87 ezgo gasser

[1lane66]

It's me again guys,, today i started a new approach to my engine not running at top end and the slight backfire when it is running. I checked the timing and it appears to be moving up and down in the range of the timing marks. Moving like a 1/4 to 3/8 " within that area, i removed the cooling shroud and then removed the cooling fan like it said to do in the shop manual. The next step was to loosen the two screws that hold the ignition spark assy. And adjust it either left or right to advance or retard the timing. My problem,, there is no screws and nothing to slip to moving the timing. There is a small balancer looking wheel that is pressed onto the crank shaft held in place by a large nut and lock washer. The shaft has a slit in the end of it that appears to be a holding point for a large screw driver once the nut is loosened or to hold to break nut loose. The cooling fan has a place marked key with an arrow. How do i set the timing? I know it's not correct by the hunting movement while it's running. The more i try to figure this out the more i get lost in it!!!!

[1lane66]

Went back through the repair manual and found that behind the fly wheel is where the ignition spark assy is located. Don't have the tool to remove the fly wheel so back together it went. Going to pull the exhaust off later to see if it's partially stopped up. Might even pull the carb again.

[BrewCityMusic]

(Don't know if we covered this in an earlier post but bear with me, I just got my first cup of coffee)

The backfire is likely caused by the lack of a spring on your throttle stop - the throttle cable goes through the arm that controls the carb, and should have a 1/2"-3/4" long spring over the cable and between the arm ad the cable stop. If this spring is missing, it keeps your throttle from closing completely, which will allow your engine to continue sucking fuel while coasting, etc and as it builds up qand you hit the accel pedal again, BANG there's your backfire. In a pinch, you can use a pen spring but it's best to run to the hardware store and get something a little stiffer, you want to adjust your setup so the spring is under slight tension when the throttle is closed and your problem should go away.

NOW, if you have a spring, and it's adjusted correctly, then you need to look at bad carb to intake gasket that could be sucking air, or bad exhaust gaskets (either of which will also set you up for backfires).

Moving on to your timing issue, these 2PG pulsars are really, REALLY tolerant of the settings, so as long as the cart starts and runs in forward or reverse, chances are good that yours is in the right position (generally if the position is bad, the cart just won't run - the tolerance is that wide).

Pulling the muffler and giving it a good cook (search for "muffler BBQ" here in the forums) isn't a bad idea to do - while a plugged muffler won't generally cause backfiring, it will definitely cause the cart to start hard, run sluggish, etc (and it's a pretty common malady with these 20+ year old carts, plenty of time for 2-stroke residue to build up in there) ... The only way to really "tell" if it's plugged is to pull it and cook it, BTW

Start with the throttle spring and gaskets, chances are that will nail your issue

[1lane66]

Thanks for the help. Pulled the exhaust off real early this morning and noticed it had wet dark brown residue coming from the exhaust port leaking onto the mounting bolts. Was to tired to go any further with it but i'm going to look at it this morning to see if it is raw fuel and oil mixture. That's the only thing it could be since t that's all that goes in to it. Appeared to be un-used fuel mixture which could of came from sucking to much fuel into system to begin with. Again thanks for the help. I'm learning alot about these little engines. Will post what i find later today,,,,,donald usmc retired.:-p THE THUMB NAIL IS MY BABY!!! WELL I GOT TO LOOK AT IT GOOD, WAS FUEL AND LEAK WAS FROM GASKET BEING SHOT. REPLACED BOTH ENDS OF EXHAUST PIPE WITH NEW ONES. FOUND NO EXHAUST OBSTRUCTION AND SEEMS TO BE BREATHING OK. REMOVED THE CARB AND REPLACED THE MOUNTING GASKET ON IT ALSO. BACK FIRING SEEMED TO GO AWAY, ONLY DID IT TWICE AT FIRST STARTUP THEN AFTER WARMING UP DID NOT DO IT AGAIN. BUT,,,STILL NOT RUNNING FASTER THAN A WALK. FROM THE ONE I HEARD RUN ON THIS FORUM NOT LONG AGO WHEN THE MEMBER DID THE VIDEO ON HIS RUNNING AND HOW THE DRIVEN CLUTCH WORKED I KNOW MINE IS NOT GETTING UP TO THE RPM'S HIS WAS RUNNING AT. SO I'M STILL NO CLOSER TO SOLVING MY PROBLEM YET. BUT I WILL KEEP AT IT CAUSE I KNOW WITH ALL THAT KNOWLEDGE OUT THERE IT CAN BE SOLVED! SEMPER FI