Ok, I just got this about 7 months ago in a trade. 2k miles on it.

Worked great for until my sister-in-law killed the battery.

I had to replace spark plug once I first got it and looked good. So the fuel/air mixture is right on. Didn't touch the carb at all. (I am NOT a "fix it till it breaks" person. I tend to leave well enough alone.)

When the battery died, I plugged it into a charger at 2amps for about 2 hrs to get it running. Once running, it went up the ramps and into the truck. Once I got to my destination, it wouldn't start (about 45mins). So I pushed it off until gravity wanted to take it the rest of the way down the ramps. I put it into REV and pushed the downshift rocker (for neutral), let go of the brake, got it rolling, and popped the clutch. It fired right up. Now, not wanting it to die again, I let it run until I got to my parents about 1.5hrs after getting it running again. The battery failed to charge.

My brother needed to use it so I left it at my parents. To use it, we would pull-start it and it would fire. Around this time, the idle would change. Once warm, it ran fast. Back the idle thing by the primer down. To get it to run cold, turn it up slightly. Check spark plug, nothing unusual.

It got increasingly harder to start. And it would sometimes bog when you went from idle to WOT. Sometimes...

Now, it won't start by pulling the rope. You can hook it up to the charger, give it 10amps, and it would roll over and fire. As soon as my finger left the start button, it would die.

I tried this for about a minute. (I know, poor starter but I am wanting to know whats wrong.) I turned it over and choked till it fired. KEEPING my thumb on the start button, I got it running and revving. It would idle and rev just fine. Off came the thumb and off went the spark.

All this since the battery died...

Thanks for everything in advance!

 

Have you replaced the battery yet?

 

You may have a bad battery OR your charging system is not generating juice to keep the engine running.

It kind of works like this, when you hit the start button the juice to start the engine, give you spark and all that comes from the battery. Once you release the starter button, usually after the engine is running, the engines stator generates the juice to keep the engine running.

So you have two options 1) bad battery not letting the starter work in the first place and possible shorting something. 2) Something wrong with the charging system on the engine.

The First is easiest to check . Remove the battery from the machine , or at least totally disconnect it, charge with your 2 amp charge for 24hrs. Disconnect the charger and test the voltage in the battery with a volt meter it should be between 12-13volts. Let the battery sit for 12-24 hours and recheck the voltage with the voltmeter. If the battery looses more than 1 or so volts it is BAD replace it. I have seen them drop from 12.8V to around 10V in less than 3-4hours!.

The harder part to diagnose is is the battery check out. As the charging side of the engine has several parts. The stator is the first to come to mind as the magnets on some AC models have had issues, but it could also be the voltage regulator or pickup coil.

If you have a service manual they have test procedures for the Stator, coils and such in there. If it ran under its own power you could check the stator output at the battery terminals to see how much juice it was putting out.(should be close to14V) Usually if you have issues with the voltage regulator it has been my experience that is melts wires by putting out too much voltage.

So even though you may have done this already, check your wiring harness over real good, especially where the stators wires come out of the engine block on the left hand side of the engine, for shorted out wires and double check all the fuses.

Also, welcome to the forum. You may be also to do some whinning to you sister-in-law and get her to bake you some cookies while you are at it

Swampy

 

Ok, will check the wires. Didn't think of that.

I have tried to charge the battery. Has acid and charged, no juice. So I will try that and hope for the best.

Will the strator also cause a slight stumble by not getting the spark to the engine right away?

 

If the battery is bad it can be full up on fluid and still have a bad lead plate inside that you cannot see. You can test the battery as I described above. If two of the plates fuse together then it will initially take a 12-13V charge but then it discharges without being connected to anything.

A weak spark would cause the engine to stumble as would a spark that does not get there right away. More than likely it is a weak spark that is causing the stumbling because it is not hot enough to burn the extra fuel so it momentarily stumbles because the air, fuel and spark are not in their proper ratios for optimal combustion.

Usually you can test the stator if the engine will run under its own power. I will add that a bad battery can cause all kinds of trouble and is about the cheapest thing to replace (compared to the stator).

Swampy

 

Replaced the battery and it runs great! No bogging at lower RPM's and I get 13v out at the battery connections when running.

 

Per my shop manual, it says to turn on headlights and run the engine up to 5000 rpm (no more than 10 seconds) and voltage across the battery should be between 14 to 15.5 volts dc.

 

How do I know its at 5k? No tach.

 

I would just goose it good, and if it goes over 14 volts, stick a fork in it and call it good. But I assume 5k is getting close to the max rpm, problably about 3/4 throttle.