Back on the Club Car Carryall UTV

I've posted on this Club Car before but I've made ZERO progress with it despite changing everything in the ignition system and fuel system.

Every time I change a component, I step on the pedal and VROOM! It comes to life instantly and runs like a top. For a time. Maybe minutes. Maybe a couple of days. Then it's back to its old tricks, just sitting there crank-crank-crank, sometimes eventually starting. Maybe choke helps. Maybe not. No rhyme or reason to it. I can choke it and it will fire and I can hold the choke and it just sits there crank-crank-crank.

It has:
1. New ignitor and rev limiter.
2. New ignition coil.
3. New spark plug.
4. New fuel lines and fuel filter.
5. New fuel pump.
6. New carburetor (the final straw).

NONE of these replacements was at random. They were all done after troubleshooting and doing research and following the symptoms. It's had every symptom. No spark.

I pull the fuel line off the carb and crank it, fuel SPRAYS out the hose. So the pump is working and the carb is getting fuel.

I pull the spark plug, and it has bright blue spark.

I open the drain on the carb and fuel runs out in a steady stream so there is fuel in the carb.

The thing it's doing now is after I open the carb drain and "blood let," it fires right up and runs perfectly... for about 3 seconds. Then I "blood let" it again, and it runs perfectly... for about 3 seconds. It will do this as many times as I drain fuel from the carb.

Can someone please clue me in on what is going on? I've gone round and round with troubleshooting and replacing parts and troubleshooting and replacing parts, and there's nothing left to troubleshoot and replace.

Is everything okay with the ignition switch? Could you short wire it
temporarily?

I've checked for spark dozens of times since replacing the coil. It's had bright blue spark every time. The ignition switch is fine.

Put a spark gap checker on the plug lead. Make sure it is making that blue spark as it quits running. another option is to shut
off the fuel at the carb and run it of propane from a hand held bottle with the air tip removed, directed into the intake. If it
keeps running you know it is fuel related. Jim

I have a lot of Club Cars with Kawasaki engines and they're pretty reliable. As my uncle said, It's either fuel or spark if the engine won't run. If you're messing around with fuel but
you always have a fiery spark, it's probably fuel. Check carb, air cleaner and all of that system. Club Car manuals have a fairly decent troubleshooting diagram. That being said, my crew
has ruined a couple engines because the air cleaner box was compromised and not fully latched closed. Needless to say, - didn't make me happy.

Check the primary circuit from the coil to
the points. Should read voltage and no
voltage as the points open and close. I had
a similar situation where the wire under
the distributor plate was intermittently
shorting out.

It sounds like a carb I had that the
needle valve was sticking closed. But
with a new carb, that should have fixed
it. It sounds fuel related. Pour a little
gas in the carb or use starting fluid.
Starts? Or if not, drain carb and unhook
gas line, dry the plugs, starts now? It
was flooding.

No points. Electronic ignition.

Put new fuel lines on it if there rubber
I had one that had a bad place in the
fuel line sometimes it would run
sometimes it wouldnt it had a piece
inside that at times would cut off the
flow

(quoted from post at 18:53:18 10/25/21)

I open the drain on the carb and fuel runs out in a steady stream so there is fuel in the carb.

The thing it's doing now is after I open the carb drain and "blood let," it fires right up and runs perfectly... for about 3 seconds. Then I "blood let" it again, and it runs perfectly... for about 3 seconds. It will do this as many times as I drain fuel from the carb.
.

Click to expand...

New carb does not guarantee a good carb with good float adjusted properly or a good float needle or seat.
I am voting on a flooding issue too.

Is new carb a chinese made one via ebay or amazon for $19.97?

When it starts and runs for 3 seconds, then dies, any black smoke?

What does the plug say, wet, sooty, dry? Wet or sooty, it's flooding.

Any gas in the oil? If it's been flooding it may have raised the level to the
point gas and oil are entering the crank case vent and going into the carb
throat.

Does running with or without the air cleaner in place matter?

Try pinching off the fuel line, see if it will run out the gas in the bowl, then
die when the fuel line is unclamped. If so the needle valve is not closing.

What kind of fuel pump does it have? Electric? Too much pressure?

had a gas one here, would get gas in oil and cause it to mess up running, it finally crashed...did everything to it..carb kit, new carb, spark plugs, new fuel pumps notice I said pumps finally went electric....

(quoted from post at 03:27:54 10/26/21) had a gas one here, would get gas in oil and cause it to mess up running, it finally crashed...did everything to it..carb kit, new carb, spark plugs, new fuel pumps notice I said pumps finally went electric....

Click to expand...

Good luck with that. We started with electric and it was nothing but corroded battery cables, posts rotting right off the batteries, constant problems getting the charger to work.

I put all new batteries and all new cables in, and it sat all winter with the seat off and was fine. Thought I was in the clear. Put the seat back on and within a week ALL the terminals were blue from corrosion and the cart would not move.

(quoted from post at 19:35:35 10/25/21) When it starts and runs for 3 seconds, then dies, any black smoke?

What does the plug say, wet, sooty, dry? Wet or sooty, it's flooding.

Any gas in the oil? If it's been flooding it may have raised the level to the
point gas and oil are entering the crank case vent and going into the carb
throat.

Does running with or without the air cleaner in place matter?

Try pinching off the fuel line, see if it will run out the gas in the bowl, then
die when the fuel line is unclamped. If so the needle valve is not closing.

What kind of fuel pump does it have? Electric? Too much pressure?

Click to expand...

Can't see the exhaust. It's under the cart, and I have to be sitting in the seat facing forward or else I get run over by the cart. It has a cab and a dump bed so you really can't see what's going on.

The oil smells like gas, but every gasoline engine I've ever encountered has oil that smells like gas. Even brand new engines. I guess I have a sensitive nose. Oil level is right on.

It will not run with or without the air cleaner right now. The air cleaner was the one constant throughout this ordeal. It seems like if the air cleaner was the problem, letting fuel out of the bowl would not make it run. It seems like if the air cleaner were the problem, none of the other fixes I've made would have made it run.