1990 EzGo Textron Marathon Spins Belt But No Spark

[1990.Ezgo.Cart]

Originally Posted by CP241

You can “rent” a compression tester from just about any auto parts store for free. You pay like a $50 or whatever deposit and then they refund it when you return the tool. These engines are relatively low compression, anything over around 100psi is good.

Hold your hand over the carb and spin the engine over. You should feel the carb “sucking” pretty hard on your hand. If there’s no “suck” then your crank seals are completely shot. If the suck is weak they could still be bad. If it sucks pretty strong then it still doesn’t mean they’re “good” necessarily but should be good enough for it to run. Bad crank seals also make the fuel pump not work. And are very common to fail, especially on a cart that’s been sitting for years.

Where/how did you add oil? If you’re talking about the little tank for oil injection then just remove that tank and cap off the oil injection line next to the carburetor. Premix a quality 2stroke oil in the gas tank with fresh gas. It’s a 128:1 mix (1 ounce of oil per gallon of gas) which isn’t much, so you can get a good quality amsoil or equivalent and it will last a long time. Klotz is regarded as best of the best but can be hard to find. Stay away from the cheap marine stuff at Walmart.

Good to know about renting from an auto parts store - thanks for the tip!

I added oil to the little tank for oil injection. For type of oil I bought Lucas
2-cycle oil. I wish the forum would let me post direct links. I bought it from Canadian Tire (Product #028-1730-2). Reviews were good and it was recommended by the techs so hopefully it's good for this case.

I'll look into disconnecting the oil and mix the oil/gas directly. I did see this recommendation in other forums because people didn't trust the oil pumps.


Regarding Bad crank seals, I don't seem to have any oil pooling on the ground (which from my google search tends to be a symptom). Is there anything else I should be checking for?

Thank you for your help! I can't express how much I appreciate talking through this with other people.

[CP241]

On a 4 cycle engine there will be oil on the ground with bad crankshaft seals because the crankcase is filled with oil.

I’m a 2smoke there is no oil in the case so you can have no crankshaft seals at all and it still won’t leak a drop. In a 2 smoke engine the crankshaft seals leak AIR. Which in turn makes for no crankcase pressure/vacuum (which is why fuel pumps don’t work, they rely on this pulse to move a diaphragm to make the pump work). But also if they do still run (starting to leak) it will make the engine run incredibly lean, or not at all. Even with excellent compression and spark.

Check the 2 stroke operation and 2smoke vs 4 stroke video here, might help you understand a bit better.

https://www.buggiesgonewild.com/showthread.php?t=184206

[Cartmaster]

I told you an egg spurt would be here soon. He is also a member of the Nincompoops club. So extremely knowledgeable about nothing important.

[cart around]

Premix some gas. One gallon with one ounce of oil. Remove the spark plug, put about a teaspoon of the mixture in the sparkplug hole. Reinstall the plug and connect the wire.

Crank it over and let's see if this pig even tries to start. That will tell us which direction to go.

[1990.Ezgo.Cart]

Thanks All!

I'll be away this weekend for Father's day, but I'll try what's been suggested above and will report back next week.

Thanks again and enjoy your weekend!

[1990.Ezgo.Cart]

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in providing updates - it has been a busy few weeks.

I was able to get my hands on a compression tester - looks like I'm getting 120PSI which seems to be okay. Also was able to try the oil/gas poured into the spark plug hole option.

To my surprise (and joy!) the golf cart came to life and I was able to drive it a short distance before it burned up all the gas I poured in the spark. Seems like it's not getting any gas from the tank. I installed new filter and checked the lines near the tank and it all looked okay. I was going to replace the lines near the tank but the lines that came with the new filter were too short. Will still replace.

I'm hoping to do some tests to see if I can determine if there's gas actually flowing or if there's a air leak in one of the lines somewhere. Hopefully it's just a line and not an issue with the actual fuel pump.

From some google searching, I've found some ideas for how I can test the lines/pump. But if there's something you find works well to do a test I'm definitely open to suggestions.

I'll post again later when I have more to share.

Thanks again all for your support on my first Golf Cart adventure!

[Dabble Inn]

Simply pull the fuel line off the "carbonator" (sorry couldn't help it) and crank it over, fuel should spurt out. It won't be a big super spurt but yet it should be a steady pulsing flow.

[1990.Ezgo.Cart]

Originally Posted by Dabble Inn

Simply pull the fuel line off the "carbonator" (sorry couldn't help it) and crank it over, fuel should spurt out. It won't be a big super spurt but yet it should be a steady pulsing flow.

I disconnected the line to the "carbonator" but no flow at all .

Looking at the lines, I don't see any leaks and there's no gas on the floor anywhere. Is there anything else I should test? Or is fuel pump replacement the next step. (If it is, I'm a little nervous, but I guess that's what this type of hands on learning is all about!).

[Leon willis]

No a ezgo being a pain in the butt never have I ever heard that before (coff)(coff) all the time

[cart around]

Remove the line from the carburetor. Remove the cap from the fuel tank. Use the big hose from a shop vac and pressurize the fuel tank until you get gas flowing from the fuel line.

I'm hoping that I don't have to tell you to make sure it's on blow and don't stick the hose all the way down in the gas.


Once fuel is flowing the pump should work. If not, you will take the pump apart to clean all of the white crusty crud out of it. Then you will most likely need to clean the carburetor too. One step at a time we will work through this.


I also want you to mix some oil in the gas tank before you do anything else. We don't want straight gas getting into the engine.