Honda powered Go cart Mystery!?

[Guest human4m]

Yeah, so it's not a Venture... But I can't figure it out. I put together a go cart for my kids, using a single seater frame, and a Honda 5.5hp engine I got from Craigslist. I got everything together and buttoned up and apparently it's a Naskart. You can only turn left!!! If you make a right turn, the engine just shuts off! You can turn left all day long (which the kids are getting bored with) but turning right means I have to walk across an acre of land to pull start it again.

 

Here's what I've checked, feel free to make suggestions...

 

Oil level is good. (Thought there might be an oil-level kill switch that was tripping when oil shifted to the left side)

 

Gas tank is full.

 

Cleaned the jet on the carb, and put new gaskets on it. (Yes, I'm running SeaFoam)

 

Checked kill switch. (Thought maybe the wires could be grounding out on turns)

 

I'm running out of ideas (and tired of walking across the field.) I'm open to suggestions!

[Red Rider]

What side is the drive on? Or is it in the middle? do you have a picture of the cart?

[Guest human4m]

I don't have a picture of it with me. (I'm at work) The drive is on the left side (Left side if you're sitting on it.)

[gibvel]

Most Mowers, now a days, have the safety bar that you have to hold down to be able to start the engine and keep it running. Wonder if something like this might figure in to your problem.

[Kregerdoodle]

sounds like a short in kill switch wires, I would check them again real close, or even run new wire to make sure...

[pegscraper]

Sounds like maybe a fuel slosh in the bowl problem. I'll ask what might sound like a silly question - is the carburetor setting in its intended orientation - upside is up? What was the intended purpose of the engine? If it was designed for a lawn tractor or something, maybe the carb wasn't designed to handle the sideways force a go cart can put on it and has no way to handle fuel slosh. Just an idea.

[Monty]

Try this real quick....

 

unhook the kill switch wires from the engine, so that nothing can kill the magneto.

 

 

Then, YOU take it for a ride(because you won't be able to kill it), and make some right turns. That will rule out the wiring, at least. You'll have to choke it out or pull the plug wire to kill it.

[Guest human4m]

The motor was originally on a Go cart, when it was brand new. This symptom actually started on its own. Right turns weren't an issue for the first 2 weeks of riding. Maybe I SHOULD double check the kill switch wires. It has 2 kills, one is the regular switch on the motor, and the other is the 'push-here-and-risk-a-nice-jolt' button on the spark plug that will ground it out. The crazy thing is, if you make the right-turn, and it starts to cut out, turning back left doesn't 'undo' the shutdown sequence. Then again, maybe it's becoming a little electromagnet and holding it in the 'kill' position once it touches. Maybe I'm losing too much sleep over a go kart.

 

I apparently had a dream that I couldn't fix a Roomba once... Wife said I woke her up talking in my sleep. She said I was pretty mad that I couldn't fix it.... I've never even touched a Roomba!

 

Back on track-

 

Unfortunately I can't take it for a ride. At 6' and 250lbs, I can't squeeze into the thing. If the Boss wasn't brewin' a baby I'd have her do it...

[utadventure]

This definitely has risk involved but... jack it (and maybe suspend it also) so that you can operate the go kart without it moving.

 

With the kart up, you can turn the steering left and right and try to reproduce the shutdown. Maybe try at a few different RPM's. This could help determine if it's wheel position or the shift in inertia like the carb bowl or debris in the gas tank.

 

Dave

[93 venture]

Has it got a low oil level switch?

[MLCRIDER]

Have a lawnboy mower that is NOT selfpropelled but did the same thing ran great when pushing it straight but when I turned around with it, it would die out, after many hours of frustration my neighbor convinced me to change the magnitoe, so I bought one, when I went install it I found the clamp holding it on was loose, which on the lawnboy provided the ground so I cleaned it up tightened it down returned the new one, that was 5 years ago no problems to this day might be worth a look.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Can you put it up on stands of some kind that let you run the motor and tilt the frame side to side?

 

You might be able to tilt the frame while the motor is running and figure out if the shut-down is related to centrifugal pull to the left or right, or a situation where the steering, frame flex, suspension action, wiring, fuel tank outlet, or some other anomaly is causing it.

 

Good luck!

 

[Guest human4m]

Has it got a low oil level switch?

 

I don't know, does it?

 

I'm not too savvy on the Honda motors... Nonetheless, the oil level is good.

[Guest human4m]

Can you put it up on stands of some kind that let you run the motor and tilt the frame side to side?

 

You might be able to tilt the frame while the motor is running and figure out if the shut-down is related to centrifugal pull to the left or right, or a situation where the steering, frame flex, suspension action, wiring, fuel tank outlet, or some other anomaly is causing it.

 

Good luck!

 

 

I think this is the route I'm going to take first, and in the mean time I'm going to scour the interwebz for a sevice manual!

[Red Rider]

Just a thought, I had a cart when I was kid. right side drive. when you turned left hard at would bog the motor cause all the weight was transferd to the drive wheel on the right. Maybe some thing like this is happening to you. I would take the drive chain or belt off and run it turn the wheels and see if it does any thing. Jacking it up might be a scaring thing to do.