Victa Genuine V40 Starter Assy VF118001

After a hard time of looking for the starter locally, a google search found this vendor for me. They were informative, courteous and sent the item promptly.

Highly recommended.

For the home user-abuser of domestic motor products like mowers, the single-cylinder small petrol motor sooner or later is seen to be the spawn of the devil himself.

The demise of pull-starters is usually related to machines becoming difficult to start. Persistent efforts of increasing energy, oft-times fuelled by ill temper simply wear the pull-starter out or it breaks due to violence as in "I'll beat you, you rotten "#$#^*@%", accompanied by a huge increase in blood pressure and heart rate.

Their design is adequate but not eternally robust. So people do not injure themselves hoisting machines into vehicles, the construction has been kept as light as possible and some parts are moulded plastic.

Best practice with modern pull-starters is not to yank violently but instead to begin the pull gently to engage the pawls in their grooves, then pull firmly, stopping short of the cord coming to its end. This actually takes a little more effort and people understandably prefer to go for the yank and bust method.

If you do not achieve a start in about five pulls, something else needs to be done. In that circumstance you will discover the machine has the greater patience and your are more likely to exhaust yourself before you wear down its malevolent recalcitrance.

Half the battle may only be sour fuel, even if after a month of sleeping in the shed in summer heat. As fuel evaporates from the carburettor float bowl, what stays behind becomes stale faster than what remains in the tank. Some machines have stop taps, which at least prevent what's left in the tank feeding evaporation through the carburettor and leaving jelly and varnish behind.

For machines which do not, if you do not want to do the chore of draining the tank and float bowl entirely, it sometimes helps to lay the machine over on its side for storages of a month or so. Make sure that the carburettor is on the highest side when you do this. This will stop the drain-through feeding evaporative contamination build-up.

For machines which have become worn and tired, it is sometimes helpful before you fill the tank, to tip the machine high upright so that the spark plug is at the lowest position for two or three seconds, no more. Sump oil then wets the cylinder and piston and assists compression.

Do it for too long and the oil may get into the air intake via the crankcase vent tube and hydrolock the engine. Then it is a messy job to fix. If the engine has been really whipped, oil may run past the piston and rings and get to the spark plug and foul it.

Small alloy side-valve Briggs autochoke engines are notorious for being hard starters when they are worn. Prelubing the cylinder by tipping thrashed engines to restore compression does help.

Draining the float bowl of stale fuel and possible water contamination also helps. This is routinely done as best practice with aircraft and diesels, so why not small machines.

A tired engine may not draw in the fuel-air mixture as well as a fresh engine and require much more vigour to get it going, which will damage the pull-starter.

Cracking the throttle open about half-way, then tipping the machine on its side with the carburettor high for about fifteen seconds will allow raw fuel to rujn from the float bowl to enter the intake and richen the mixture for an easier start.

Each worn engine will have its own unique behaviour. Some experimenting is needed to determine how long the machine can be laid on its side before fuel flooding occurs instead from being left too long.

With the small Briggs side-valve alloy autochoke engines, after tipping on the side, the chance of excess fuel having entered the intake can be mitigated by tilting the machine a little back towards the carburettor side and letting it rest for a few minutes to allow raw fuel to drain back.

Most times you'll get a start but the machine may lean out and stop before it gets a chance to warm up.

Sulky machines, especially two-strokes in cold weather can sometimes be made more user-friendly by by boiling a kettle-full of hot water and slowly pouring this over the cooling fins on the cylinder and head near the spark plug.

Take care it does not go into the ignition system or into the vents on the carburettor or you will have a bigger repair job on your hands.

These cures are tiresome but with a failing machine, may extend its useful life and of course preserve your pull-starter.

All the best.