2005 ezgo gas robin engine popping and missing

[Jimmyflfr]

Hey all I want to run some issues by y’all that I’ve been having with my ezgo gas cart. I’ve been fixing golf cart engines and small engines forever and this thing has got me pretty stumped at the moment. What’s going on is the motor is popping and missing off idle but once it gets going it runs great. Stop it and go to start and it pops and misses like crazy I have to really feather the peda lightly to get it going and it runs great. What I’ve done. Started with new plugs no fix. Adjusted valves several times no difference set at .004. New carb and gaskets . New primary belt actually felt like it helped a little for some reason the old one was worn bad. One thing that’s weird is when I’m starting it if o hold one of the plug wires I get shocked which is weird and it almost sounds like the missing is an ignition issue but it runs great once going. I’m thinking it’s maby a throttle adjustment but I’ve played with them to let the butterfly open sooner and later with no rea help. Compression is 180 in both cylinders . New gas and air filter also. Fuel pump seems good and looks good. What do y’all think? Thanks

[CP241]

I’m not 100% sure on the MCI engines, maybe trig or CM can confirm. But I know for fact the pre mci motors you can buy just the spark plug wires themselves.

There’s no reason you should get shocked touching the wires if they’re good. I’d suspect they’re breaking down and arcing to the bracket or valve cover bolts. If you run the engine so it’s missing in a dark room I’d bet you can see the spark. I’ve replaced the wires in pre mci but never tried on a mci coil. Or you could try wrapping them good in tape and see if it stops.

[Jimmyflfr]

Cp241 thank you. The other night I did that and I could see sparks from the wire base that is shocking me. Then it stopped doing it but still runs bad. It will run great in neutral in all rpm range but in gear it spudders and backfires until I can get it going to higher rpm then it runs great. I’m thinking of just getting a new coil with wires they are cheap. I’m pretty good with motors and it sounds like an ignition miss.

[CP241]

I think you can get just wires. These OEM coils are expensive, and the aftermarket ones suck-diddly-uck. If you can get just the wires and replace them, you should be fine. I’ve done a few pre-mic’s and the wires were like 20 bucks on Amazon

Chances are it’s running fine in neutral because there’s no load in the engine. But the weakened spark isn’t working as well when the engine is loaded so it misses and runs bad. New wires or some creativity with some electrical tape until you can get new wires should put you back in business

[Jimmyflfr]

Just swapped the spark plug wire boots and it’s the one boot that apparently is bad cause when I swap it to the other wire it shocks me on that wire so this may be my problem. I don’t know why it’ll run great once the rpm gets up but not off idle I would think if it was a bad boot arching it would run like crap all the time. The coil I have looks like the wires are fixed into the coil so I don’t think I can just get new wires

[Cartmaster]

I am with CP241 here, As he said, no load at idle, the spark may be sufficient. under load accelerating maybe not, once cruising spark could be sufficient to run smoothly. I guess if you cannot repair/replace the leads, then the only option would be replacing the coil. It may be worth trying an aftermarket one, but you take your chances with those. As CP said, OEM is expensive but may be the only option. I would try to find someone with the same cart and try swapping out the coils to see if it makes a difference before taking out a mortgage for a new coil.

I guess you could smother the top of the coil with instant gasket/RTV sealant to see if it helps.

Maybe there is some moisture where the lead enters the coil and that is causing the arcing?

[CP241]

I’d give the wires a good wrap with electrical tape

[Cartmaster]

How about just spraying WD40 over the coil where the wires protrude. It always worked on my Austin mini's when they got damp!

[CP241]

Originally Posted by Cartmaster

How about just spraying WD40 over the coil where the wires protrude. It always worked on my Austin mini's when they got damp!

I guess those would pretty much qualify as a golf cart. Maybe a golf cart is a little bigger though

I was just targeting the wires because he said they shocked him when he touched them. They’re probably old and dry rotted. But some wd40 on the top of the coil certainly wouldn’t hurt either.