Hi Tyler and MF, Yes Tyler might be worth a try, see how that works. I now have another issue with the carby I am using which I thought was working fine. Runs 2 mowers fine, but the other 3 I am testing start up fine but will only continue to run if I give the primer bulb a pump everytime the motor starts to die and sometimes just holding my finger over the primer bulb hole is enough to keep it running although it doesn't have any throttle control. I'm thinking might be an airleak problem somewhere. It is obviously a fuel flow problem somewhere
Ok so does anybody have any idea why pumping the primer bulb allows me to keep these motors running. I'm wondering if it might be a slight leak through either the top or bottom seal which means it is just not quite able to draw in enough fuel to keep it running. Any other thoughts?
Hi Max, This is a carby I have been using on several motors to test them and the float needle. Several motors run fine using it but I have 3 that will only run with the carby if I pump the bulb
I would check for a slightly stuck decomp valve or weeping head gasket before checking crank seals. Blocked muffler could also theoretically cause poor port scavenging so it needs a richer mixture in the fresh charge its getting each stroke
Hi Tyler, No sign of revving up as you would expect for running out of fuel, just running calmly and then the revs drop and without pressing the primer they will stop. One pump and it will run fine for5 or 10 seconds and then i have to pump the primer again
Hi Max, Think I will just move on to other motors and see how the carby works on those. Strange thing with these motors is they start first pull and run smoothly as long as I give the primer a pump every 5 seconds or so. It is such a big job building the carbys for the 24's because I have to shorten the short Utility snorkels by 120mm to make them fit and then do all the carby mods. Very time consuming and I am stuck working on my fish pond and that is taking a lot of days up so mowers are taking a back seat. Pity because I will not be able to get 24's ready for this mowing season which is quickly approaching. Fish pond had to be sorted because it hadn't been cleaned for probably 8 years
Just for anybody wondering why it is going to take me a while to get this fish pond sorted here is a pic of it. And then to add to my annoyance with these float needles and primer caps, a mower which I thought I had finally got working I thought I would give it a try as it had been sitting for several days. Prime it starts first pull, runs for a few seconds and stops. Did this several times and then I pumped the primer to keep it going, did this about 3 times and then it started running without have to pump it. There is no way I could ever get these things reliable enough to sell. these chinese parts are just garbage
The fish pond looks a lot bigger than I thought it would be,that will keep you busy for a while.
Could be crank seals are bad on the old 2 strokes as the symptoms of leaking 2 stroke crank seals are a lean idle, a flat spot at low revs or an engine that will not rev out. In some cases, the motor will not idle at all.
Probably just easier and cheaper to grab another motor otherwise you would do a leak down test with the ports blocked off and 5psi in the spark plug hole for 5 minutes to make sure the pressure doesn't drop.
Some people say just leaving a 2 stroke motor unused for a few years will dry out the seals enough that they need replacing.
I've had 2 strokes do what you describe and had to keep pushing the primer to keep it running with the plastic float needle but after fitting another needle the motor worked fine ,always felt like the needle wasn't letting enough fuel in when I had to keep it running by pushing the primer but easy to see if it's a carby problem by spraying 2 stroke fuel into air intake when it's running.
If the motor won't rev out with out extra fuel or won't rev out at all then it looks like the seals are leaking, if it's not restricted on exhaust side and no other faults.
Hi Max, yes the pond is a big project, hope I am up to the task and too hard for me to get enough dirt up there to fill it in. Not sure what to make of these motors, I guess one way to prove it one way or the other is to replace the seals and see what that does
I remember reading that the primer bulb just introduces air into chamber as the fuel is of course gravity fed? If this is right then what scenario would cause these problem ones to require more air?
The primer pressurizes the float chamber with air to force more fuel into the engine , not to force more air into the motor.
I've had a few Victa 18 mowers that only revved when I clamped the snorkel mostly closed creating a choked motor making a richer fuel mix to compensate for air leaking into the motor from worn crank seals.
If it's difficult to get dirt to the pond you could always fill most of the hole with old wood ,like old pallets ,I've heard of people filling holes with wood chips.
I've filled a hole before with half burnt wood and put a little dirt on top.
There's still a few ways to check the seals that won't take much work ,some people fill the crank case up with diesel and when the seals are bad, diesel will leak out past the seal in a day or 2 on the lower seal.
Another way is to start the motor without the blade plate and spray starter fluid at the seal and see if the motor runs different when spraying the seal and some people instead of using starter fluid use oxygen from an oxy acetylene torch.
I've had a few 2 strokes that needed new seals and when I slid a 1 thou feeler gauge between the crankshaft and the seal the feeler gauge had no resistance.
If you still have Victa bases and are after any late model Victa catchers let me know before I throw them out Norm as I have about 20 still here that have been dismantled (in 2 halves) so they can be stacked inside each other (takes up less room) they just clip back together then you put the 2 self tapers back in when you want to use a catcher.
Hi Max, Unless I can get past this float needle problem then there is not much point in me getting the catchers, which is a pity, but as you know I am unable to be confidant in keeping these carbys working so I'm thinking I might have to dump all the 2 stroke stuff I have here. Pity but no point in me flooging a dead horse and these primer caps are just that.
Yes probably better to put the mowers into scrap these days ,I asked at mower shops here if they wanted undamaged catchers for free and none of the shops here wanted them.They just want to sell new equipment.
As we know with the needles you just have to know what the cause is of the problems then fix it ,one thing that stops a needle sealing is if the angles are wrong on the seat or needle ,too wide a seat can cause a sticking needle, a loose needle in it's hole can cause the needle to not sit straight on the seat also if the tang on the float is on an angle it pushes the needle sideways and could also cause a leak.
I've also heard some of the Viton tipped needles from China can be rejects.
Yesterday I spent 30 minutes modifying a Victa cap ,I took a rubber seat and alloy needle out of a Tecumseh carby, then just drilled the brass seat out on the Victa cap then pushed in the rubber seat (had to modify a bike spoke to get a seat out of the Tecumseh carby)then just shortened the alloy needle and drilled a small hole at the float end of the needle, then tied the needle with fuse wire to the float.
Probably only take you 10 minutes to modify one when you have all the tools and parts.
After putting the modified Victa cap onto a mower it ran fine and didn't flood.
Another way I've thought to fix these Victa caps is to use a small ball bearing on the brass seat as a round ball always lines up correctly with the seat, even if the needle is on a slight angle.
Hi Max, several years ago I was pulling the seat out, drill down with a 3/16th drill and fitting a Briggs viton seat and then turning the needle down so it would fit in the 3/16th hole and shorten the needle to the correct length for the float to operate. This was before the carbymaster came up with the viton tipped needles
Re the ball bearing...I would want a good stock of those cause I would loose it every time I took that cap off.
You could always glue the ball bearing to the push rod .
The good thing about the Tecumseh needle is that it fits the 3/16 hole Norm , so saves work because it doesn't need turning down but you would probably need to buy 12 seats and needles to be cheaper and pay no postage.
About $4.50 for one Tecumseh needle with seat.
I also like the alloy needle because it's easily drilled so it can be tied to the float.
It's probably less work than trying to polish the seat to get the Viton needle to work.
I'm tired Max, these needles have been wearing me down over the last several years and I'm starting to loose interest in wasting time on them. And then today I get a bloke turn up with a pressure washer he wanted fixed. It was apparently leaking out the pressure relief valve so I pulled that out and cleaned it and put it back together and it seemed to be working ok. He said he had another one at home but it was hard to start and could he bring it over later. He finally rocks up at 7.00pm and he pulled 2 dismantled pressure washers out of his van and a couple of boxes of bits. I couldn't be bothered to tell him to piss off, I just said dump it there and I will look at them tomorrow. I think he will be told to take them to the scrap
Yes it's not worth it for me to sell mowers Norm as most times I would make one mower from 3 and these days it would cost me more in fuel to pickup 3 mowers than what I'd sell one for.
I picked up a MTD that ran well ,not smoking but just threw it in the scrap pile.
It's always a problem when you sell cheap mowers and the buyers expect you to repair equipment or one of their mowers for virtually nothing but I would just say to them I can sell you a repaired mower for the same price I will charge to fix your mower and then they didn't want their old mower repaired and just bought a repaired mower.
I've seen second hand working petrol pressure washers for $50. and new are around $400. ,so not worth spending much time repairing them.
I have at least 5 here that I've never looked at because I have working electric pressure washers ,the petrol washers are always on the side of the road here ,some look fairly new and probably just need a carby clean.
One washer I picked up many years ago has a Vanguard 16HP V-Twin Petrol Engine , from memory I think it just needs rings.
I was sick of people that I would do small repairs for free but they would say they would roll up at a certain time then change the time 2 more times and would do the same when picking up the mower ,so I just had to say I don't do repairs.
You can get a lot of time wasters ,I once sold a good working 2 Hp air compressor for $20. and the guy spent nearly 1 hour testing the compressor before buying it.
