I bought a used Murray gokart that has a great frame and a OHH65 model Tecumseh 6.5 hp engine. The engine is hard to start. The engine has a prime bulb and we can get it started with 5 primes but it will bog down and die when we throttle up. It is also not idling well and will die after only 30 seconds. We pulled the carb and thoroughly cleaned it using a rebuild kit. The carb had white cake and crud under the welsh plugs. We used wire to clean the 3 small jet holes. I also pulled the gas tank and cleaned it out with fresh gas. I replaced the fuel line as it looked worn. However, even with fresh gas and a good cleaned carb, the engine still will not throttle up. We can get it started but it will die soon and will stall when we throttle up. When we do get the engine to start, I've spray starter fluid into the air intake (w/o filter) but the engine does not power up. In fact it seems to die when we inject starter spray into carb.
I checked for compression and found 60 PSI after 3 pulls. Not sure what compression should be but that seemed OK.
I pulled the air filter and I can see the primer bulb is squirting gas into the carb. I put my hand on the air intake and while someone else is pulling starter, I don't feel a vacuom on my hand. When the engine does run, I see some gas spit out of the air intake. I was thinking the exhaust might be clogged, so I pulled the muffler. Without the muffler, the engine still does not start nor run well. Even w/o the muffler, I don't feel any suction on my hand over the air intake while someone pulls starter cord.
I see good spark on the plug and have replaced the spark plug using .030 inch gap.
I'm thinking it could be a valve or timing issue. Does anyone know how to check the timing on a Tecumseh engine? Any ideas as to what to check next?
Thanks.
-Pete
This message was modified Jan 25, 2011 by pjm14945
