Runs, then does not

[Cart Rancher]

Hi All,
My 1989 has been a good runner until now. It will run 4 or 5 50 yard stop, sit for a minute and then go. After that it will not start. After I let it sit overnight it will usually start and run for a few more 50 yard cycles.
The carb was cleaned a year ago and float level adjusted. It has a new fuel pump and fuel hoses. Hose clamps are good. Flushed fuel tank and installed new fuel filter and fresh fuel. Cleaned the reeds although one reed I can see a slight bit of light at the corner. Appears to be deterioation of the reed block. It has good spark. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

[Dave Box]

You will need to address the reed valve issue, the cart will not run at all if there is a substantial air leak in the reeds or the crankshaft seals.

A litle while ago Brew City Music had an issue with his 89 dying and then restarting. It transpired that his regulator was shot and he was generating 18 volts. Bad for the battery and it overheated the coil which then gave out until it cooled down. Might be worth checking your battery voltage with the cart running.

[Cart Rancher]

I will check voltage. One would think that if the cart runs with a tiny gap it should always run. Do crank seals require pulling the engine? Are they difficult to do?
Thanks a bunch!

[BrewCityMusic]

In my limited experience, crank seals are one of those "either they're good or they're not" things, which is good because replacing them is shall we say a LOT less than fun (it involves pulling both the drive clutch and the flywheel off the engine AFTER you pull the engine from the cart, either of which can age you 10 years or more in an afternoon!) ...

Just to test the seals (and as long as your cart is at least partially running) do the following: Jack the cart up so it doesn't run away on you, and run it just above idle at a steady RPM. Spray a little carb cleaner or WD40 into the fan at the front of the motor, and a little more at the rear of the engine where the crankshaft exits the motor - if either procedures result in an increase in RPM's, you have a bad seal.

As to the "good spark", I had one too, until I ran the cart at speed for a few hundred yards, as soon as it would die I'd hit the pedal and she'd start right up again, repeat, repeat, etc until after a few cycles when I'd have to let her cool down for 1/2hr or so then the whole thing would start over again (sound familiar?). Like Dave said, it turned out to be a bad regulator... A quick drive with a DMM hooked up will tell you if that's the issue though - anything above 15v or so at speed is a bad sign.

Another similar issue I had pre-regulator failure was when my Pulsar was damaged by an errant washer left in the engine by the gentleman who did the original rebuild - THAT was purely intermittent though, not a set pattern - probably not relevant here.

Let us know how the voltage test goes, as well as the seal test!

[Cart Rancher]

Thanks for the tips.
I put the cart on blocks and fired it up. The voltage reading went up to 14.8 and then went down and pretty much stayed at 14 volts. I didn't run it very long though. Do you think if I ran it longer the regulator would have more time to heat up and possibly fail?
This cart does not have a fan. Do you mean to squirt into where the flywheel area is? There is a little space between the clutch and engine to where I can actually see where the shaft comes out of the block on the other side.
Are special tools needed to r&r the clutch? I have heard if you do not do it properly damage can happen to the clutch.

[Cart Rancher]

On this unit, I don't have to run it at top speed for it to die. It has never died while running. It's after I stop, and get back on a couple minutes later that it cranks and just won't start. I came back to it after 1/2 hour and 2 hours and it still won't start. After letting it sit overnight, she will fire right up and go. Then after several start and stops it won't start again. Sounds a little different from what you went through.

[BrewCityMusic]

No fan - are you sure? There should be a fan bolted to the flywheel, if there isn't, that could be a REALLY good place to start looking at overheating issues ...

[Cart Rancher]

Best I can tell, no fan. I stuck my fingers in through a hole in the shroud which covers the flywheel. At that point I can feel to fins on the flywheel. On this unit the coil is mounted to the upper flywheel shroud.

[Pocono Country Boy]

Those fins around the outside edge are the fan ;)

[tenn_blue59]

Cart Rancher - another thing to make sure and elliminate would be a loose connection - probably not your issue since it starts the next morning, but ...
On my 2 cycle Ezgo, I was having intermittant cutting out, "poor running," and failure to start when I pushed the pedal.
Turns out a wire going into one of the connectors in the pedal/safety switch wiring was not crimped really well - The vibration of the running motor would let the connector rattle around enough to lose connection and cause the problem sometimes. Was kind of diffcult to find, but easy to fix once we did find it...
You may want to take a close look at your wiring to make sure you can eliminate that possibility...