Piston failure, major overhaul.

[germandude890]

Ok here is where we are now:

compression it right at 100. spark is hei but its not very bright but its there. it wasnt pulling up fuel so i put a couple drops directly in the spark plug hole. never ignited. turned it over quite a lot and never ignited. forced fuel into the carb and still no ignition.

[TheGDFP]

Crank seal being damaged from the shrapnel that went in the lube holes (and is likely still down there) could mess up the pulse-operation of the pump. Did you at least fill the lower end with solvent/gas/etc to see if it was pouring out the seals?

[1989Marathon]

Can you post a couple pics of the HEI? Get a pic of the how it is wired from the pulsar, the ignition module, and to the coil. Maybe we will see something obvious to us.

[germandude890]

It is not pouring out the seals. Holds liquid over night, Im worried the passage, to let pressure to the pump, is blocked but... when i blow into it it pushes all the gas to the carb. I can hear it being forced out of the carb so its completely full. yet it still will not start.

The spark plug doesnt smell too much like gas. at least not enough for me to say that its getting fuel in there.

I mentioned in a comment earlier that the pump works poorly and only a drop at a time but this was with just the starter motor and 60lbs on compression.

I took the carb apart and it wasnt all that dirty although i didnt use carb cleaner.

The crank is pretty solid in the case. There is no play in it at all in any direction.

I will get pics of the HEI and will try to snag a pic of the actual spark created as well. this will have to wait for a day or two as my schedule permits. Im pretty sure it is wired correctly and grounded well.

Another thing I did today was use a gravity fed system to the carb to see if that would work. again its a no go.


Weve come a long way to getting up and running. Started with no spark fuel or compression and so far we have spark and compression now just that pesky fuel. I was surprised that even when I poured fuel into the spark plug hole it still did not ignite.

[BrewCityMusic]

It's a longshot, but I had a 1988 that I chased the same issues forever with, turned out that the pulsar (behind the flywheel) had somehow cracked and was hanging to the side, throwing the timing off so bad it wouldn't fire (even though I had spark, all the electrical tests including ohming the Pulsar wires, etc were fine it still wouldn't pop no matter what I tried) ... A fast test for an intermittent Pulsar (also could be the trouble) would be to put an ohmmeter on the 2 wires coming out of the engine, you're looking for somewhere between 70-150 ohms. Then if that's OK, switch your meter to the lowest AC voltage and on the same 2 wires, turn the engine over - You should be generating a little over 1VAC. An intermittent or damaged Pulsar can ohm out OK but fail to generate that 1VAC, it's an easy check before tearing the flywheel off to check it physically for placement, timing, etc.

[1989Marathon]

Also, if you wired it exactly like the diagram, it is likely incorrect. Every one that I have seen needed the wires from the pulsar to be swapped at the ignition module.
That's why pics would be best. You could be staring right at the problem, and if you don't know what to look for, you won't see it.

[BrewCityMusic]

Oops - I just reread your post above, the carb can "look" brand new, but even a tiny piece of gunk, dirt, etc in any one of the jets will stop your fuel flow dead in the water. Here is a diagram of your carb to guide You, the requisite cleaning points have been circled:



Make SURE each and every orifice in the jets are cleaned (a good compressed carb cleaner and possibly a very fine piece of wire will help) - also spray out the passages as best You can, then reassemble and see what happens. I have literally had "out of the box" carbs not deliver fuel due to manufacturing residue, etc so if Yours is older or has been sitting, the odds of something having solidified fuel or ? stuck somewhere are very good. Again - it doesn't matter how clean it "looks" - once You get into it you'll see just how miniscule the orifices are and You'll realize how easily these plug up (I pull the carbs on the 2-strokes at least twice a year to clean them as a preventative, and it's still not uncommon for something to sneak past the air cleaner if I'm riding in dusty or heavy-pollen situations and stop the cart dead).

That all said, if still no-go after a thorough cleaning and checking the pulsar go ahead and try the gravity-feed again with a serviced carb - your pump should be delivering a decent "squirt" with each revolution of the engine (will pump out about 2-3") ...

[BrewCityMusic]

Originally Posted by 1989Marathon

Also, if you wired it exactly like the diagram, it is likely incorrect. Every one that I have seen needed the wires from the pulsar to be swapped at the ignition module.
That's why pics would be best. You could be staring right at the problem, and if you don't know what to look for, you won't see it.

Another Good point, 89 - about 3X out of 5, a given Pulsar likes to be wired backwards to run correctly and with an actual useable spark once the HEI conversion is performed. Personally, I'd try that first (reversing the red and blue wires that go into the engine), then clean out the carb and test, then check the pulsar using the above methods with a meter, that's the path of highest likeliness that could be causing the problem (although a dribbling fuel pump isn't a good thing either)

[germandude890]

Thanks for the help guys! I ended up switching the blue and red wire, re cleaned the carb, and put some new gas in it.

Here is where we are now:

Pump squirts just fine now, about 2" to 5".
It cranks every time without the choke even.
Basically Its fixed and ready for the road.

except the drive clutch doesnt engage or move at all...

Whats all this talk i hear about "comet" clutch and the one I have no needing a special tool to remove. Can i do this while the motor is in the cart?

[1989Marathon]

Now that it is starting, does it rev up like you would expect? Does the primary(drive) clutch do anything even with the belt off?