88 Marathon Starting Issue

[Sleek]

Hi all, I'm glad to be on the forum, you all have some awesome carts.

I recently obtained 2 88 marathons for free. I've been working on getting one running. It has the 244cc robin. I cleaned the carb, threw some fresh gas in it, put a new fuel and airfilter on. After a few cranks and a shot of starter fluid(I know I know...) it fired up. I drove it around for a short while to get it warmed up(governor is removed). After some other tinkering I took it for a couple laps around the block. ran great and was very surprised. After A little more driving it made a pretty weird noise(not sure as to exactly what it was...maybe metal sound?) and it kind of gurgled and came to a stop. The electric motor wouldnt turn it over so I checked my electrical connections and they were very loose. Drug it home, put it on the battery charger, and tightened the connections. I then tried to start it with no luck, not even with starting fluid. It just kind of cranks and then every once and a while a backfire. I'm getting spark and I took the carb apart again and checked the reeds and it all looks good....any ideas guys?

[Jricherson]

I believe it is a 2 stroke, the oil pump might not work causing it to sieze up or score the cylinder. If the pump has been removed, which I recommend, then the fuel will need to be mixed.
Sounds like it might have gotten hot.

[Sleek]

The oil injection has been removed. I mixed the gas at about 32:1. It did almost seem like a heat seize but I just couldn't figure how it happened that quick.

[Jricherson]

Believe it or not these only need 1 or 1.5 oz/gallon of gas. About 128:1 on the 1 oz ratio.
If you are doing heavy driving (not golfing) then do the 1.5 oz ratio.
You might have too much oil in the gas?

[Sleek]

Thats very interesting. I grew up with gopeds dirtbikes and quads where 50:1 was on the verge of lean. What really gets me though is it wont even start on starting fluid.

[hawkeyedm2003]

Maybe broke the rings? Check the compression.

[crash12888]

Checking the compression will tell you about the top end and then check crank seals. Fill the crankcase with gas and watch for leakage over a couple of hours from behind the clutch and flywheel.

[Sleek]

can these things get out of time? I tried unhooking the exhaust from the muffler because I thought maybe I had clogged it running 32:1 mix gas and it will actually shoot a small flame when trying to start but never actually fire correctly.

[Mr Marathon1990]

mine did the same thing when the oil pump decided that I needed to rebuild the motor, pull the head and inspect the piston, i would get a few backfires but no start,