shut off and the occasional one that would stick in the seat. Because I have plenty of them I can just swap them out but for anybody just buying one or two be aware that you could end up with a problem because some are faulty. If it is the needle sticking in the seat it is nearly impossible to diagnose because you can only assume the float needle is working, there is no way of proving it. I have passed this on to the supplier

Hi Norm, I feel I may have a sticky one too, as I put one on a tilt a cut and it seemed ok for a while. It has since been a pig to start, I tried changing plugs, decompressor, new carb body (but same new type primer) and it wasn�t until I put an old genuine victa cap on with a viton tipped needle did it start easily again. I assumed the new primer was ok of course.

Oh great. If these specially developed ones can't be 100% relied upon, what can? NOS Victa genuine from the 70s and 80s?
Oh why did they have to bring out the G4 to begin with?
A Power Torque equipped with the G3 and red tickler wouldn't have been such a bad thing. We probably would have got the yellow tickler to match the fuel tap!!

As Norm knows I had a sticky one as well. It came good after sitting overnight with a tank and a carby full of fuel. Only thing I can think was the oil in the fuel lubricated it slightly. Been really good since. First pull starts even.

All the best
Jeff

Before I fit a cap and needle I always test them, because there is some differences in the caps and floats. You have to make sure the float does't hit the tower section the needle sits in, some do some don't. If the float hits this will prevent the float shutting the needle off. To be honest yesterday as I was rushing, I am not sure if I checked the 2 that flooded badly, I was swapping bits around trying to fix the problem and in the end I gave up and took a new cap,needle and float off another mower I had running earlier in the day and that fixed the problem. One thing I have noticed is that when testing these new caps and needles, some stick up some don't. At the end of the day these needles are 99% better than the plastic ones, most of which don't work

I just checked my box of 100 float needles and primer caps that I bought last November. I only have 40 left so that means I have got 56 Victas up and running again and saved from the scrap, the other 4 needles I sent to a member here. I have had problems with a few but after swapping them around with different caps and floats they have all eventually ended up working.

That's awesome to hear so many used up getting mowers going again. Are you already considering when to order your next 100?

MF I won't be ordering a lot because I have found somebody else selling 10 for $17 , that is a lot cheaper than when I bought the 100.

Much better. You don't have to outlay so much in one hit. Great that you have more less cracked the G4 debacle.

Couldn't believe it when I realized I had used 60 of them, but at least it must be helping bring my hobby back to cost neutral

Are there any mowers you sold that you "wished" you'd kept? There are a couple in mind, both alloy high arches, one a VC160 mark III with the smoothest vibration free 160 I ever encountered and a turbo disc series white powertorque Mustang that was absurdly easy to start. You simply had to pull ever so gently and it would fire away every time.