OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Briggs & Stratton Engines A Small Mess-Up

I was mowing the grass today with my 1976 Victa 92908, everything going smoothly as usual, when the engine stopped: no prior symptoms, just a total instantaneous cessation of firing. Naturally I checked for spark, and there wasn't any. Closer inspection showed that the plug lead was pinched between the cooling cowl and the governor base. If you look at the picture above, you'll see where the lead is supposed to come out, through a matching formed recess in both cowl and governor base. Mine was about an inch to the left of there, and considerably squashed. Removed the cowl retaining bolt directly above the spark plug, repositioned the lead, and the engine started instantly and ran with its usual silky smoothness.

The strange thing is that I haven't touched that cowl in nine months - last time it was off was for some surgery on the PulsaJet, see this thread:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/u...ds=Diagnostics&Search=true#Post22526

As you can see in the picture, there is a tiny clearance between the cowl and the governor base in the location where the wire was being pinched. I'm guessing that the rubbery stuff slowly thinned over time until the high tension exceeded the insulating capacity of the very thin layer that was left. So, I lost close to ten minutes mowing time by the time I did the diagnostics, fixed it, and put the tools away. It could have been worse, but it was a very silly mistake to have made.

It goes to show though, I have seen a few newer machines where the HT lead insulation failes without such circumstances, One recently was only 2 years old, and the lead had just deteriorated beyond any good point by itself!

I agree that Briggs' reputation for making good engines 35 years ago is intact, Ty - the rubbery-covered lead is still rubbery-covered, and I doubt it will give any future trouble, which couldn't be said for a plastic-covered lead that has suffered HT breakdown. Still, I could wish they made things a bit easier for the mug home-mechanic by designing the thing Japanese style, so there is only one way it can go together. (I'm obliged to wish that, having been caught out - but I also think their design would not suit a modern assembly line, where everything has to be designed so it just about falls together and comes out perfectly.)

Whats worse is when you start chasing the points as not working and what you have done is pinch the kill wire between the front of the tank and the throttle plate.



I think i just fixed a Victa the same as yours. Had it running lovely outside 2 days ago and it just died. No spark. Popped the flywheel and cleaned the points and reset them last night, it was running like a charm again today.

Did you check for oil in the points compartment Bob? There is a little plastic plunger that extends through into the crankcase - one end of it runs on a cam on the crankshaft, and the other end opens and closes the points. When the engine gets old the plastic plunger wears on its outside diameter, and leaks sump oil into the points compartment. If enough oil gets in there, it can get in the points and stop the music. A new plunger may fix it, but if not, the hole between crankcase and points compartment has to be reamed out and bushed. Not worth doing, a less-worn cylinder/crankcase isn't that hard to find.

Even if it was that worn a magnetron would solve all the issues in one fell swoop.

I agree Joe. My 92908's plunger weeps slightly, and my plan has been to wait until there is too much oil in the points compartment, then fit a Magnetron.

Cleaned the points and reset them and off it went again.

I thought it may have been the oil thing but when i got the flywheel off it was fairly dry in there. I have had them before that the oil level has put the spark out.
Magnetron fixes that, or clean it out with a rag and wash everything up.


I always give the points a go, electronic coils dont grow on trees.
I run the mower for a good half hour just to check that the points are going to keep playing the game.

As well as the cost of the Magnetron there is the annoyance of ruining the originality of a 36 year old mower. However, if the alternative is fitting a bush to the crankcase, including buying both bush and reamer, and having to dismantle the engine to do the job, I'd go with the Magnetron, once the leakage has become a problem.

The only reason would be originality.

Its almost cheaper to buy an electronic coil than it is to replace the points and condensor. Used coil is cheaper.

I guess it depends on taste, Personally I'm planning to set up to be able to ream & bush, as I'm a stickler for originality, and it sit's better with me.

But if it was for a late 70's mower, that i used for the yard, it would be different, i'm mainly hung up on the originality with the collection.

Apart from my customs!

I'm uneasy about losing originality with my 92908 Ty, but fitting a Magnetron is easily reversible. It's not as if it would be difficult to put it back to standard, with no permanent effects at all. As it happens I haven't even tried replacing the plastic plunger with a new one - if that hasn't already been done before I bought it, it might make a considerable difference to the leakage, which is very slight in any case. There were just a few drops of oil in the points compartment when I looked. For a collector, though, I agree it would be essential to have a reamer, some new plungers, and a few bushes on hand.

It's also probably quite useful for some of my customising projects.

I'm currently planning to take a 92908 and fit it to a VC-160 (to make a VC-148) Due to the cowlings and features of this mower, what I am planning would probably be considered sacrilege to some:

-Developing a way to but the muffler where the tank should be, without it looking unnatural from the head side view (rest is covered on this mower.

-Replacing the carburettor with a gravity fed carburettor, on the port side of the bore, most likely a Victa G3 altered to suit the governing needs of the 92908.

-extending the starter cord, and using a few small wheels to re-direct it up and through the hollowed shell of a normal vc-160 starter.

-creating an extension for the oil filler that leads to a hole behind the front badge, which will be hinged.

-A few other minor cosmetic changes

The reason being set up to ream and bush, as well as a few other more detailed tasks, is because I want to maintain a few of the specs of the VC-160, such as points ignition, and considering my plans would be blasphemous to a good 92908, i plan to resurrect an engine that would otherwise be destined for scrap metal, however, i would like an good, original bore, so looking for one that needs to be reamed and bushed, provides me with an engine i can work with, that would normally be scrapped.

If you are going to remove the Pulsa-Jet anyway Ty, you could use a 92508 instead of a 92908 - the only difference is the carburetor as far as I know, and you'd eliminate the sacrilege problem. I don't know which type is more common.

The hardest part will be getting the muffler and carburettor to swap sides, without having a severe adverse effect on performance.

The carburettor seems the easier, as the intake is actually on the correct side, however the breather tube needs to be looked into.

Diverting the exhaust will be interesting, and while i can design a few concepts at this time, I can't be sure till I have began actually working out the specifics of the whole design, as I cant be sure of clearances at this point.

I'm trying to maintain some of the 'luxury' features of the VC-160, such as the fully covered design, optical fuel Gage, below deck exhaust and high zone snorkel.

The reason for the carburettor swap, is tank location, and snorkel location, as i ant to maintain the normal look of the machine from all but the engine view side.

My only option I can see as to keep the Briggs carburettor, is to swap the tank/carburettor onto the exhaust side, and set up a float based feed in from the VC tank (this tank sits higher than the Briggs carburettor)

I'll start a new thread for this customisation in a few days, with some pictures of the mower and engine in question, and some of my sketches.

Hopefully i will be able to unearth my old tech-drawing gear, that will help eliminate some error room!

Hmmm, not sure how that will work out Ty.
I will look for the other thread to mention my concerns.