1989 par car power loss

[KendallKarts]

Hey guys,

This is my first post in here. I want to start off letting everyone know what a wonderfully helpful forum this is. I’ve found the original manual for my cart here, and much more great information that I’ve put to good use! Now, I’m at a loss for where to go with my cart.

It’s a 1989 Columbia par car, 2 cycle oil injection. When I bought it, I test drove it on flat ground, and it ran find. Brought it on my trailer an hour back to the small town that I live in, (which is a town built on a hill). When starting the motor, I really have to choke it to get it to start.

1. Is the need to choke a common practice in these old 2 strokes?

2. It will start after being choked and will run fine, but only in FORWARD, no REVERSE.

3. It runs really well on a flat ground. But as soon as I put it under a load (going up a hill) I seem to lose quite a bit of power, even on a small hill. Small hills I’d imagine I lose 40-60% power, and larger hills I would assume I lose upwards of 80-85% power.

Is this normal being an old two stroke, or am I completely missing something?

Also a side note, I converted it away from the oil injection to
Run on mix gas. I’ve read many different opinions on fuel/oil ratio. I’m currently running a 50:1 ratio, but I’ve seen many people saying to run it super thin at 128:1 ratio. Any truth to this also.

I’m sorry for rambling on, but figured I’d try to fit everything into a single thread. I’m sure you all will come through with the information I’m looking for, and I cannot wait to hear what you have to say!

Thanks for reading, and god bless!

[Lochlin]

Easy stuff first. Spec on the oil mix is 85 to 1 (1.5 oz per gallon). I run 100 to 1 as I have a number of 2 cycle machines and 100 to 1 is about average for all of them. I am not about to make and maintain multiple cans of gas. There is a bit of tolerance with oil ratios and 100 to 1 is close enough. Now, 50 to 1 seems a little heavy and that may need to a gummed up muffler. You may want to lean that out.

Speaking of lean, having to choke a lot is a tell tale sign of faulty crank seals. Furthermore, losing power up a hill is also a symptom of your fuel delivery system not being able to deliver enough fuel under heavy loads. Check out the Fuel Draw sticky at the top of the HD forum for a lot of detail. That info applies to Columbias as well.

The forward / reverse thing is likely a key switch issue. These carts share the same ignition circuit for forward and reverse. The only difference between the two is that the key switch changes which way the current flows. Knowing, if things are ok in forward then everything in your circuit has to be ok. As such, the switch is likely bad. Be warned, those are pricey. Check the large cables going to and from the starter / gen as well. If the ones for reverse are bad that could be the issue but, again, it's more likely the switch.