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Old 02-14-2020, 04:53 PM   #1
Cdk
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Default 2004 Precedent seems low on power

I'll start by saying I'm an electric guy, so bare with me.

I have a 2004 Precedent, FE290 engine. It's lifted with 23" tires. The cart doesn't seem to have much for power, won't do more than 13mph on flat ground. It has lots of trouble climbing hills with 4 people on it. I've cleaned the carb, changed the plug, new belt. It has the brown wire on the rev limiter unhooked, and the governor is bypassed. I can put the cart in service mode, floor the gas, and it still seems like it's not revving to the moon like it should. I've checked with my hand to make sure the throttle blade is opening all the way.

Motor has 145 psi compression, so I don't think it's getting tired. Pulled the fuel line off and spun the motor, seems like plenty of fuel coming off the fuel pump.

Why won't this thing rev?
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Old 02-14-2020, 06:50 PM   #2
CP241
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Default Re: 2004 Precedent seems low on power

145psi is fairly low. I'd adjust the valves first and then recheck compression. Both of my fe290's are close to 170psi.

Is this cart new to you? Or have you had it for a while?
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Old 02-14-2020, 07:04 PM   #3
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Default Re: 2004 Precedent seems low on power

I did check and set the valves, but didn’t recheck compression. Will do that as soon as I’m back in the shop.

Long story, but I built the cart for a customer years ago, and now we’ve bought it back from him. It wasn’t a speed demon back then, and now it seems worse.
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Old 02-14-2020, 11:45 PM   #4
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Default Re: 2004 Precedent seems low on power

Does it run any better if you pull the intake hose off the carb?
Make sure the air filter isn’t full of leaves or acorns. Probably should pull the carb off and give it a good cleaning as well. And it always helps to put a new spark plug in. If it starts at all valve lash is probably OK, but that only takes 2 minutes to check, so worth it to make a quick adjustment if needed.
145 isn’t great but it’s not going to cause a lack of rev. Got a couple old (early 90s) 290s that will still run well over 20mph on stock 18” tires if I wind the governor out on them.
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Old 02-15-2020, 11:36 AM   #5
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Default Re: 2004 Precedent seems low on power

Thanks for the reply!

-Motor runs the same with intake hose removed.
-Air filter is good.
-Spark plug is new and looks nice and clean when I pull it, not fouling up.
-Carb was just cleaned.
-Valve last was just set, motor starts up perfectly

It just won’t rev like it should.
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Old 02-15-2020, 03:44 PM   #6
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Default Re: 2004 Precedent seems low on power

Possible there is an obstruction in the muffler, and the easiest way to check that is probably to remove all the mounting bolts for the muffler, and loosen the two nuts that hold the muffler pipe to the head, then pull the muffler out from the head a little. Crank it in service mode and see if it will freely rev. If it does, either get a new muffler, or cut the pipe right in front of the muffler body, remove the main body and run a piece of flexible pipe or bend some conduit or something down and out kind if in the general direction the muffler normally points, and then take it for a drive and see if it runs better/has more power.
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Old 02-15-2020, 04:08 PM   #7
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Default Re: 2004 Precedent seems low on power

Can you rev it by hand if you open the carb throttle manually? It's possible you've got either a bad cable, governor issue, or just flat out the cables/throttle/linkages are not adjusted properly.
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Old 02-15-2020, 04:37 PM   #8
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Default Re: 2004 Precedent seems low on power

Quote:
Originally Posted by CP241 View Post
Can you rev it by hand if you open the carb throttle manually? It's possible you've got either a bad cable, governor issue, or just flat out the cables/throttle/linkages are not adjusted properly.


Yeah checked that. Like I said above, I’m opening the throttle blade manually with my hand while holding the pedal to the floor, to make sure it’s wide open
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Old 02-16-2020, 11:26 AM   #9
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Default Re: 2004 Precedent seems low on power

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fairtax4me View Post
Possible there is an obstruction in the muffler, and the easiest way to check that is probably to remove all the mounting bolts for the muffler, and loosen the two nuts that hold the muffler pipe to the head, then pull the muffler out from the head a little. Crank it in service mode and see if it will freely rev. If it does, either get a new muffler, or cut the pipe right in front of the muffler body, remove the main body and run a piece of flexible pipe or bend some conduit or something down and out kind if in the general direction the muffler normally points, and then take it for a drive and see if it runs better/has more power.
I will definitely check that next.

I may have unrealistic expectations of gas cart performance, but a stock 48v club car with the same lift and tires will blow the doors off this thing, so I’m sure something is wrong with it.
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Old 02-16-2020, 11:38 AM   #10
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Default Re: 2004 Precedent seems low on power

It wont be a rocket off the line, but it should be able to get itself up to speed pretty decent. On 23s it should be rolling about 20mph easy.
If it wont rev to the limiter in neutral something engine related is wrong. Usually a lack of rev means there's some obstruction and the engine just can't breathe. Possible it's a valve timing issue, but checking that would be the next step after checking everything external.
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