1986 gas club car stock carburetor settings, black soot on spark plug

[Cruise Master]

Also I'm all about doing the cheap and easy stuff first. If that engine has really been sitting for awhile then your rings might be stuck. Change the oil and use the correct amount of Rislone CLICKY for the oil that that engine takes.

Put new non ethanol premium gas and spark plugs into it and do some joy riding. See if that settles things down.

On Edit:

I'm assuming you got a 4 stroke motor there. Sorry for (ignore the Rislone) the post if you're running a two stroke motor.

[bigcee]

We put new gas in it. I then rented a compression tester and consistently got 40 psi off of the cylinder....which seems quite low!

And I pulled the spark plug again after cleaning it and the carburetor, and the plug has dry black soot on it again, like in the fuel rich picture on the previous page.

Arrgh!

[Cruise Master]

40psi is very low alright. Don't know that motor so I can not say what it should be. Did find this LINK.

Seems like you're not getting much input so I'll keep adding if you don't mind. If nothing else it will bump your thread and get more eyes looking at. Maybe someone will chime in.

Did you do the carb cleaner trick I talked about. A light mist across the front of the carb only. If it does not speed up then it's running too rich. Turn the adjustment screw clockwise 1/4-1/2 turns and repeat. Stop when it speeds up, then turn counterclockwise 1/4 turn.

Also for my own knowledge are we talking two stroke or four stoke motor?

[bigcee]

4-stroke, and thanks for the continued input!
I haven't tried the carb cleaner test yet; hopefully I can get to that soon. :)

[bigcee]

I did drop some oil into the spark plug hole and ran the compression test again. It went up to 50 psi the first time, and then went back down to 40 psi after that...
I'm guessing valves and rings then?