I bought an engine a few weeks ago. The man who owned said he hadn't ever started it. He bought it hoping to get around to it, and never did. It was a good deal so I figured I would give it a try.

I hooked everything up, and tried it out today. I tested the spark right when I hooked everything up and there is good spark. So I tried to start it, nothing.... I kicked and kicked, but nothing.

I checked the carb, it was getting gas in the bowl. Still has a spark.

I have noticed though that when I kick start the engine, it seems a lot easier then my other LT230 engine.

Could it not be starting due to low compression. I don't have a tester. Could it be the rings, cylinder head, timing, piston, or a valve?

I will prob start by checking the easiest thing and that would be the timing.

 

Start with the easy stuff. Set the timing. Then adjust the valves to specs. Check to make sure the decompression lever isn't sticking open. Check to make sure there are no leaks in the top end gaskets. Check to make sure there are no air leaks between the carb and the engine. Once you have all that ruled out, then take the top end apart.

 

Well I did some checkin. There were no air leaks that I could find. Everything looked alright. So then I took off the head cover and the magneto cover. the timing looked perfect.
Next to the cylinder head and valves. Took that off and checked out the valves. And I found the problem, the exhaust valve was cracked in half. solves the compression problem.

While I was there I dug a little further. I removed the cylinder to see what was there. The piston top looks bad so I will clean that up. I don't know what to look for in play on the piston and connecting rod. I put up a video on you tube if anyone wanted to look at it. I don't know if i should replace any of it. If I do I would like to replace the bearings, rod and piston all at once to get it over with. But I don't want to replace anything I don't have to. Any suggestions?

YouTube - ‪MOV05275‬‏

 

I can't really tell in the video, but if the rod can be moved up and down while the crank is held still, the rod bearing and the rod is bad. Side to side movement is necessary for the rod bearing to be oiled, so there should be side to side movement.

 

just moves side to side. I think I will replace the valve, clean it up, and put her back together. Thanks for the help.

 

I would recommend you have the cylinder honed and replace the rings, since you pulled the rings from the cylinder. A dealer can hone it for like 10 to 15, and new rings are about 20-30. This will increase compression, the engine won't smoke do to bad seating of rings, and it will give you pretty much a whole new top end.

 

If you put used rings back in, it has a possibility of smoking and it might have lower compression.

 

Thanks, I'm gonna look to see what bore it is. I think just stock. The valves did look a little oily

 

Ok I have the piston out. It is an oem, but it says .5 on top. I'm going to guess it is .5 over. I mic'd the skirt and it gives a reading of 66.57 consistently. The reading on the top of the piston with the rings removed is 66.17. I am pretty sure that it is .5 over. Just didn't know for sure though.

 

Installed the new rings, and they were a pain in the ***. I got the first two rings in fine, but the oil rings kept wanting to pop out, and they are easy to bend. I think I got em in there though lol. I will prob try to start it this weekend.