1998 ezgo workhorse 350cc robin engine

[Charles R. Trahan]

I own the above titled workhorse and unable to determine why it fouls one of the plug, the one closest to the drivers side of the vehicle. It fouls the other plug eventually but not as quickly. I have a new coil, new carb, gapped the plugs to .028, the valves all set a .004, good clean non ethanol free gas. I check to fire in each plug by putting a fire checker on each plug wire at the same time and the fire is a bright orange color, but both fire. The vehicle runs pretty good until for just a short while. The person that gave it to me told me that he had it worked on and it cost him several hundred dollars and it ran to unload it off the trailer then died out and never ran again. I removed the fan attached to the flywheel to see it I could see the pulser coil condition and noticed a big chunk of the flywheel was missing, about 1/4 to 1/3 is gone. I did not remove the flywheel yet but could this cause firing issues and cause the plugs to soot up. The soot is dry but at times I notice gas leaking out of the carburetor going into the air filter housing. Any help or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

[Spicyunicorn]

If 1/4 of the flight wheel is missing I wouldn't run it that's going to throw it out of balance and wreck bearings the fly wheel does help keep the motor spinning also so it may be part of your issue but iv never dealt with an issue like that I'd also throw a compression gauge on it

[Charles R. Trahan]

thanks for the reply. I tested the compression in both cylinders and the compression indicates 125 to 135 psi. The engine doesn't make any unusual noises but it will almost instantly foul one of the plugs with dry black soot, and eventually foul the other with the dry black soot.

[cart around]

This tells you how to read spark plugs. http://www.turbododge.com/forums/f4/...ing-guide.html

I would call yours carbon fouled. That would indicate a rich mixture. Your compression is low. It should be 150-160.

When you say flywheel missing, do you mean the plastic fan, or the actual metal flywheel?

[BurntClutch]

If your actual flywheel is missing a chunk, thats something to address before you go too much further.

Is your cart lifted? Does it have the right amount of oil in it? What plugs are you running in it?

Not a true fix, but I have an old engine on a wood splitter that will foul plugs in a tank of fuel unless I run Marvel Mystery Oil in it. Will split a triaxle load with no problems after that. Maybe adding some of that to your fuel can be a workaround until you get the rest of the problem figured out?

[Charles R. Trahan]

thanks, "cart around " for your reply. The plastic fan that the flywheel is bolted to is fine and in tact. A large chunk ( 1/4 to 1/3) of the flywheel is gone. It was gone when I got the vehicle. If the compression is 125 to 135 could this cause dry soot fouling of the plugs? If the pulsar coil picks up its signal from the flywheel and tells the coil and plugs when to fire, could the damage flywheel have some affect on the signal of the pulsar coil.

[Charles R. Trahan]

thanks "BurntClutch" for your comment. I'm not sure what you mean by lifted, but if it means lifted up high like customized, no is not, it appears to be just like it was originally built from the factory. The oil content is right and the plugs are new NGK R (BPR4ES) gapped a .028. This engine fouls at least one of the plugs instantly and will foul the other one shortly thereafter.

[cart around]

You need a new flywheel.

That much missing is going to shake the crap out of your engine. It will ruin the bearings.

That compression is low enough to cause running issues.

Since you already set the valves, it's time to think about rings. Before any of that, you absolutely need a flywheel.

[Charles R. Trahan]

thanks , "cart around" have a flywheel on order.

[BurntClutch]

Originally Posted by Charles R. Trahan

thanks "BurntClutch" for your comment. I'm not sure what you mean by lifted, but if it means lifted up high like customized, no is not, it appears to be just like it was originally built from the factory. The oil content is right and the plugs are new NGK R (BPR4ES) gapped a .028. This engine fouls at least one of the plugs instantly and will foul the other one shortly thereafter.

Hi Charles.

I did mean lifted like customized, and since you are stock it doesnt matter. I was only mentioning it because that can cause issues with overfilling of oil.

But it seems there are bigger issues here than just too much oil....