loosing power on hills

[carguybill]

I have an FE290 engine in my DS ClubCar Carryallv and i am loosing power on hills to the point of stalling out. This is something new not an ongoing problem

The situation is when climbing a hill on my driveway the engine slows to the point that the cart begins to buck and eventually stalls. I can see smoke coming the engine just before it stalls.

I replaced the drive belt with a new one, replaced a damaged and leaking fuel line, and Replaced a carboned up spark plug with a new one.

Thinking that probably my problem was the fouled spark plug I replaced it with a new one, did a short test ride down the driveway and had the same issue coming up and the new spark plug was carboned up like the one I removed.

I checked the engine oil on the incline and the dip stick registered no oil, or at least I thought it did, but when i got it back up to flat ground the dip stick registered just a bit below full.

Any ideas will be appreciated.

[Fairtax4me]

Kinda sounds like a clutch problem. Make sure the primary clutch is not sticking closed. Put the cart in maintenance mode and rev the engine and see if the clutch closes smoothly or if it looks jerky or it moves suddenly. It should smoothly engage the belt and then slowly close and pull the belt all the way to about 1/4" of the outer diameter of the clutch. Let off the throttle and it should then smoothly open back up as the engine slows down and when it stops it should have about 1/16" of room either side of the belt. If it stays touching the belt or it quickly opens right before the engine stops then it probably needs to be replaced. Check the sheaves for wear. If they're grooved or have a wavy appearance it's best to replace the clutch.

Check the spring in the secondary clutch. If it's broken the secondary will stay open and will cause a similar issue. Usually that also causes the cart to shudder or jerk a bit on take-off. If the belt is down between the sheaves there is a problem. With a new belt the top edge of the belt should be even with or up to 1/8" outside the outer edge of the sheaves.