aight heres the vid i took of what im workin with atm. sorry about bout quality and lighting i was filming with my phone and lighting it with a shop light haha

YouTube - Diagnosing LT230 starting problems

also i tried to pm you but i guess you dont allow incoming pm's ?

 

I think i got my email fixed

 

can you get me a pic of the left side of the motor at the bottom were the pull starter go's

there should be a plug right above the pull starter for the TDC it should be a 16 or 17mm bolt if i remember right.

looking at the vid. the TDC plug is right below the Ex.

is the spark plug out???

look in the plug hole and watch for the piston to come to top when the cam lobs down do the cam marks line up if so put cover back on and adj. valves

I think my PM is working now or give me a call I will be up for another hr or so. Im not good at explaning things by posts

 

yeah spark plugs out and i couldnt really see the piston but ill try again. Also i dont think there was a bolt on that side but ill have to take a pic and post it. if i cant get this worked out ill give you a call Thursday if thats alright. Just started school at UCF and its a bitch lol got so much to do so it may be a couple days before i get around to calling haha.

 

no problem give me a call anytime i will be glad to try and help you out. sometimes you need to step back have a drink

i have looked at the video about 5 times and the TDC plug is right below the Ex. pipe
the head of the bolt/plug is facing the EX.

or take straw and stick it in the plug hole and feel for the piston but with a light you should see it.

 

ah thanks bud appreciate it. im gonna pm you my details so when i call you dont get weirded out by a stranger calling you lol

EDIT:Yeah i just went out and played with it for a few and found the T in the bolt hole you were talkin bout. so anytime i can find that T in that hole is it at TDC or do i have to be on a certain revolution or i just gotta feel for the compression?

 

adjusted the valves and still its very hard to start. i actually cant even get it to start at all right now. i did soak the carb in seafoam overnight and cleaned it out well so idk if its the carb or the valves or compression . i do have a carb rebuild kit on order so i guess ill see if that works. if not i guess im gonna do a compression test and probably replace the rings

 

do a leak down test

 

will do. i just got it running but with a little trouble. im kinda convinced that it might be the carb and hopefully its stubbornness will fix itself when i get the rebuild kit in. when i first got it started it was boggin real bad but then i pulled the carb off and noticed the pilot jet was backing itself out and fell almost completely out! so i retightened and after a few minutes the pilot did it again! so then i tightened it real good and havent had the problem since. but im still gonna do a leak down test to rule out anything.


EDIT: so after all my adjustments i let the engine cool for a few hours and then went back out to see if it would start better. Now keep in mind the choke is shot and doesnt work at all so i realize that it wont start as easily but still i should start better than it does. Heres a video of what happened on the cold start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAe1Pf7R0ds

as you could tell it started for a second and then stalled.then after that i couldnt get it to start again until after i turned the camera off and had to pump the throttle a lot while holding down the start button. You think that is normal for not having a choke or should i try the valves again. i will say that after the valve adjustment i noticed the clicking noise coming from the engine has disappeared. also im ordering a compression gauge tester and a leak down tester seeing as i dont own either. so hopefully ill be able to troubleshoot a bit more. And finally i have done research about compression and how it affects ignition but what i dont understand is how o change the compression ratio?

 

UPDATE: So i got in my carb rebuild kit today and put t together. on the first fire up attempt it wouldnt go. So i decided to try something i had read on here. i put a few squirts of gas directly into the cylinder through the spark plug hole and what do ya know, the beast started up first try. So i guess i know now that this thing needs to be choked no matter what weather its in. So i guess now i gotta find a way to fix the choke inside the carb. On another note i found another god damn oil leak on the crankcase /sigh. more crap to pull apart and more gaskets to replace i guess also it seems that the battery is draining itself overnight because its really weak after sitting for a day or so. could that be because of my ghetto rigged button from battery directly to the starter? or does it sound like a stator/rectifier problem?