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Debunking old wives'. . .

Today as I went about the pre festivity tidyup and set about mowing the lawns, I got to musing about this and that, as you do when engaged in gardening stuff. What set me off was the unfailing first pull startup of my 19 year old Victa mower and as I fell into a reverie of composing a letter to Victa commending them on their product, I mentally reviewed the history of this mower. Bear with me, I'm getting there. :-)

Apart from a couple of mufflers 3 spark plugs, 3 or 4 starter cords and a wee lecky gizmo that substitutes for points, it's been trouble free. The only fault being the strength of the catcher not being up to the ability of the mower being able to cut whilst rain being in play. Strategic SS reinforcement cured that and allow this mower to pack some weighty catches. :-)

Anyway, to the engine side of things, last century, when #1 Son was a mere whippersnapper, he inadvertently ran the mower on neat petroleum. :-( This caused a certain hiatus within the inner cylindrical thingy and as a result, spark plug whiskering developed. However, resorting to the Inman technique has successfully cured this problem without having to disturb the innards.

Now to the old wives' tale: The Victa is a 2 stroke and at close of play, I cut the ignition and then turn off the fuel. It starts first pull next time whether it be 5 minutes, a week or a month as in winter sometimes. Whereas according Mrs Hubbard & Co., for years, extolled the virtues of turning off the fuel and allowing the engine to die of starvation. Pre-dates Mugabe. :-(

What thinks the list?

I blame the BBC because lately we've been regaled with the British Scientists debunking various OWTs. Obviously I've been got at with subliminal messaging. :-)

BTW, if the Ozzies think I'm going to buy a stamp to flatter their egos...:-)

Anyway Merry Christmas and may your engines acquire Victa starting reliability in the New Year.

Cheers Tom

Reply to
Tom
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The 'run it dry' school believe that any fuel left in the carb can evaporate, leaving the oil part of the 'petroil' mix sat there. On a really long gap even this will dry out and thicken. The main danger is that it will block the main jet, but a slug of oil sucked into the combustion chamber will sometimes do bad things to your spark plug .

Rather like the way water in the fuel will settle at the bottom and and the first few slurps from the carb when you pull the start cord will suck water into the engine instead of petrol. I have seen water collected in a carb after standing for a few days, and sometimes had to clean it out properly before the engine would start.

Gyppo

Reply to
J D Craggs

This life member of the "run it dry" club has had four stroke motorcycles all his life! I started out doing it when I noticed metallic deposits on plugs in the early 60's. I put this down to lead in the petrol being concentrated by the fuel in the float bowls evaporating away overnight, being attached as they were to a hot engine. Repeated trips to work & back would exacerbate this problem. Results were perhaps subjective, but it seemed like a good idea, particularly on bikes that were not used often or for those going out onto the shop floor where they might rest for weeks or months at a time.

I am less inclined to do this on petroil lubricated engines. As the mixture weakens off, so the lubricant lessens in what is obviously going to be a hot engine. I'd still do it on modern positively lubricated TS engines.

These days, running it - or draining it - dry remains a custom of mine on four stroke bike and stationary engine alike. Modern fuels react with the carb metal AND degrade naturally. I understand from the racing fraternity that a week in storage can make a difference.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Teach a child to be polite and courteous and you create an adult that can't merge a car into faster traffic.

Reply to
Kim Siddorn

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