1st cart!! 1989 ezgo gas

[gary85]

Wanna first say thank you for this awesome site!!!
And again for any help I may receive!!!

I just bought my very first cart...89 ez go gas. It had been sitting up for a year or so and in need of some TLC, but for $300 I could not resist the challenge. Aired up the tires on it and rolled it up on a trailer and brought her home. Of course it wasn't running...beggers can't be choosers.
I proceeded to buy a cranking battery, spark plug, some new wires and connectors, gave her a good cleaning, new gas and checked filters.
Well upon trying to start I had some trouble with gas, so I put a little in head to see if it would hit and it did..woohoo!! Went ahead and checked all fuel lines and tested pump for fuel ejection and all was good. Took off carb and gave it a good cleaning and tried again. Had to eventually pull off breather and hold my hand over intake to get some fuel moving into motor, this worked and it finally fired up. Still after tinkering with it a good bit it needs to be fully choked to run. I made a few laps around the yard with it. The choke, of course, would not stay closed so I ended up tightening cable to keep it close. Now the cart runs pretty good.
I have read many threads here on this and pretty sure that its the seals. Any other ideas would be welcome.

Now I need to know a couple of things:
1. Will it hurt to keep running it with choked closed?
2. If I need to order seals, what engine would I most likely have?
3. Are there any .pdf manuals that would help in the changing of the seals?

That should do it for now...and again thanks in advance!!!

[sccowboy]

you should have a 3PG engine. I had one and ther are powerful when they run right. Have you pulled the carb and completely cleaned it? I would do that for sure. Sounds like the main jet may be blocked. Do that and post the results.
Good luck!

[dock98]

welcome to BGW. gary85.

[gary85]

Yes, carb was pulled and cleaned, all looked OK.

[sccowboy]

How about the reed valves? And yes it could be the crank seals. You could smoke check it by removing the fuel pump and injecting smoke into the crankcase. if any emerges from around the crank seals then......bingo there you go!

[gary85]

Well now...u have stumped me!!! I swore I took it apart as apart can be, and never seen anything close to a reed.

[sccowboy]

hahaha I have to think on it a bit to see if I can remember what manual show it, but, if you go to some of the site sponsors and search out the 3PG reed valves then you will see what they look like. They are located under the intake manifold and are partly responsible for the intake and exhaust movement of the air/fuel mixture. kinda llike the old pitcher pumps you see in the country. Let me see if I can find the manual page with that on it.

[sccowboy]

Originally Posted by gary85

Well now...u have stumped me!!! I swore I took it apart as apart can be, and never seen anything close to a reed.

Originally Posted by TLCLLC

The compression is low but even if it was normal that would not tell the whole story. A 2 cycle engine lives and breaths on the ability of the engine to build crankcase suction and pressure not just cylinder pressure. Each time the piston goes up the crankcase has to be tight enough to build a vacuum to draw in the fuel air mixture from the carb. Then when the piston goes down the crankcase has to be tight enough to build pressure that forces that fuel air mixture up passages into the cylinder. If the crankshaft seals, or crankcase gaskets are leaking or the reed valves on the carb manifold are not sealing your engine will not have the crankcase pressures and vacuum necessary to transfer the fuel air mixture. Even if the piston, rings and cylinder are capable of 100+ pounds of compression and the crankcase seals are shot it will not run right and possibly not at all. The necessity for the crankcase to be able to build suction and pressure is why the previous posting from the gentlemen that replaced his crankshaft seals corrected his problem. If you are sure everything else like spark and fuel are functioning as they should I would recommend you have your crankcase seals replaced.

That was from an old thread that may splain it better n me !!

[sccowboy]

to put it more simple....between the carb and the head is a curved aluminum horn looking thing. where it bolts to the head (inside it) is where the reed valve set is. I would maybe lean more toward the crank seals though. I have a new set that I won't be needing anymore that I can hook you up with if u need them, although they are pretty cheap. I also have the engine grommets (new) that I never used on my 89. Once you get it running, have a good look at the mteal vase wherer the engine bolts to ithe frame. Those 2 strokes notoriously cracked down there and will drive you nuts with the rattling they can produce from those cracks. I had a buddy of mine lay in round stock and weld that base down in mine. Just a side note!! I may have some other stuff in the shop if u need it Ill have to look.

[gary85]

OK... I think I know what your saying..like rod valves?...that should be located, not in carb, but on cylinder?
I never got that far into it to disassembly to see those.
Also the compression is unknown, because I loaned my tester out and never saw it again. But with plug out you cannot keep the hole covered with fingure without it blowing it off.

WOW u are fast!!! And thanks!! Who knows what I made need to buy from u when this is all over. OK...gonna check reed valves tomorrow and possibly try the smoke thru fuel pump idea...will definitely post results.