96 G14 gets smoking hot then loses power

[Mike Mac]

So are there signs that its been under water? Clean and flush rear end, and I'd check brakes for mud etc.

When I got my car (5 +yrs ago) I didn't drive it till I looked everything over. Didn't want to ruin anything until I looked at stuff.

Guessing since yours is 96, bet you have the newer Dana rear end. Might be easier to find a replacement. But the older Yamaha rear is said to be more robust.

[ecaldwell78]

When I started building it, I couldn't believe how clean it "seemed" to be. Absolutely zero rust on the frame. Just a lot of dirt, grease, and grass build up. I took the body off and cleaned the frame with a pressure washer and bags around engine and electrics. Unfortunately, the boss, (my step-son) was more interested in making it look cool than making sure it ran well. Now that i've got it looking the way he wants, the REAL issues are front and center...It's so hard for me not to say "I told you so!", but I won't. The previous owner had 6 acres with a pond that he just used the cart to putt around the property. I'm not sure at this point if the water intrusion was from the pressure washing or not. Regardless, I'm going to pull the diff cover and inspect what I imaging would be a pinion and ring gear, hoping for the best of course!

[Mike Mac]

Good luck!! Keep us posted!! Fingers crossed!!

[ecaldwell78]

i popped off the rear cover and everything looks pretty darn good in there. refilled with 90w mobile 1. checked the driven clutch for any kind of play and it has a very little movement. unmeasurable really, but does move the tiniest bit. still baffled about the "marbles" sound and terrible loss of power when under load. i know the belts are pretty bad off, but wouldn't think it would bring the cart to a crawl. the only thing i really did notice, and am not sure if it's a big deal or not, is that the pads on the ramps where the driven clutch spring compresses, are almost gone. any ideas?

[Mike Mac]

Deffinetly replace the shoes on the heiix, (rear clutch) and hope its not rubbing metal to metal there, or you'll be replacing both of those parts. But take the cover off the primary clutch, (front clutch). Look for loose or broken weights. Think your problem is one of those clutches or both!!

You can see the shoes in this picture.

[ecaldwell78]

I'll definitely replace those for sure. Another thing, (it seems like the more i dig into the cart, the more i find wrong!), is the engine tension cable was completely gone. i had no idea that there was one on this motor. The only thing left was a brass ferrule. no line, no all thread, nothing. so i did some snooping and realized it could be kind of a big deal, so i made one out of a long eye bolt and doulbe nut. havent had a chance to test that part out yet. i'll pull the cover off the drive clutch and check things out under there tonight, and head out tomorrow for ramp shoes, and two new belts. the drive belt looks like it's been riding about a 1/4" down the driven clutch for some time now and measures just over 1" wide. seems never ending, but it's kind of like therapy for me to get away and just get to work.

[Mike Mac]

Oh man, I forgot all about the tensioner. That Deffinetly needs to be there!! Also check for broken motor mounts!! I'd talk to Plowman about a belt.

Get into clutch maint right away!!

Also, the best thing you can do is, read this whole site. Maintenance is the key to a good running car!! That's probably why the previous owner sold it.

[sho305]

These carts are really durable and overbuilt, but then nobody does any maintenance on them. If you go through the clutches likely you will never have to mess with them again unless you put a larger engine in or something like that. They need to work right or it would be like if your car was missing gears in the trans....wont work well at all. You only have 10hp and you will not get it if the clutches are not right. No tension cable can cause it to bog on steep hills or towing, usually has limited affect at speed unless you hit a steep hill. It can reduce rpm some which will limit power at high load conditions. Belt is 1 3/16 wide and yamaha says replace at 1" wide, but you will see less performance before 1" and less yet if you lift the cart or run HS gears. If your clutches are worn and dished in from the belt try a 1.25 wide belt or the kevlar HD belt from CPP I run it works great and is wearing great. Tension cable not that much from yami and should last many years on stock power. I ran one on my clone it finally broke so I made one from threaded rod welded to a small plate with a hole in it. That is minimum 15hp with cut/ported head, header, timing key, 1.3 rockers and HD springs, jetted, etc.

At some point stock yami clutches blow weights or rollers, not cheap but they last a long time when replaced and are needed to make it run right.

[ecaldwell78]

Okay gang, it's been a little bit, so here's where i'm at now. I replaced the entire secondary clutch assembly. Cart ran like a champ on jackstands. Son took it about 2 miles and it died. He said it ran great then sputtered to a stop. No marble sound anymore, which is good, but still a fuel/air problem i think. strange thing is, we pushed it home, next day it ran in neutral for what seemed like forever all the way through the pedal and rpm range without a hiccup. since i had taken the carb apart a couple of times already and cleaned it, i decided to take the fuel pump apart and clean/inspect it. well it was trashed! i really don't see how the cart was running with the deformed diaphrams in that thing. put a new fuel pump on last night, took forever to get primed, and now the cart runs great at part throttle with the choke pulled. i never had to use the choke before the new pump, and that is the only thing that has changed. now it will bog out, even with choke, at anything past part throttle. i'm lost and the kid is getting really frustrated. i don't want to have him take it to a dealer to fix, but the wife is running out of patience and so am i. i made sure the airbox was sealed but now i'm totally clueless.

[ecaldwell78]

oh forgot to add the one bit of good news, the primary drive clutch looked absolutely perfect! that was welcomed after the new clutch came with a course threaded input shaft nut and i had to end up rethreading the shaft. boy was i mad!