OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Victa Two Stroke Engines Kill wires

Having problems with the the Victa 2 stroke 160cc. The kill wire set-up allows me to start the mower but not turn it off with the throttle control. The kill wires go into a rubber boot and when the wires (terminals) touch there is no spark. If I jiggle the wires and pull one out slightly then there is a spark but then I can't turn the mower off. When I first started working with the wires I noticed that one of the wires had a perished rubber sleeve but now with all the trying to get this to work the sleeve has fallen to bits. The throttle control has no effect on the situation, if I get a spark with throttle off, moving the throttle switch still results in a spark, if I don't get a spark with throttle off, I still don't get a spark with throttle on. What can I do now?

First thing I would do is get new rubbers for them. That is the boot plus the small sleeve part as they play a big part in it working correctly. Bruce will have them is store. Now it sounds like the one that goes inside the carby isn't in it's hole correctly. As when you go to stop the p position it pushes the one that goes in the carby across so it touches the other pin and as I said the sleeve part of the rubber helps to keep the pin in the right spot so they can touch. Inside the carby on the same plastic part that the throttle cable joins the is a special part which makes the pin move over. So I've found it's best to put that pin in when it is in the stop position. When installed correctly you can see the pin move when moving the throttle control. Hope this helps.

Thanks Blumbly yes very helpful as usual. Your explanation makes sense. Am contemplating whether to just bypass this system and set up a separate kill switch with an on/off switch button, we'll see.

Well if you had the correct rubber pieces and put in properly their should be no reason why it wouldn't work. Now in saying that if the mower I use to mow my lawns (mow mow as I call him) had his kill wires stop working I might not fix it as I always turn him off with the fuel tap. I know their is properly for safety reason why I should,so maybe it's good that it is still working.

I always turn the mower off at the fuel tap too but for safety I like the ability to turn the mower off quickly.

That's good as you can never have to much safety.So once you get the rubber kit and put it together we can go from there if it still doesn't work.

Tiger, if you choose to bypass the original kill switch system and opt for a remote on/off switch make sure you plug the the hole in the carby where the wires originally go with some silicon or something but dont push too much in there otherwise it will interfere with the throttle operation.
Having said that the cutoff boot/grommet kit is only $4-$5 from your local mower shop and will alleviate the hassles of silicon, wires running up the handle bar, mounting a kill switch, etc, etc..

I called into the local mower shop late on the way home and they had the sleeve but not the boot so I bought that. The original boot part is still in fair condition so I put the sleeve on the terminal and same result as before. I'll try a new boot but the old one still looks ok to me.

How I check is I put it all together without the boot on. Then you can see if it is going to move the pin over to short out on the other. Once that is all good then I put the boot back on. Maybe try this to see if you can see the problem better.

Good advice Blumbly. For the sake of a few dollars bought a new boot, wires are now behaving as they should. The new boot wasn't a lot different to the old boot perhaps a small crack in it but I couldn't get it to work, these things are finicky and it seems all must be right before they behave.

The problem is that because they are rubber (Hence made from an oil product) that once they get old and have oil on them (For long periods) they start to break down.So there strength goes out the window.Now we are talking just mm it needs to hold and so on.So as the rubber gets weaker it can't do the job.I've found that in many mowers to be the problem.Glad I could help.