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

I had an interesting experience this afternoon when I had a bloke bring back his Powertorque because it wouldn't start. After checking it had spark I pulled the fuel hose off to make sure fuel was flowing, there was nothing and after about a second I had oil come out slowly and then the fuel flowed. I pulled the primer cap off and the float bowl had oil in it. Once I had this cleaned out I got it running, no problems. The owner was adamant he had not put the oil in the tank and added the petrol. He had told me when it did stop he had added fuel but it wouldn't start again. This is why the oil went down the fuel line and into the carby and wasn't mixed. Much easier to work things out if people told the truth.

Amazing what some people will do to save time, then end up having to spend more time fixing the problem.

On a side issue with fuel, I often found slight leaks in the original sealant around the tops of Briggs fuel tanks. Over the years the seal tends to crack away and you end up with minor seepage around the joints. I use to clean the old seal as much as possible and then cover it with a neat layer of gasket paste and leave dry for a week or two to fully cure. All went well on the first two tanks I re-sealed in this way. But later on when I went to add more fuel I noticed some of the gasket paste had dissolved due to contact through tiny cracks and turned the fuel a dirty brown colour. I had wondered why the engines were getting harder to start and not running as good! So I had to flush out the tanks but even then it took ages before the gasket paste got hard enough to stop dissolving.

These days I only ever use polyweld to reseal these tanks. It cures fully in 24 hours and does not dissolve if it comes into contact with the fuel through a slight crack. It really works a treat and looks professional too. Re-seals the tops of these tanks for years to come.

Some people can strangely get pretty mixed up about 2 strokes, adding everything straight to the tank is one quick way to make mistakes if they aren't careful.
At least it wasn't straight fuel. Or the other case when kids fill tanks with water.

I've bought 2 Homelite line trimmers that have had straight oil in them - one maybe 1:1 oil petrol, the other just straight oil. That one took some trying to get all the oil out of the motor - 15 minutes of clean fouled plug, start, run for 2 seconds and repeat. Pretty tedious. And those Homelites and Ryobis didn't even come with an air filter from the factory - I couldn't believe it when i first saw it, but sure enough.

My Victa Tilt a Cut had the fuel tap on when I bought it from the tip shop, motor full of oil. Instant smoke screen on first start - very unimpressed neighbours. I made the mistake of taking the blade off before trying to start (just in case anything happened and it flew off), completely forgot about how it is needed to prevent kickback. Just about ripped my arm off (but the gear start mechanism came apart first). Luckily just had to put it back together.

A fuel question; What octane fuel do you guys use?

Regards
Tyler

95 premium seems to be the consensus but I'll happily use 91. 98 is a waste of money for lawnmower use IMO. E10 is poison.

I have heard of those. They claim anything that makes pass the screen wire won't hurt engine. Apparently they never seen what dirt can do to an engine.

Here lately customers are being too lazy to even mix their own fuel; they rather buy that over priced premix.

The main with 2 cycles and the mixing of fuel the operator don't read and follow the instructions in the owners manuals. Most times that one of first thing that get File 13 (thrown away).

Tyler, 91 is fine in these hi-tec Victa 2 strokes.
AVB, I can't say I have seen pre-mixed 2 stroke fuel for years, not that I have really looked for it. I mixed another container of it yesterday and it wasn't that hard.

I was mystified when I purchased a second-hand Rover 4-stroke mower from the tip shop a while back and found the tank was half full of oil. I really did not think anyone could be so stupid to think a mower can be run on oil alone, but apparently the simple answer is "Yes, people can be that stupid!" The oil was right through the carby choking everything and burnt into a black solid mass all over the plug. No way this engine would have ever started. After I flushed it all out and put in some real fuel, away it went. It was a vintage early 70s Challenger and the base and wheels were in great nick. So I reckon I scored a bargain on that one due to someone else's stupidity.

I have heard of people adding 2-stroke oil to fuel tanks if they intend to store them for a long time. Apparently the 2-stroke oil is very good at keeping tanks clean and preventing rust. Not sure how true this is.

I was going to buy a ride on mower one time and had it all arranged to inspect and pick up. The first thing I noticed when I got there was the whole engine was plastered with oil. This guy was under the impression that modern fuels are no good for 4 stroke Briggs engines because "it all contains Ethanol now", so he was convinced you have to add lots of oil to the fuel to stop engine wear. He was really pouring the oil into it. Of course when he kicked it off I could hardly breathe for smoke fumes. Told him I suddenly wasn't interested and he asked "Why not?". I mentioned I was a bit suspicious of all the oil he was putting in the fuel tank, but he did not have a clue what I was talking about. Evidently he has always mixed oil with his fuel to run all his engines, 2 or 4 stroke. They all get the same fuel. LOL!

Ethanol fuel especially the 10% has been out on market for years here and is actually mandated by the EPA here. It does get a lot bad things said about it. Personally I have use it well over 20 yrs now in all my equipment without most of the problems a lot of poster say they have. The only real problem I have seen with it is that is must be kept in tightly seal containers or it absorb moisture from the air which settles out as water with the alcohol mixed in it. It just like the rubbing alcohol contains up to 70% water and doesn't separate.

I do however use a fuel stabilizer if I am going to store long term (IE over 30 days and up to 2 years).

Some the problem users claim to be the result of using it I see with pure fuel. Now it does affect some rubbers that are not design to handle it but small engine manufactures are making their equipment to be able handle 10% Ethanol fuel now days. What a lot users don't understand or know there is a lot other additives in fuel in to meet EPA standards and they are also causing problems here. They are even using Ether @ 15% here in place of the Ethanol.

I have lots of fuel stories, one was a bloke rang me up to tell me the mower he got from me had stopped, I asked him if he had put fuel in it and his reply was "not yet". Another one was a bloke brought his mower over for me to see if I could get it started, I turned the fuel on and it started first pull, apparently his wife had used it the last time and she had turned the fuel off. Another one ,not fuel was a bloke brought his mower back because it wouldn't start after he let a friend borrow it, it was an hours drive from his place, pushed the plug lead back on and it started straight up

All these tales of oil added to four stroke's fuel tanks could explain why the Briggs powered Scott Bonnar rotary I found years ago which spewed white smoke like Puffing Billy, but otherwise started and ran fine. I thought how can an engine sound so healthy but smoke so appallingly and then the aha moment and alas the smoke cleared very quickly once I replaced the fuel!! I had myself a top mower.

Oh no-o-o-oh! We always seem to follow America with everything these days, so it stands to reason we will soon be only using Ethanol blended fuel too. I think when that day comes I will just park all of my vintage mowers in the back of the shed and close the door.

I must admit � I once accidentally put 25:1 in my 4 stroke Tecumseh engine Alroh edger � only put about 150mL in the tank before I realised though, and I filled the rest of the tank with straight petrol.

I personally use 98 octane petrol, no machine seems to object to it over 91 or 95 that I have also tried. The Victa powertorque mower starts first go, the full cranks start first or second, McCulloch Leaf blower and Ryobi Line trimmer usually first go (if I get them off full choke quick enough ). Probably a bit of a waste of money, but for the little amount of fuel I use, I have no complaints. If I have left over straight fuel after 1.5 months, it just goes in the car.

Regards
Tyler

Has anyone accidentally put diesel into their mower tanks like some motorists do?

Don't know if this counts MF but each time I fill my jerry can I tip a liter of diesel in it just to slowly get rid of this leftover stuff here, one bit at a time

Won't that cause more carbon to accrue, not to mention the stink?

I had a guy bring back a mower I sold and said it would not go, I asked what fuel he was using, and he said he had filled the tank with diesel.
After draining the tank and refilling with unleaded it still blew a lot of smoke for about a minute but not as bad as the guy that filled his fuel
tank with oil and wanted his mower fixed.

Had another one yesterday where a bloke brought back a PT that just stopped while he was mowing. He has had this mower for 18 months/2 years. Couldn't believe it when he said he put a squirt of oil in the tank. I drained the tank and didn't look like much oil in it. Sometimes it is so hard to believe what bull some people try feeding you

Hi Vint_mow, would you tell me more about this polyweld? I have tried everything from plastic welding to epoxy pastes and even nail polish. There's a thread I started on here somewhere about the issue. I have never found anything to work. Those tanks were subject to a re-call by Briggs sometime last century because nothing could fix them except replacement. Maybe times have changed now and I am willing to try this polyweld, if you say it works because I have a couple of tanks here that need fixing.

Edit: I found it here. https://www.tapplastics.com/product/repair_products/plastic_adhesives/tap_poly_weld_adhesive/435
However, the only problem is that it requires a flame treatment as part of the process of bonding HDPE and LDPE. That's probably not a good thing for fuel tanks and they add that warning to their video.

Hi Sparker

Have a look at Kneadit, I'm pretty sure that was what I used recently to seal multiple holes in the bottom of a diesel fuel tank on a stationary engine, worked great.

Cheers
wce