Starting problem, but not my car this time!!

My villiers Mk2 Mower about 1950's

(that has been sat in my shed for 15 years plus however long it has been stood before i moved in as it was here when i arrived all that time ago!)

mower turns over but doesn't fire up, in fact no life what so ever!

I have checked for spark, re-checked the timing and there is fuel delivery. There is good compression in the cylinder and have seen some exhaust fumes with the silencer off when attempting to start as-well as some fuel coming out of the exhaust (this is after about 10 or so cranks of the start pedal so maybe just flooding?)

Any ideas/help is much appreciated!

Cheers Matt

Is the fuel 15 years old?
It might need some easystart if it is

Is the fuel new? If not it'll have gone off by now.

Villiars...takes me back to when I had a 210 Villiars Kart.

adrian

lol no, it has fresh fuel

did you empty the carb?

The carb has been completly cleaned out including the grunge that was in there. and so only has fresh fuel in it

Does it have a choke lever? My old cylinder mower did - move the lever, heave on the cord, let it run a bit then take off the choke.

I'd guess stuck rings then and the compressions not as good as it might be.
Seriously, try some easystart if it's sparking.............

Just to make it clearer to me what do you mean by 'stuck rings'? how do i know if this applies to me, are there any tell tale signs? noise etc?.

The mower turns over when cranking fine but there is no explosion to keep it turning over!

oh, plus i dont have any easystart is there anything else i can use?

have you put a new spark plug in.
adam

yup, it has a new plug,

(i guess you are now starting to see why i put it on here!)

cheers matt

If it's a pull start.... pull harder!!

Piston rings can stick to the piston with standing, may mean the seal in an old bore is not 100%, and compression wil be down a bit.
Combine that with old engine, old fuel and it's going to be hard work!
The amount of old engines I've started, I think you may find it just needs perseverence and some more sweat and swear words.
Pull harder is good advice

i have had the piston out and all seems well, It uses a foot pedal to start so there is plenty of force/leg/body weight being used.

Also there is no old fuel - it is all fresh!

[Edited on 9/9/07 by iscmatt]

but did you remember to empty all the old fuel out the carb?

lol! i kid i kid!

You nearly had me there - for a split second!

As Villiers, I assume two stroke. If so have you got the correct fuel/oil ratio? I would guess 25 to 1. After standing for all that time could very well be the crank case seals have had it, in which case it will never start. Two strokes need crankcase compresion to pump the fuel/oil mix back up to the cylinder head. HTH Ray

Yup its 2 stroke, 16-1

If it were the crank case seals is these fixable by my local mower men? They service my ride on lawn mower, do you think they would have the tools?

Plus if it is those seals is it fixable at all?

Cheers for all you help!!

You need a tin of this

If the crankcase seals have gone, which is just a maybe, then would say that they would be obtainable from a bearing and seal type company, you would just need the O'D, I'D and thickness. Question is though, rather than spending good "hard earned" on an old piece of kit, wouldn't it be cheaper to just purchace a new mower. Also makes me wonder why it was left in the first place, another possable fault is that the magneto may be down on power, sparks the plug when out, but not enough power to spark it when under compression. Happy little soul, aren't I. Cheers Ray

Try squirting brake cleaner into the carb when cranking it over .

An old trick with engines reluctant to start was/is to heat the plug with a blow torch (even done it under the kitchen grill) then stick it in quick and kick it over.

Just don't drop it in your mothers potato pie when grilling it like a mate of mine did. His dad wasn't best pleased when it turned up on his plate!

adrian

is it a ride-on? can you push start it?

villiers engine .Giz it. It,s just what I want for an Idea I have for a vintage type motor bike I would like to make.
Seriously, if you get fed up of trying, please let me know (byu2u) if you want to sell it.
Regards Kipper.
PS If anyone else has an old type motorcycle engine/ gearbox I would be very interested, Beer coupons at the ready.