2005 ezgo st sport 350cc will not start

Ezgowow

I have limited knowledge on carts and am not a mechanic but do have a little experience tinkering. My cart will not start and below is a description on the events leading up to my carts current conditions.


My cart was running fine with the exception of every now and then if you took your foot off of the accelerator it would slow down then pick back up. If you kept gunned it would run all day. The other day it was hesitant to start and now nothing. It will turn over but will not start and obviously move.

This is what I have done so far:
I took the carb off and cleaned it, battery is good, seems to have spark, changed the plugs, and the fuel pump is working (took the line from pump to carb and it has about a pencil's diameter of flow) and changed to the fuel filter.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

BGW

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trig123

1. Check compression and post back results.
You said it seems to have spark ??
How did you test it ?

Ezgowow

I took the spark plugs out and turned over the engine with them connected to the coil. I'll adjust the valves it was running a few days ago perfectly. so I assume since there was not the typical smoke that the compression or rings are fine. But I'll go buy a guage and tell you what I come up with. What would be the next step check the solenoid?

trig123

Don't go out and buy a compression tester to use one time. See if you can borrow one or rent one.

CP241

You can "rent" tools like compression tester at most auto parts stores. You pay the price of the tool and they refund it when you return it. So it's free

Ezgowow

I got the new carb installed it. It started twice then back to not starting. Adjusted the valves and still nothing. Any ideas?

CP241

HAve you checked the compression yet?

Also, are you 100% sure that you are not losing spark after it tries for a second? It's possible for it to start to have spark and the spark to disappear quickly with a failing coil/ignitor.

Ezgowow

No I have not got around to checking the compression. I'm about to just buy a new coil/ignitor. Do you think it could be bad gas?

trig123

I would never just throw parts at this engine. The ignitor and coil are $$$ on these MCI engines.
I would buy a spark tester. The one I will show in picture will tell you if this thing is firing correct. Best money a person can spend when working on these 4 stroke engines.
If it will fire the tester in this picture then there is nothing wrong with your firing. If it passes this test then we can move on to something else . You can buy one of these for around $10.

Attached Images

spark tester.jpg (28.4 KB, 0 views)

CP241

And dont buy aftermarket parts either. They rarely ever work in your favor.

Diagnose carefully, buy good parts once, have a reliable repair.

Throwing parts at a rig is a very expensive way to fix anything