OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Victa Two Stroke Engines Broke the Starter Cord ... and More!

I had a bloke turn up yesterday with a PT I had sold him and the pull cord was broken.Problem with that was that I had put a new pluu cord on it for him about 4 weeks ago. At that time I told him that if it doesn't start, don't keep pulling it, bring it back, there is something wrong. (probably float needle) Anyway I went to put a new cord on it and the spring had broken ( I don't know how you can break the spring and cord at the same time but Islanders are able to do this sort of thing. I replaced the starter and then it wouldn't start. Checked the fuel, no fuel, add fuel and it started straight away.

Some people should not be allowed to use equipment and in some cases breathe

At least he didn't take a sledge hammer to the mower like one fellow did here when his new mower won't startup back up after he answered a phone call. After all the beating he thought to check the fuel and it was out. Well it was already time for another new mower. By new I mean less than a week old.

Over the last few months I have had 4 possibly 5 that have been out of fuel or fuel not turned on. Wives must do a lot of mowing because it always seems to be their fault. The one yesterday said he asked his wife why she hadn't finished mowing the lawn and he said she said the mower just stopped. Another one on a Chonda said his wife must have turned the fuel off because he didn't know where the tap was. Another one recently was blamed for straight fueling because there was 2 fuel cans there, 50/50 and she picked the wrong one

Norm, He must be strong bloke and low temper. He will do it again. Prepare for another complete pull starter.

When family and friends pick up their mowers, I always tell them - if it doesn't start in absolute maximum 15 pulls (10 pulls, wait 1 hour then another 5), bring it back. If they are a bit handy, I will say tip a bit of fuel in the plug hole (stressing cold engine), and see if that gets things going.

Had one guy bring in a horizontal briggs engined edger - the ones with the fuel shut off and choke on top of each other. 550 series from memory (I have done 2 similar ones so can't remember exactly), anyway he was complaining how difficult it was to start, finally it wouldn't. Turned out it was simply out of fuel, but seeing him trying to start it found the hard start issue.

He was turning the fuel tap on and off instead of the choke.

And Norm, that guy that questioned his wife why she hadn't finished the lawn, did he get the answer before or after being smacked over the head with a frying pan?

AVB, if I had a week old mower that wouldn't go, I would be marching it back to the place of purchase (probably in that guys case Home Depot) and going off at them, not destroying something that I just payed $200 odd dollars for. But I would check the fuel first

Carbymaster, I have seen his wife, her biceps are bigger than my thighs
Tyler I tell them if it doesn't start in a few pulls it isn't going to start, so don't keep trying, bring it back so I can see what the problem is, might even be out of fuel. I had one a few days ago that had flooded the motor and emptied the tank and I was assured the tap had been turned off. Mower is still sitting here and with the tap turned off no sign of fuel leaking now. I put another float needle in it anyway.

I should have added, this is in relation to mostly Briggs engined mowers, where people seem to press the primer too many times and flood the bloody things from the get go. Now I have become aware of this, watching 5 people in a row pressing primer bulbs 5-10 times ('like the whipper snipper').

Half of them question only a couple of pulls as for some reason they seem to all have cheap line trimmers that take 20 pulls to start (I do a simple choke plate modification to the ones with 'auto' choke and they go with 2-3 pulls), so they seem to expect the mower to do the same some times - which it shouldn't.

I added the wait 1 hour then try again, after one bloke was adamant something was wrong, threw it in his car (hatchback) and had to drive with the windows down the whole way over as it stank of raw fuel (didn't say this on the phone).
Cleaned the plug and it started 2nd pull. He was quite peeved to say the least.

My wife found a Briggs last night a few doors down from my place, actually she found 2,one was a powertorque that had a dead plug. It was dark when she pushed them up the street, I was in bed, it was about 12.30am. Anyway she came and told me she thought one was probably rubbish because it had bits hanging off the handelbar. Turns out the kill switch was shorting out on the plate and they had continued pulling it till they broke the pull start spring, then they pulled the cowl off, gave up and just tied it all to the handelbar. Fix the switch, another pull starter and it runs very well. Third mower I have got from that house in the last few months, the other one was a Rover , excellent base and catcher but no oil in the motor.

I thought she had you under orders to clear out the pile and yet she is dragging them in too.

You are right, I get rid of one and three more turn up

At least it is a productive hobby - slowing the influx of cheap Chinese mowers and keeping some Victa's going for years to come.

Norm, Good stuff! Your wife bringing more mowers instead of asking you to get rid of the pile.

Tyler, Yes some people they prime the mower 10x and flooded the engine. This is one this that people needs to remember that mower priming is different from trimmer priming. The mower uses float type carburetor and when you prime, you initially inject fuel into the carby (for 2-stroke Victa plastic carby) or piston chamber for briggs engine. Unlike trimmer or other small engines which use diaphragm type carby is you can prime even 100x without flooding the engine because it just cycle through the metering chamber. Priming a trimmer allows you to pre-fill the metering chamber with fuel so it's easy to start.

Last Saturday I fixed a Victa 2-stroke which doesn't start. Replaced the warp primer cap, cap o-ring and pull starter o-ring then starts. I showed to the customer how this type of carby works and how to pull them apart to replace parts.
The next day he texted me..."The mower doesn't work again and it revs very high then it stops". I replied..."Ok bring it back and I will have a look what's happening". Yes he did brought back the unit with top cover removed, fuel tank removed, carby pulled apart. I said..."What's happening?" He replied..."Ok I tried to fixed it." Then I found out that the float and needle was missing. I asked him..."Where is the float and needle? He replied..."No it doesn't have it! Then I said that mower won't run in the first place and will overflow without them. Then I found the two parts on the base mixed the leaves and dirt. I assembled the unit, prime and it ran first pull but it started to revs very high then stopped. I then realized that this is a fuel issue when you normally runs out of fuel, the mower will revs high then stop. The tank was full. I suspected that there must be a vacuum issue when the fuel cap is fully closed. I left the fuel cap loose and the engines runs fine so I replaced the fuel cap with a new one and he's happy to pay for the new fuel cap.

I get this kinda of work in all the time where the owner/operator played repairman and did more damage than repairs.

This where some of us may differ on charges. I warranty my work and I am glad to rework things when needed but when the customer decides to disassemble things prior to returning the item for warranty repairs I sharpen my pencil as I charge for reassembly and missing parts. It is work a lot times that is unnecessary just to troubleshoot the complaint problem. I do repair what was originally the problem plus parts if a repair item of if the whole unit I sold then no charge for the work that would been needed before the customer decided he more about it then the repair shop.

Some customers will complain about the costs even when it is a complete reassembly project like the fellow that brought in a riding mower that had a bad steering shaft bushing. What I got in was a pickup truck load of boxes and the mower frame. He complained to high heaven because I felt sorry for him and only charge him $50 plus parts to do a 2 day job. If he had just brought the mower in it would have been a 30 minute job. He just kept complaining so I said I could rework the bill and charge for the 16 hours of labor; he shut up... I haven't seen him since but who needs a customer that wants everything done for free including new parts.

The moral is don't feel sorry for people. Is it any wonder many take the opposite approach and treat others with ruthless indifference? You can guarantee the majority deserve it.