harley golf cart wont run

[jkirk]

i am having troube with my 80's harley golf cart it will idle but will not go in forward or reverse we put a new carb kit in it and checked piston and rings and they all look good if you have any information on what might be wrong it would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

[tew45]

The cart does not idle. You may be hearing the starter running. Check Compression, it should be around 90PSI, then see if you have a spark, if you have compression and spark drop a little fuel in the spark plug hole and see if it fires. If the engine fires you have a fuel delivery problem. Spark problem: bad coil, points not set correctly, bad timing, bad spark plug. Fuel delivery: Lack of prime, fuel line air leak, reed valve bad, fuel pump bad, no vacuum to fuel pump, Bad crankcase seals. Your problem has many possible answers. Download a manual, check for fuel, compression, and spark then we may be able to help you more! More data is also necessary. Need exact year of the cart so we will know what ignition system and carburetor you have on your cart.

[jkirk]

we checked the compression its right at 90 psi and we have good spark we have a tillotson carb that was just redone. im getting plenty of gas to the sparkplug its usually pretty wet after about 5 min of trying to start it.

[Whitespider]

Looking at it logically...
90 PSI compression is good, plenty enough for it to run.
A "redone" carb and wet plug indicates it is getting fuel, and also suggests there isn't any crankcase leak serious enough to keep it from running.
I'm assuming you've made sure it's getting air??
So I gotta' believe what you call "good spark" ain't so good after all. Pulling the plug and "looking" at spark jumping across the gap will not tell you if it is "good" spark.

A "bad" spark plug may appear to "fire" just fine in open atmosphere, but under stress/load/compression it may not fire at all. A bad condenser will allow a plug to fire in open atmosphere, but put the plug under cylinder stress and you get no fire... and often, if you pull the cover, you'll see sparks jumping around the points if the condenser is bad. A coil and/or coil wire can act the same way when demand is increased (i.e. plug under stress/load). And finally, even "good" spark is worthless if it ain't delivered at the proper time.

I'd start with double-checking the timing and making sure all electrical connections are clean and tight at the points and from the coil all the way back to the battery (that includes the micro-switch and key switch). Next I'd try a new plug... points and condenser... then a coil/plug wire... finally a coil. Without some sophisticated test equipment you have no possible way of knowing if you have "good" spark...

[tew45]

If you have a point ignition system, It sounds like timing is off.