Ezgo Marathon 2pg intermittent starting

[merritt51]

I have a early 80s marathon, that would just take absolutely forever to start. I changed the carb, fuel lines, fuel pump, spark plug wire and still does the same thing. I called a tech and he told me it sounded like my crankcase was completely full and to pinch off the fuel line and run it till it died. She ran for about 3 minutes until it finally died. I reconnected the fuel lines, let it run for a second till fuel filled the bowl. But still...having the same issue. Any help on this would be appreciated!

[cart around]

Do a compression test. 120 is new. 100 is acceptable. Under that gets more and more difficult to run.

[cart around]

You also want to save your old carburetor for a good cleaning. The $19 replacement is most likely junk.

[cart around]

Post pictures of your cart. Front, rear and a few of the engine. We will most likely be able to nail the exact year.

[merritt51]

Okay, ill do this when I get home. I changed out the spark plug again with the OEM one and could tell that it was running a LOT better. Ran really good for a day, would start and stop almost instantly like it should then it ran really weak like it was being starved for fuel. I think it could possibly be the cheap carb I put on it, so i decided to get an OEM one as well. Compression test came back at 115 psi.

[CP241]

If the crankcase is filling with fuel and flooding out, it’s likely the cheap carb is flooding it out. Just clean the original really well, there’s not much to them. And make sure the float needle seats firmly. I do this by using a spare NEW piece of fuel hose attached to the same bung the fuel line attaches to. Simply take the bowl off (make sure it’s empty) turn it upside down and blow into the hose as hard as you can (this is why I keep about a 12” piece of hose that’s never had gas run through it lol). If you have to apply any pressure to the float to stop the air leaking through it, then it’s gonna flood. Either the needle is worn, or there’s dirt between the needle and seat or it’s waaaaay out of adjustment.

Generally speaking when holding the carb upside down the float should pretty much sit perfectly level with the carb body as a reference. If it tilts up or down then you can gently bend it to adjust accordingly until it’s level.

No matter how hard you blow, you should

[merritt51]

So I got the oem carb in, and it seems like its firing well. But i still have the issue of getting it started after i have rode it for about 10 minutes. Once it has been drove around for a while it has a hard time starting again. I can see fuel going through the lines (I have the yellow fuel lines that you can see through). Now I am kind of stuck again. Dont really know what to look at.

[cart around]

I would also think about a clogged muffler. What oil ratio are you mixing?

[merritt51]

I put an entire fuel tank of 50:1 in it, and after doing research I heard 128:1 is what it needs to be. Is there a way to check for a clogged muffler?

[merritt51]

Also, do you think that running that low of a ratio could cause the spark plug to fire intermittently?