How hot is hot?

[Texas001]

My cart seems to be running hot, but I don't know how hot one runs being relatively new to the golf cart game. I used to race motorcycles and my air cooled motors would not be too hot to touch the cooling fins but my cart is too hot to touch. But the motorcycle cooling fins were much larger than the cart cooling fins. Actually the cart motor cooling fins will sizzle a drop of water after driven for 10 minutes. Can anyone shed light on this? Appreciate it. Thanks

[big mule]

Originally Posted by Texas001

My cart seems to be running hot, but I don't know how hot one runs being relatively new to the golf cart game. I used to race motorcycles and my air cooled motors would not be too hot to touch the cooling fins but my cart is too hot to touch. But the motorcycle cooling fins were much larger than the cart cooling fins. Actually the cart motor cooling fins will sizzle a drop of water after driven for 10 minutes. Can anyone shed light on this? Appreciate it. Thanks

That sounds like it's running way too warm,have you removed you fan shroud & covers to clean grass,leaves,dirt etc.. from the cooling fins & flywheel?A lot of debris gets sucked into them especially when driving off road.

[Texas001]

Originally Posted by big mule

That sounds like it's running way too warm,have you removed you fan shroud & covers to clean grass,leaves,dirt etc.. from the cooling fins & flywheel?A lot of debris gets sucked into them especially when driving off road.

I will take off the fan housing and check it out. I just got the cart in early December and haven't run it too much off road but don't know if it was cleaned up before I bought it. Thanks for the advice.

[Texas001]

I pulled the shroud and found no dirt, weeds, grass or anything there that would restrict air flow. Blew out the area between the covers over the spark plugs and all around all the fins. No dust or dirt came out. Could there be something that I am missing? Anyone else have found something that I am missing? My brother in law says his runs just as hot as mine. He has a 2001 EZGO which looks just like mine. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[rib33024]

Did you check the plug to see if it is running lean, that will make it run hot,and did you remove the covers on around the fins on the head, or did you just try to blow the dirt out with out removing the plastic covers??

[Texas001]

Originally Posted by rib33024

Did you check the plug to see if it is running lean, that will make it run hot,and did you remove the covers on around the fins on the head, or did you just try to blow the dirt out with out removing the plastic covers??

New things to do and check. I will pull the covers. My covers are metal. I checked out the plugs. They are AC Delco R44XLS and cross over to NGK BP5ES Shouldn't they be BP4ES. They don't look like they are running too hot, actually look like they are cold running as the tips are dark and not the gray/tan color you would look for. Too rich a gas/air mixture?

[berthasquare]

Check for clogged exhaust. Also, it is rather normal to have a relatively hot engine after running it at some distance non-stop. Golf carts are not designed (I believe) to run continuously for 5 miles non-stop. Also, if your cart has been in storage for some time and you are just running it now, there is tendency to get a hot engine.

[seahunter]

Since 2 strokes relay on the fuel to keep the combustion chambers temps down, the best way to determine if it operating at the right temp is to look at the plugs. Tan is the color you want. Oily is too cold and brown to red is too hot.

Can't touch the metal shrouds if the motor has been run any distance at all.

[Texas001]

Originally Posted by seahunter

Since 2 strokes relay on the fuel to keep the combustion chambers temps down, the best way to determine if it operating at the right temp is to look at the plugs. Tan is the color you want. Oily is too cold and brown to red is too hot.

Can't touch the metal shrouds if the motor has been run any distance at all.

I have replaced the sparkplugs with cooler plugs, heat range 4 instead of the 5s that were in there. Cleaned up everything else in to fin area. Haven't had a chance to test drive as the weather here in south Texas has been cold. Today it never got above 40. Now I know that may not be cold for some parts of the good old USA but still it is too cold to test drive and the cold air would probably serve to cool the engine more than normal anyway. To be warmer next week and I will check it out then. Also I have a temp gage that I can attach to a fin and see just how hot it is. Thanks for your help.

[seahunter]

The correct plug for that motor is the NGK-BP5HS. The ES your using is an automotive plug. It extends 1/4" further into the combustion chamber than specified.