sooty plugs

[tequila]

I have a 05 lifted ez go. Very low hrs. used for around town on the dirt streets in Mexico. Just started running poor and lack of power. Checked the plugs and very dark sooty but dry. Also having a slight backfire issue on de celebration only. Could it be because my foot off the accelerator for a few seconds shuts off engine,and fuel continues to suck into cylinder. Then when I touch accelerator again could it ignite?? Any ideas anybody??.

[sccowboy]

The backfire issue is typically caused by the throttle linkage being out of adjustment. Check to ensure that the carb butterfly is closing right before the gas pedal micro switch clicks off.

[ez go go]

Cowboy is on the issue... More than likely someone has likely adjusted the governor linkage out to get more speed. This commonly throws the butterfly in the throat of the carb leaving it slightly open. This will let residual gas into the cylinder under deceleration causing a backfire.. Adjust the butterfly linkage only to close the butterfly with the pedal topped out and it should fix your problem... As far as the power loss, check compression and if that seems to be the problem, check the valve lash.. If it's out that could be your power loss.. If lash is fine I would turn to the belts and clutch performance... Dry plugs are not unusual, just see if they are black or whitish brown... If you commonly have oil in your breather box you can probably chock that up to ring wear or overfilling with oil...

[sccowboy]

With the key off, press the pedal then slowly back off while watching the butterfly. It should close just before the click of the pedal switch is heard. And affirmative on valve clearance. Look to the tech section of this site to guide you in fixing the linkages and valves etc.