Trouble Keeping Going - 1999 G16a

[KingPin]

I purchased a Yamaha g16a a while back and its been in the garage over the winter. I winterized it the best I could, took the gas out and kept it covered in the garage. I pulled it out a few weeks ago and filled it up with some new fuel and, this being about the first time i've really driven it, gave me some weird happenings. I could really use some help on this one as i'm more of a computer guy than a mechanic.

1) when I run it around the block I can occasionally get a few back fires
2) the response from the throttle is slow at best and very sluggish
2a) Sometimes I need to choke it to get it to go even tho the engine appears engaged and running, gas pedal depressed.
3) I ran it around and it seemed fine so I took it out to our rural communities golf course today. It ran fine until about the 4th hole and it started running really slow like 2MPH slow and was chugging really bad. It would run okay on flat even surfaces but give it a hill and it just dies.

I brought it home and looked at the engine; I'm really not sure where to begin. The fuel is new and fresh, air filter and box are newly installed and replaced, aside from that I'm really not sure where to go or what to look at.

Anything you guys can throw my way would be appreciated. If you need more descriptions or pictures I'd be happy to put them up too.

TIA.
King

[JcXtreme72]

Did you drain the carb before you stored it? It sounds like you need a good carb cleaning.

[KingPin]

Is removing the carb pretty tricky? I've looked at the guts of this thing, I'm not afraid of getting inside but can I muck it up pretty good (i mean kill it?)

[JcXtreme72]

I'm afraid to answer that for you. I have been pulling and doing carbs since I was 6 so to me it's something I could do easly and wouldn't think twice about. They are very basic carbs and aren't overly complicated. There is a lot of documentation on this site about pulling your carb and cleaning it here on this site. If you decide to do it take lots of pictures are you pull it off and take it apart so you can refference the pics if you need too. Post pics here and use them to ask any questions you might have. Also if you decide to do it you'll be learning something that might come in handy again down the road.

[BIGBREW]

spray the crap out of the carb....sounds like your not getting fuel....a diaphram may have dried up in the fuel pump, either rebuild or buy a new one, there about $45 on ebay, check your lines make sure there isnt any air getting in them, new fuel fliter is only a few bucks. Jack it up and take the weight off the rear end to try and get the fuel going through it after you clean the carb, try and see if you can see fuel going through filter, check pulse line from motor, if you getting pulse, and fuel is not moving I bet fuel pump.

[KingPin]

So i found a couple of things during a review of my golf cart; also I found some nice guys at OakCreek in Calgary Alberta who have pointed me in some testing directions

I have gas smelling oil in the airbox which i guess is a sign of the oil being over full and getting into the crank case. I am going to do a full oil change to rid my vehicle of this.

after the oil change I will do a compression test and see where I end up. I am told that I should be around 150?? on the gauge. I may also replace the spark plug.

[sho305]

Do a basic tune up first, check the air filter and put a plug in (I'd suggest the NGK). Clean the carb and/or take the line off the carb and see if fuel is pumped on the starter (safely of course.) Most of the time you can remove the carb and take the bowl off the bottom and squirt out the jets, do the air jets on the intake side of the venturi, that gets most things and clean the bowl, put it back on. Check the carb spacer for cracks while its off, do not over tighten on that spacer.

Make sure the engine is running or not when you have a problem, because the starter/gen will turn over the engine when the pedal is down no matter if its running or not.

Check the operation of your throttle cable on the carb, it should move with the pedal mostly and not be stuck or slow to react even with the cart governor on there.

If your carb leaks fuel due to dirty bowl/float into the engine it can go into the oil and then you have gas in the oil plus overfilled oil. Get it changed right away. Overfilled oil often does puke out into the airbox on yamahas and makes a big mess. Only put 1qt in no matter what the stick says it may be below full a little in particular with a lifted cart.

Make sure the airbox is on there right and sealed. After all that see if you still have an issue, then look at more serious things like valve lash and compression, etc.

[KingPin]

Thanks everyone for the replies. This is what I have done so far
1) removed airbox and carb
2) cleaned airbox with rags and such so no oil is left in it
3) cleaned and checked carb, jets, and bowl
4) replaced carb and air-box
5) checked fuel flow and its pumping out good
6) pulse line appears to be working okay as i feel pulse
7) spark plug was really dirty I will be buying a new one today
doing oil change tonite along with my truck.
9) did a redneck compression test and it appears to be blowing out pretty good; I dont have a gauge and the dept of finance refuses to release funds for this purchase.

After replacing the parts and pieces the engine refuses to go out of idle speeds; there is no real increase in engine RPMS no matter how depressed the gas pedal is and using the choke does not improve or change this.

I do not know much about engines but at this point I'm wondering if the problem is more inside the engine than outside attachments??

Originally Posted by sho305

Do a basic tune up first, check the air filter and put a plug in (I'd suggest the NGK). Clean the carb and/or take the line off the carb and see if fuel is pumped on the starter (safely of course.) Most of the time you can remove the carb and take the bowl off the bottom and squirt out the jets, do the air jets on the intake side of the venturi, that gets most things and clean the bowl, put it back on. Check the carb spacer for cracks while its off, do not over tighten on that spacer.

Make sure the engine is running or not when you have a problem, because the starter/gen will turn over the engine when the pedal is down no matter if its running or not.

Check the operation of your throttle cable on the carb, it should move with the pedal mostly and not be stuck or slow to react even with the cart governor on there.

If your carb leaks fuel due to dirty bowl/float into the engine it can go into the oil and then you have gas in the oil plus overfilled oil. Get it changed right away. Overfilled oil often does puke out into the airbox on yamahas and makes a big mess. Only put 1qt in no matter what the stick says it may be below full a little in particular with a lifted cart.

Make sure the airbox is on there right and sealed. After all that see if you still have an issue, then look at more serious things like valve lash and compression, etc.

[KingPin]

Progress has been made on the golf cart.
Adjusted the idle ?? screw on top of the carb. Turned it all the way in and then slowly backed it off until I got a nice sound and feel.

Ran the cart on blocks with various configurations on the air box. Found that it ran really good with the air box sealed and the filter removed. I will be getting a new filter.

Did an oil change - not sure if this will help any but hey -- doesnt ever hurt as I don't know when the last one was done.

I replaced the spark plug and did a pressure test; the pressure tested around 140psi. It's a little low for the g16 but its not "bad" per se so I'm fairly happy.

I still have had a couple of backfires up through the carb but i'm not overly concerned. I will have to take it for a good spin around the golf course to put it through some paces.

[pachanga90]

Switch to Full Synthetic if you run it a lot,it helps.Check the Valve-Adjustments,if they are off,it will lack power and backfire thru the carb(Just went thru this on my Wifes G16).Add a Fuel-Treatment such as Star-Tron or Sea-Foam,there may have been some old fuel or residue in the system,New Fuel-Filter helps too.Last Spring her G16 ran fine,then acted like it ran out of fuel,ended up being that the Ethanol created residue in the fuel-pump(white chalky powder from corroding the aluminum).I cleaned the pump,it ran good all summer.Hope this helps.