Petrol engine

The petrol engine guides cover starting and running faults on petrol golf buggies, together with the fuel, ignition and belt-drive systems around the engine: an engine that will not start or cranks without firing, starting then dying, backfiring, rough running, carburettor cleaning and adjustment, spark plugs, fuel pumps and stale fuel, and the CVT drive belt and clutches that carry power to the axle. Most no-start and poor-running faults on these single-cylinder engines trace back to fuel or spark, and both can be checked at home. Stale fuel is the classic post-storage fault: petrol degrades over a lay-up and gums the carburettor jets, so fresh fuel and a jet clean cure many spring no-starts. Pull the spark plug and read it, because a fouled or wrongly gapped plug causes misfires and hard starting; many of these engines run a plug gap close to 0.7 to 0.8 millimetres, though the figure in your engine's specification is the one that governs. On the transmission side, an engine that revs freely while the buggy barely moves usually means a worn or glazed drive belt, which can be inspected in minutes once the guard is off. Plugs, filters, fresh fuel and belt inspection are owner jobs. Valve clearances, clutch internals and anything inside the crankcase are engineer work, and a buggy that leaks fuel should not be run at all; book a Hawke engineer.