Hi folks,
This is my first post so my apologies if it's in the wrong spot.
I have a Victor V40 4 stroke push mower that was working perfectly. Couple of weeks ago I was mowing away (it started perfectly cold) but eventually needed to empty the catcher. Throttled down to idle, took out the catcher, emptied, came back to a stalled mower. No big right? Um, yeah, big. It would not restart. I'm used to the habits of this mower and this was new. Normally it will start within 2 pulls even cold, hot is even easier. But this time no. After several pulls with half or even full throttle (no choke) it would not fire, so I tried choke one of two pulls then back to half throttle - no joy. But every few pulls I'd get a slow flame backfire (woooof wooof) sound. I thought I'd flooded it - and probably did using the choke when hot. So I left it for 30 minutes and came back to the same situation. So I left it an hour, then came back. Same woof woof, but I left it at 2/3 throttle and just kept going - eventually it started the fire once and woof woof still. After about 50 pulls (including pulling as it coughed - ie: keeping it spinning) it fired into life and actually ran normally. I finished the lawn then shut it off and immediately tried to restart it and couldn't. Same woof woof would occur. So at this point I'm thinking fuel, carbi, air filter.
I left it for a day, tried again with air filter removed (just to test if it was blocked), same deal (woof woof - but would not start cold). Okay, so I have a problem. Here's what I did to try to fix it:
1) Drained carbi bowl - tried to start, no joy. Same woof woof slow flame eventually (after say 5 to 8 pulls)
2) Pulled off carbi, cleaned all jets with carbi cleaner and wd40 with tube, cleaned needle valve for bowl, tested float operation - all good (i've done this before a few years ago so knew the process). Put back together without issue, but still same problem - no starting but woof woof backfire.
3) Drained the fuel tank and carbi, put in new stuff, same problem.
4) Checked sparkplug - can see visible spark on slow pull earthed to engine. Gap ok. Cleaned spark plug, reduced gab (a couple of thou). Same problem exists.
5) Swore at it a bit, poured a drink (two), had a think about it.
I'm kinda at a loss. If it was timing, why would it eventually fire up again the day it stalled? I agree it's presenting like timing or possibly
valve gap (or burnt valve) maybe?
If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate hearing them.
Cheers and thanks.
This is my first post so my apologies if it's in the wrong spot.
I have a Victor V40 4 stroke push mower that was working perfectly. Couple of weeks ago I was mowing away (it started perfectly cold) but eventually needed to empty the catcher. Throttled down to idle, took out the catcher, emptied, came back to a stalled mower. No big right? Um, yeah, big. It would not restart. I'm used to the habits of this mower and this was new. Normally it will start within 2 pulls even cold, hot is even easier. But this time no. After several pulls with half or even full throttle (no choke) it would not fire, so I tried choke one of two pulls then back to half throttle - no joy. But every few pulls I'd get a slow flame backfire (woooof wooof) sound. I thought I'd flooded it - and probably did using the choke when hot. So I left it for 30 minutes and came back to the same situation. So I left it an hour, then came back. Same woof woof, but I left it at 2/3 throttle and just kept going - eventually it started the fire once and woof woof still. After about 50 pulls (including pulling as it coughed - ie: keeping it spinning) it fired into life and actually ran normally. I finished the lawn then shut it off and immediately tried to restart it and couldn't. Same woof woof would occur. So at this point I'm thinking fuel, carbi, air filter.
I left it for a day, tried again with air filter removed (just to test if it was blocked), same deal (woof woof - but would not start cold). Okay, so I have a problem. Here's what I did to try to fix it:
1) Drained carbi bowl - tried to start, no joy. Same woof woof slow flame eventually (after say 5 to 8 pulls)
2) Pulled off carbi, cleaned all jets with carbi cleaner and wd40 with tube, cleaned needle valve for bowl, tested float operation - all good (i've done this before a few years ago so knew the process). Put back together without issue, but still same problem - no starting but woof woof backfire.
3) Drained the fuel tank and carbi, put in new stuff, same problem.
4) Checked sparkplug - can see visible spark on slow pull earthed to engine. Gap ok. Cleaned spark plug, reduced gab (a couple of thou). Same problem exists.
5) Swore at it a bit, poured a drink (two), had a think about it.
I'm kinda at a loss. If it was timing, why would it eventually fire up again the day it stalled? I agree it's presenting like timing or possibly
valve gap (or burnt valve) maybe?
If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate hearing them.
Cheers and thanks.