2007 MCI EZGO TXT Losing Power

[CP241]

The aftermarket carb is running too rich. Very common on aftermarket carbs.

Get an oem carb or a jet kit and play with the jetting until you can get it close. Best you’re gonna get with a China carb but not as good as an oem

[Cartmaster]

I agree with CP on running rich, but i need to ask when the last time the air filter was changed. Even a slightly dirty filter will cause the engine to run richer. This would be the first thing i would do before changing out jets. The MCI engine was very prone to suffering rich running from a lightly clogged air filter. The pre MCI was much less prone. I do not condone fitting aftermarket carbs either and the OEM ones are fully serviceable unless the butterfly spindle shows signs of wear.

Comments such as " Its a feature of the MCI engine " is a common assumption but careful maintenance and management of the air filtration system is vital and usually stops all the spitting and popping etc seen on these, and obviously the drop in power and dirty plugs.

Although it was not such an issue on these later engines, it is always good practice to regularly check and set the valve lash as this can also cause identical symptoms if they are too tight.

[nickdalzell1]

Is the little plate inside the air box in place (it's supposed to prevent backfiring/running lean) because that can help if it's there.

But it sounds like it's running pig rich to me (since without the airbox you have more air not less) which is a big issue with Red Hawk carbs. Also if the ignitor (don't ask its price, you don't wanna know) is out of spec it will retard engine timing and it really has no torque/power. In fact, that will cause it to slowly spool up and smell carbony. Usually results in overheating as well (never until the MCI have I ever seen an air-cooled engine 'overheat' but then I've never seen a starter generator explode like a grenade either, so I probably ain't seen nothin' yet!)

We've had luck putting in the AC Delco replacement to the stock spark plugs though, and also replacing the muffler (any restriction will cause it to run rich and make the ignitor lower or advance the timing too much) can help. AC Delco plugs tend to have higher heat maximums so they don't foul out or fail from heat so much. We've given up on the FR2A-D and BPR2ES NGK plugs.

Our customers refuse to pay OEM prices so we have to work with what we got. That corn ethanol crap they call gas today certainly doesn't help. I've tried to clean/rebuild them and like my luck re-brushing starters, it never works out most of the time. 90% the time the jet becomes fused to the threads and strips out trying to remove it to clean. Other times you end up with fuel shooting out the overflow even though you know the float/needle moved correctly. You really just can't repair China made anything. You might get lucky one out of ten times, though. We got one PowerWise QE that I bypassed the relay and fixed it (was doing the clicking and red light afterwards)