1983 ez go gas wont start..

[Gwen]

Ok.. well back now.. good news. We got a tester and tested the compression.. bad news.. It's only 30 :( now where do we go from here?? Hubby says engine rebuild.

[Dave Box]

Hubby is right but just for fun and it will cost you nothing why not try to tighten the four bolts on the bottom of the cylinder and the 6 head bolts, who knows you might get lucky. If that doesn't help (and it probably won't) you have a choice, either just do the top end at ~$200 or the whole engine at ~$400. The advantage of doing just the top end is the lower cost. The advantage of doing everything is that you will end up with a new engine that should last another 30 years. In either case you really must replace the crankshaft seals, they come with the whole engine kit but will need to be ordered separately if you by the top end only.

Dave

[Gwen]

ok. we will try to tighten the bolts.. i am sure with the luck we have been having so far I am sure it wont work but it can't hurt to try. Hubby already got the crank seals when he got the other parts because they were cheap so we will replace them for sure.

[Gwen]

ok..update... we decided to pull the engine. and we did... after looking it over ..the gasket on the top of the 'head' is blown.. feel air coming out of there.. so no compression.. going to do a more complete tear down now that its out.. will keep updating u.. not sure how to upload image. but bad.. lol
thx

[ScooterMcTavish]

Hey Gwen,

Another thing to look at is the condition of the piston and the rings - you can look at both sides through both the intake and the exhaust ports.

Although a visual inspection is good (you can see if the whole ring is there), rubbing your finger across the edge of the piston where the ring is should give you an idea of the state of its seal.

If it feels smooth, then your rings may be shot, as could be the cylinder. If one of the rings is gone, well, that says it all. And a visual inspection of the cylinder is also good, as is the finger test.

For uploading an image, you can sign up on a photo hosting site like Photobucket, and upload your photos there. It then provides you a link you can paste into your post to show this picture. Like this:



Just click on the "insert photo" icon when entering your post (yellow box with a mountain in it), and insert the "Direct" link that phptobucket provides on the right side of the page of your posted photo.

As you can see by my pic, sometimes a photo tells a thousand words. This is what a piston looks like when the oil injection quits working, and is probably the #1 cause for a cart needing a rebuild.

[Gwen]

Scooter, thanks for the tips on how to load photos. I will see if I can get that to work. Hopefully we will tear into it today.

[Gwen]

Ok.have not had time to work on the engine. however I did have time today and went to take off the part of the blower housing off that covers the cylinder. Took out all the bolt and low and behold someone has welded two of the holes that are in it.. that either had bolts, or and were broken off.. or did not have bolts and they just welded it on there.. so going to have to drill those out. I had a question. Can we replace the crankcase seals without taking the crank case all apart. Husband found a CD manual for the cart on ebay tho. so that is helpful. And it looks like we can. I am thinking now of just replacing all the gaskets on the top and then those seals and putting it back in to see if it works... don't want to tear down more than we have to and camping season is close

[ScooterMcTavish]

The crank seals can be replaced without cracking the case, though mine were a bit finicky to get out. However, it sounds as if my experience wasn't typical. The hardest part is getting the flywheel and clutch off.

However, your post says "seals and gaskets" - with the lack of compression, you likely need a top end kit, which means a new top end, new piston and rings, and new gaskets. In fact, the worst parts for me were getting the flywheel and one of the crank seals off.

Also, if you do still have oil injection (which I'm guessing you do with 30 psi), that must come off, and you need to start premixing your gas.

However, if the piston and rings are OK (not like mine in the pic above) you may be able to get away with a new set of rings. You'll only be able to figure this with a teardown, and inspection of the piston (also important to see if it is oversized), and an inspection of the gaskets to prove they are the loss of compression.

[Gwen]

Thanks scooter. Hubby got that cover off for me today and I pulled off the cylinder top. The upper gasket that we knew was bad... Was indeed bad as well as the bottom one that seals it to the ceankcase. The piston is scarred as well as the inside of the cylinder. So thinking best to replace those and all the upper gaskets. Hubby said if we crack the case we will just buy a kit with all parts and replace . I will try to upload pics..

[Gwen]

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