Lynn

I have a good spark and sprayed some starting fluid in the carb hole, nothing. It appears the spark plug is a little damp. I did your poor mans compression check you suggested in another thread. I have two Tao Tao 110 ATVs that I bought 2 months ago, same make and model. I did the compression check on both. One is like you said, you cant hold your finger over the hole and lots of air shoots out. The other I can hold my finger over the hole and when uncovered very little air comes out. This ATV has less then 5 hours on it all at very low speeds of 12 MPH or less. I think I have serious engine problems. Any other ideas, thanks for the help

 

I would say 2 things if you can hold your finger over it when turning it over you have no compression then its an engine issue now what can cause this? piston (typically from a hole in it) or (seen it on riding mowers) piston rod bad or timing is off or valve is bad (could be one sticking open) just my opinion

 

Thanks, still can't get it going. I did the 1/2 tablespoon of gas in the spark plug hole and after multi cranks all I got was a big backfire. Also, I pull off the cam cover and other cover to check timing. Circle and cam notch match with T mark is on top. No T mark to line up, but it was right on top.

 

Check to see if your head bolts are tight (about 10 ft lbs), have seen a few TaoTao's loosen up in the early stages of riding. Also, you could put the engine back on TDC and remove the upper and lower valve caps. There should be a very small amount of movement up and down if adjusted correctly. If they are tight (which TaoTao sometimes are), your compression will seep past. If not, your rings did not seat or you may have a bent valve. I heard something about TaoTao having an issue with a production run where the piston was actually hitting the valves.

If the valves are not tight and the head bolts were, I would highly suggest finding a local repair shop (lawn or powersports) to run a leak down test. This will quickly isolate the problem and I doubt they would charge you much to perform the test. As low as your compression is, it should only take a few minutes longer than a compression test to find the issue.

If you have to perform a major repair, the M311 manual from Clymers would be a good resource for your TaoTao. Clymer ATV REPAIR MANUALS from Mainstreet Motorsports

x

 

Thanks all. My friend had a compression gauge. The reading was 0. On my little girls one it was 140 (same make and model and ordered delieviered at the same time) We took off the valve covers and they are moving good with proper tightness. We checked the timing good. We looked in the spark plug hole and he saw the piston moving. He thinks it the piston rings. Thoughts

 

when checking the valves, did you double check the gaps and make sure they're on spec?