OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Victa Two Stroke Engines Victa Commando Silverstreak twostroke Became Noisy

Couple of questions need answers please:

I have a Victa Commando Silver streak two stroke lawn mower with cast aluminium alloy base. The mower was bought new in 1992 but still runs well and has lots of power from the engine.

From the last few weeks it has become very noisy and I examined the muffler which is intact without any cracks. However, there was no silencing material like steel wool inside the muffler. I filled it with kitchen scrubber stainless steel gauge. There is no improvement and the mower continues to be noisy.

Could anyone tell me what else I should look to reduce the noise?

With a view to use four baldes, I have bought a blade-disk to mount four blades,I want to know can this mower be used as mulching mower by adding some attachment (like mulching plug)?

K8Canb

Hello Victa Experts,

Any thoughts?

K8Canb

G'day,
From your post I gather that the noise you are referring to is excessive exhaust noise, not a grinding noise or such. If this is that fact I would inspect the muffler to determine whether or not it has surpassed it useful life. If you decide it is no good, I would recommend going to you local mower shop and asking if he has a decent second hand one available if you don�t want to spend too much on a new one. You would probably be looking at something like $10. The correct operation of this is vital as it provides a spark arrester, and with out a correctly functioning one a yard of dry grass can turn into an inferno in a matter of seconds (learnt the hard way through personal experience!
As to mulching systems, many have tried and failed. The problem with converting mowers lies in the original base set up and the way the grass is dispersed. Without seeing the base its self it is hard to determine whether or not it is possible, but their is no harm in mucking around (just as long as you don�t injure yourself or coarse.
The one observation I have made with all mulching mowers is they generally have a rounded skirt, which creates a partial vacuum pushing the grass downwards..
Regards Jay

Have you changed the blades recently?

I am not familiar with the muffler you have, but some mower mufflers have a baffle between the inlet and outlet. The baffle is just a piece of sheet-metal mid-way between inlet and outlet sections, at right angles to the gas flow. The exhaust pulse enters the muffler from the inlet, strikes the baffle, bounces around a bit, finds its way to the opposite end of the muffler on the inlet side of the baffle, and goes through a hole there to enter the outlet side of the muffler. The baffle is responsible for most of the muffling effect. After a few years (or sometimes a lot less than that) the blasts of hot exhaust gas may eat their way through the baffle, leaving the muffler as just an expansion box, so the mower starts to sound like the average Harley-Davidson motorcycle. (It is rumoured that there are only six sets of Harley mufflers in the whole of Melbourne: a pair is briefly lent to whoever has just received a canary and must front up for an exhaust noise test.)

You can easily check whether you have a perforated baffle by removing the muffler and looking in through its inlet port (that is, the hole where it attaches to the mower engine exhaust port). If what you see through the port is a piece of tin with a fairly ragged hole through it, you will know what is wrong, and what to do about it.

Yes, I have put new blades. has it got to do anything? The noise was there even before I changed the blades.
K8Canb

My mower never had any baffle, I have opened it several times right from the new and now the mower is about 17 years old. When I remove the muffler, I just see the piston through the exhaust port.

When I bought my mower, I thought that there was an option to buy a mulching plug but I was ignorant about mulching advantage so I did not buy.

I have now changed the blade disk to accept four set of blades. I have put two straight cutting blades and two scooping blades. The mower works beautifully and it cuts very uniformly. I tried mowing without the catcher with the catcher flap down. It did mulch but often the mulched grass got caught in the spral chute. I had to clean it randomly and it continued to work. I want to try using a mulching plug so that the grass is thrown back to blades resulting in fine cuts.

I want to send an email to Victa and ask them about whether my mower mulches and if so the availability of mulching plug.

Meanewhile we have lots of experts right here on Outdoor King and I am hoping for down to earth information.

I am bit puzzled why our master craftsman Bruce the great is silent about this topic. Hi Bruce.

Ok K8Canb what I want to know is:

1. What type of noise you are getting i.e. Tapping or rattling etc?

2. When you replaced the blades on the blade plate did you read the writing on the blade holder washer.

3. Where the washer was on the blade plate,was the area shiny or scratched.

4. When starting the mower does the starter rope pull back when trying to start it?

We will get the noise sorted out before we go any further, so give me the answers to the questions above.

Bruce,

1. The noise is tapping and comes from the muffler.

2. I have read the writing on the blade package and installled the blades, washers, nut and bolts as indicated. No problems here as I have been doing this many years.

3. As I had not used the mower for about six months, the blade plate was not scarthced or shiny. The blades did move back when pushed.

4.The starting is normal without any rope pull back.

Although this mower is 17 years old, it is well maintained and has full power.

I have recently changed the blade plate from two blade eliptical one to four blade circular one. Mower works fine except the noise.

Hope I have given you all the answers you need.

The baffle, if there is one, will be inside the muffler - it will not be in the exhaust port. Incidentally if a muffler rattles, it may have a loose baffle. (The other likely causes are a foreign object inside the muffler, or a broken attaching bracket.)

K8Canb,

Ok remove the decompressor and tell me what you find.

I had to travel overseas and will only return to OZ by end of jan 2010. I will reply all messages on my return.

K8Canb

While I was away, my son put more metal silencer material (stainless steel kitchen scrubs) into the exhaust and that has cured the noise problem.

I took the mower to a local Victa dealer who tells me that this particular model was not designed to mulch and no sultable mulch plugs are available for this model.

I thank all who replied and particularly Bruce.

In the near future I am thinking of replacing this mower with Honda. However, yesterday, I saw in Bunnings Victa Mustaung mower with Honda engine. The mower has a plastic chassis. as for rust is concerned plastic is ok but it may not last as long as aluminium chassie (impact, stone damage etc). The price was around $770. I am not sure whether the engine is made in Thiland or China.

Any thoughts on this Victa Mustaung mower? Or should I just buy a proper Honda?

K8Canb