club car cuts out/backfires after half mile

[gqe9580]

93 club car starts up fine, runs on street at top spped for about half mile,then cuts out/backfires. Seems to be only when engine is cold. Cannot reproduce this with hot engine. When this backfiring occurs, with the pedal to the floor, the cart lurches a couple feet,cuts out,lurches and eventually will come out of it and run like nothing was ever wrong.
So far I have:
1. replaced spark plug
2. replaced air filter
3. replaced fuel filter
4. pulled carb, cleaned all jets and ports w/carb cleaner and compressed air
I guess there could still be a small particle of dirt in there, there was a small amount of debris in the bowl. I don't get the hot/cold thing though.
I don't know,maybe it's electrical. But I my experience with small engines, bad coils cut out when they are hot, not cold.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[knotso]

Hey, Welcome to bgw. My cart is a 93 and it was doing the same. I tried everything and finally i unhooked the ground wire from the rpm limiter and my problem went away. So i would try that and see what happen's?

[gqe9580]

Thanks, I'll try that. Where exactly is that located?

Also, I have a question about that fuel filter. I noticed at times there is air in the filter. That is , it's not completly full of fuel. Is that normal?

[knotso]

No Problem, In front of the motor down by your oil drain. Just to the left you'll find the rpm limiter(black box)unhook the ground wire under one of the bolt heads. As far as the fuel filter thats not abnormal. Mine is that way too. If you want to you can search the threads on this site and find all kinds of useful info on your cart.Just type in key word's.Let us know if it help's? It's a starting point anyway. Goodluck.

[gqe9580]

Yup, found the rev limiter. Looks like someone already beat me to it. The ground wire has been cut. I taped it up so it couldn't ground , but don't think that was the problem. I'm still inclined to think it's a fuel problem. It seems to run better after I cleaned out the carb. Next Im going to try blowing out the pickup tube coming from the fuel tank. I believe this all stems from dirty gas, as there was debris in the carb bowl.

I do find the site's search engine very useful, although it is sometimes a lot of reading to get what you are looking for, but I do appreciate the help, Thanks.

[Lightninlarry]

Clean your fuel pump!!! make sure to use a filter between your tank and your fuel pump and between your pump and your carb!! take your pump apart and give it a good blast with some carb cleaner!!!

[gqe9580]

I will try cleaning the fuel pump, good idea.
The cart acts like the float is stuck open or closed. When I took the carb apart and cleaned, it seemed to move freely, but who knows when its full of fuel what's going on.
It's funny, I'll be cruising along and poof, it seems to choke right off. It will fire ,stop,fire,stop...for maybe 30 seconds ,then fire right up and take off. Such an intermittent thing, it is driving me nuts. The other thing that's weird is after I've driven 2 or 3 miles , and the engine is hot, I can't seem to reproduce it.
What would be the symptoms of a sticky float??

[gqe9580]

Well, it wasn't a fuel problem after all. I found in another thread that the intake and exhaust valves can become loaded with carbon deposits and stick open or closed , resulting in the symptoms my cart was having. I bought a can of "seafoam". Great product. Dumped some into the carb throat while running ,then flooed it w/ the seafoam and let it set for an hour. Dump some into the fuel tank as well. Smoked pretty good when you start it up, but runs great now. I'm glad I didn't buy a new carb! I will use seafoam regularly in the fuel tank to prevent carbon build up.