2004 ez go 295 runs great then will completely stall out

[jrbell]

I have a 04 workhorse with a 295 Robin engine. It will run great then will stall out ,usually on a hill. Once it does it takes awhile to recover and run well again. Has good compression, have adjusted valves numerous time , new clutch with shorter belt , even sent rear clutch off to be modified for more torque. Could it be the ignition? Would like to try Hei conversion.

[cart around]

Interesting that it usually stalls out on a hill. Ignition wouldn't know which direction you are going, but gas would. It could be starving for fuel under load.

Taking a while to recover before it runs again also points to fuel.
I would change the fuel filter for starters.


The next time it happens, I would also loosen the gas cap to see if it is pulling a vacuum on the tank.


If that does nothing, remove the fuel line from the carburetor, and see if it's pumping fuel.


After doing those three easy things, I would then move to giving the carburetor a good cleaning.

HEI on the 4 strokes...... Many have tried, only a few have succeeded. Yours being an 04 model year, I believe it is an MCI engine. I believe that makes it even more unlikely to succeed.

[jrbell]

I have tried each of your suggestions previously with no success. Sometimes When it does stall the engine will barely run and will start to smoke ,oil smoke. Most time you have to put in neutral and clear it out. It does not smoke or burn oil any other times.

[cart around]

Occasional oil smoke is interesting. I'm not a 4 stroke expert, so you will have to wait for one of those guys to show up.
I do believe that there is a crankcase breather tube connected to the intake box. That might have something to do with it.

I will continue watching this thread so that I can learn more about the 4 strokes too.

[Gearhead1956]

How does the end of your spark plugs look? any oil?
Is there oil in your air box?
Is your air cleaner clean? does air cleaner have oil on it?

But I would lean to carb. dumping to much fuel at low RPM, Then just like a race engine you have to rev it up to clean it out.

Pulling the plugs at the moment it does this could tell the story, oil or gas!

[Spicyunicorn]

Agreed ↑↑↑ pull the plugs right when the issue starts dry will tell us it's fuel issue wet will tell us it's ignition issue

[jrbell]

Plugs always look good ,but I have not tried pulling them out when it stalls. As for oil in the air box it is always dry but my crankcase vent is piped to the plate on the intake side of the carb that the breather box hose attaches to. I pulled it off and there was just a little oil there. Would it be better to leave it disconnected or maybe route it to the breather box ?

[Canucgolfer]

So if have a similar issue have 98 and stalls out. Pull the plugs and they are hot and dry. They appear to have carbon on them the fuel filter has very little fuel in it. I'm wondering if it's the fuel pump? Change the plugs and sometimes I can get 18-36 holes out of it with no issue. Do you think it could just be a gas/air mixture setting? Does someone have the setting for gas/air mixture for the carb or a picture? I guess the other question is would the pump either work or not? Or could it be weak or intermittent

[newtjl]

Is it lifted? It sounds like it has too much oil to me. A lift kit will make your dipstick inaccurate as it changes the angle of the engine. Also, your engine should have one hose running from your crankcase to a fuel pump and the other hose from the crankcase to the bottom of the breather.

[newtjl]

Originally Posted by Canucgolfer

So if have a similar issue have 98 and stalls out. Pull the plugs and they are hot and dry. They appear to have carbon on them the fuel filter has very little fuel in it. I'm wondering if it's the fuel pump? Change the plugs and sometimes I can get 18-36 holes out of it with no issue. Do you think it could just be a gas/air mixture setting? Does someone have the setting for gas/air mixture for the carb or a picture? I guess the other question is would the pump either work or not? Or could it be weak or intermittent

The pump can get weak over time. They are cheap to replace. Are you leaking any oil? The reason I ask is because the fuel pump operates by crankcase pressure. As the engine heats up, the crankcase pressure may fall off if you have worn crank seals. The telltale sign for worn crank seals is oil leaking.

The carb may be a bit rich. If you have a Chinese carb on it, it is likely rich. The carb has a mixture screw on top near the center of the body close to the engine (not to confuse it with your idle screw). The screw may or may not have a plastic cap on it. To begin adjusting this screw, run it all the way in to a soft seat, then back out one and one half turns. Then see how it runs and adjust from there.