1988 ez go gas no power forward, great in reverse

[jd hauler]

First off great forum, this is my first post, new to golf carts but have a question on my 88 gasser. I managed to get it to run from the PO and did all the maintenance, air filter, new lines, cleaned carb, new plug. The cart runs and you can drive it around, and as long as your on the flat or slight grades , its ok, not great, but you can get around, its a little hard starting cold, needs alot , I mean alot of choke, the throttle shaft is tight, the fuel pump is pumping gas, I have an external pump , not the original on the motor, but hooked up to the vacuum port, the motor has 124 psi compression cranking forward, found it had the wrong belt, changed that and no real difference, the thing is, this cart runs super in reverse and will back up a mountain easily, I called the local dealer and have gotten things there before, he says the motor is bad and it would cost 300 for a top end and a grand for the whole motor rebuild, I am pretty familiar with engines , but not a ton of experience with two cycles, I cant imagine this motor is truly bad due to how well it runs in reverse, any help is really appreciated. I found out after the fact that the 88 is an orphan year, it looks just like my 1987 cart, which runs great. both have the stand up exhaust can , the only thing I see that is not the same is the carbs, any one that can help , I would really be thankful, sorry for the long post,just trying to give as much info as possible.

[Cheezygo]

I'd like to see the answer to your question too. My cart has the same problem but I think it's in my clutch. The more noise my clutch makes as the years pass, the less power it has in forward.

[jd hauler]

my clutches all seem to work when up on stands and has a new belt, just works so good in reverse , power speed, all that , just seems it must be somthing minor, I heard guys saying about the crank seals, but I cant see it making that much of a difference, somebody has to have had this in the past, so hopefully we will hear from some others, please.

[essness]

I bought an 88 from a guy a couple years ago. He said it ran great in reverse and real slow in forward. When I got it, we had to back it on the trailer.

It had no compression. Needed the entire top end renewed. The best part was, I gave the $75.00 for the cart and spent $210.00 on parts. So, for under $300.00 I had a strong running cart.

Bottom line, what's your compression? If it's low and someone already told you that your crank seals are bad, change them.

Good luck

[pachanga90]

It may have an ignition problem.The pulsar-coil may not be giving enough timing when running forward.The timing is set close to 0 so that it will run in both directions.Check the clutches while driving,remove seat and place a board across the opening,bring a passenger and one of you stand in the bag-well and watch the clutches.If the primary(engine-mounted) isn't closing,it has problems internally.Run the cart in both directions and watch how they both move.It should be similar at slow to moderatespeeds in both directions.If not,address the clutch that you see not shifting(sliding)properly.I would check the clutch operation first,then go after an ignition-problem.Hope this helps.

[jd hauler]

I will check the clutches, they both work on stands for sure, never checked it out in the yard, motor has 124 psi compression forward never checked reverse, but sounds like a healthy number, not to say the seals could not be back, but they tell me if the seals are bad, it wont pump fuel, it seems to pump fuel good, never tried it pumping forward or reverse and guaged the amount, the ignition might be worth a try, does this HEI mod fix this or not?