G16a strarts, sputters and dies

[kksi]

I have a G16a 1999 golf cart that starts, sputters and dies. When this happens I pull the choke which temporarily helps but then again dies. I am not a mechanic but have tried spraying the carburetor with cleaner and this helped for a couple of weeks but now again at the sputtering stage.

I put my hand over the exhaust while in neutral and there was not much air at all coming out so I'm wondering if this problem is not fuel related but more engine related.

Thanks for your responses

[dougmcp]

I'm not a gas cart guy but trusting that you have good compression, I would bet that the needle/jet is varnished up and needs to be cleaned. You would have to slightly disassemble the carb to get to the jet.

[Michael Eddie]

Doug is right, your carburetor is dirty, mainly the jets. Either take it apart fully and clean with carburetor cleaner, or replace the carburetor preferably with a OEM one since the aftermarket carburetors are really junk.

[kksi]

Thanks for your response. I am not a mechanic and have never taken apart a carburetor but can usually figure things out by common sense. My question is to whether a layman with minimal tools can clean a carburetor. If you could give simple instructions if this is a doable job I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

[Michael Eddie]

It gets trickey when you mess with the float, as the pieces are held in place with pressure and springs, not screws. If you are a careful person you will be able to take it apart and then put it back together by remembering where everything goes. I do not have a diagram of your carburetor, but here is a diagram of an EZGO diagram just to prepare you for what you are getting in to. http://www.golfcartsforum.com/golf-c...r-diagram.html And remember, the mixture screw(with the spring on it) gets set at 1.5 turns out when you are finished.

[kksi]

ok I guess I'm kind of a whimp and although I seriously thought about tearing apart this carburetor and trying to fix it myself I decided to let the experts handle this. In addition to the carburetor needing a total cleaning I was told ( which I already knew) that I need a new clutch. I've done some investigation and found that cartsplusparts will be offering a clutch rebuild kit in about a week or so ( do not offer one now) for about $50 which sounds great to me. The Yamaha dealer wanted $600+ to put in a new clutch. I talked to the Yamaha dealer and he says that he will rebuild the clutch using these parts ( says he has never rebuilt a clutch only installed new ones) and wants 3 1/2 to 4 hours labor to do the carb and clutch. Is this a fair amount of labor hours ? Opinions please before I go any further?.....thanks

[dougmcp]

IMO if the direction you want to go is to have the experts do it, I would have them clean the carb and adjust it so that it runs well.
The clutch is a whole different story.
Although it may need rebuilding the cart may do what you want it to do for a few more years but that's anybody's guess as to how bad it is.
Consider $600 for a new clutch or $50 plus 4 hours labor at $100 is just about the price of a new one. This seems like a toss up to me if you're not into doing the labor part.
I'm an electric guy so I'd wait until the gas guys have an opportunity to comment.

[Michael Eddie]

kksi, I did not see if you mentioned it, but about the clutch, we are talking about the driven clutch, not the drive clutch correct? Also what is wrong with it currently?

[kksi]

Im not sure what you mean by drive or driven clutch. If I remember the conversation with the Yamaha shop they said the drive belt will not move because of the bad clutch. Again cartpartsplus is coming out with a clutch rebuild kit that has rollers, pins etc for $50. If I add two hours of labor thats $140 for a total of about $200. Thats a lot cheaper than $600. Will this rebuilt clutch last ?

[Michael Eddie]

Im not sure what you mean by drive or driven clutch. If I remember the conversation with the Yamaha shop they said the drive belt will not move because of the bad clutch. Again cartpartsplus is coming out with a clutch rebuild kit that has rollers, pins etc for $50. If I add two hours of labor thats $140 for a total of about $200. Thats a lot cheaper than $600. Will this rebuilt clutch last ?

I mean the engine mounted clutch (drive) or the transmission/rear axle mounted clutch (driven). I know you knew some stuff, but I wont assume too much anymore

I would have the shop dissemble the clutch first to see what wore out. If it is common wear just install new ramps (rollers as you say) which you can buy for $2 each (total of usually 3) and is probably the only things that need replacing in the clutch (built to wear and be replaced over time) unless a clip popped and damaged the insides somehow (which you would probably need to end up replacing the whole clutch or whole sheave if it broke something inside)

6 bucks is better than $50. and $146 is better than $200. Yes the repairs will last.

[kksi]

ok its the driven clutch and I went to the shop to inspect and it was in pieces. Part of yearly service is to grease the rollers which I unfortunately just learned and probably the main reason for the breakage. The rollers were bone dry. They want to fix the clutch first and see if the carb needs cleaning afterwards as the clutch would not engage thus not allowing the engine to start. Not sure if this makes sense to me as if the cart was put in neutral wouldnt the cart still start even with clutch problems? Thanks for all your responses and help

[Michael Eddie]

ok its the driven clutch and I went to the shop to inspect and it was in pieces. Part of yearly service is to grease the rollers which I unfortunately just learned and probably the main reason for the breakage. The rollers were bone dry. They want to fix the clutch first and see if the carb needs cleaning afterwards as the clutch would not engage thus not allowing the engine to start. Not sure if this makes sense to me as if the cart was put in neutral wouldnt the cart still start even with clutch problems? Thanks for all your responses and help

Yes the engine will always start no matter what is wrong with the driven clutch. It might not move, or it might make a ton of grinding noises, but the engine will run and run strong.

[kksi]

ok thanks for the reply. For now my last question is labor hours. What do you think is a fair amount of labor hours for rebuilding the clutch and disassembling and cleaning the carburetor ?

[Michael Eddie]

I am not sure, I would say reasonable about $60 per hour since pulling the driven clutch usually does not involve any special pullers. If they look a bit slow and looks like he needs the business, for example if he gives you the price (before doing work on it) for $275 total, kindly tell him that you need all the work done, but only have $225 cash to spend at the moment, and chew him down. If he accepts the discounted deal, keep on top of him to get it done if it take a few days so that he does not try and pull a fast one on you and ask for more money down the road.

[kksi]

Thanks again for your response. As you can probably tell I am not real comfortable with this Yamaha dealership but unfortunately they are the only game in town. On top of that I have read on line reviews of this business which are not good to say the least. They informed me that they may have to cut a drive belt to rebuild the clutch which seems illogical to me. Can you advise your opinion?

[Michael Eddie]

Thanks again for your response. As you can probably tell I am not real comfortable with this Yamaha dealership but unfortunately they are the only game in town. On top of that I have read on line reviews of this business which are not good to say the least. They informed me that they may have to cut a drive belt to rebuild the clutch which seems illogical to me. Can you advise your opinion?

Unless you can do it yourself, you are at their mercy. The drive belt will slip off but it needs pressure to do it. If they have to cut it, figure it as a early replacement since they usually need it over time. Make sure they know what they are doing because in most driven clutches it gives you a choice of what you want between more or less torque and the spring setting, if you are satisfied with the torque your cart has now, tell them to make sure they set the spring back in the same position.

[kksi]

I had the clutch rebuilt and the carburetor rebuilt also and upon my carts return and test drive it works well except it now backfires!! If I just run a short trip its fine but if I do a mile or so run and then slow down for a stop it backfires. Also when I come to a complete stop it will also backfire a second or so after a complete stop. Can you advise what is causing this?? Thanks all for your help

[Michael Eddie]

I had the clutch rebuilt and the carburetor rebuilt also and upon my carts return and test drive it works well except it now backfires!! If I just run a short trip its fine but if I do a mile or so run and then slow down for a stop it backfires. Also when I come to a complete stop it will also backfire a second or so after a complete stop. Can you advise what is causing this?? Thanks all for your help

First of all, if a shop did it and you are able to get the cart back to them, I would return it to them and let them know that it is backfiring and it never did this before and they should fix it under warranty.

It is probably being caused by the carburetor flap being held open a little bit, if it is open just a little, it will cause a backfire upon putting your foot back on the pedal.