Bought the mini truck about 7 1/2 months ago. Everything good until a few weeks ago. Went for a ride on the hunting club. Cranked it and let it warm up, took off down the road and could tell engine didn't sound right. Eased on into hunting area and started up slight hill in second gear and truck seemed sluggish and even had a tapping sound to it. Downshifted to first and powered on up the hill. Then decided to stretch it out and went through the gears and in fourth when I stepped on the accelerator to speed up, more tapping. Get back to camp and shift out of gear and stomp the gas pedal and it revs up and seems fine. Seems fine until it reaches normal operating temp. Now, after reaching normal operating temp (temp gage just under half way) fan kicking on and off, when stopped it idles rough (staggering) and almost quits. Step on the gas and its fine. looked around the forum and picked up things here and there. I have only put gas in it a few times and always used non-ethanol. (not sure what previous owners used.) Checked plugs and they seemed fine. Plug wires look old... Checked air filter. Cleaned up and lubed choke gear and assembly on carb. Added about 1/3 to 1/2 can of sea foam to gas tank this afternoon. Took it out through the back yard and after a few minutes it bogged and came back to life billowing white smoke. Only ran it for a few minutes with the smoke so that no one would call the fire dept. Hoping that the carb is just gummed up and the sea foam will straighten it out. Any ideas?? (No Alarm lights or warnings) (91 S83P)
I'd check those 20 year old wires. I ran a screwdriver up and down my plug wires in my shop with the lights off (hey I saw it on youtube) and they were arcing all over the place! Make yourself a new set (super easy) or buy if necessary. Ralph in Winnipeg
Thanks rst277, I plan on adressing that tomorrow. I have found that gas is present in the oil. I pulled the dipstick to check level and found that the oil level is way above the full mark and the gas gage is way down. I am going to dig into it tomorrow. I am changing the oil and filter, changing the spark plugs, wires, coil wire, and checking the distributor. I plan to try and check the fuel pump to see if it is leaking by. I will check vacuum lines. i will then crank it up and try bleeding the air from the coolant system. I also plan to let it get up to temp and if it still runs rough, manually open the choke to see if that helps. If all checks out and I still have the same issues, I guess that I will try and pull the carb off to clean and inspect. Fingers crossed!!
Worked on the truck today. Drained all of the oil/gas out of the oil pan. Pulled the fuel line from the carb and there was just a few drops of gas coming out of the line. Guess I was expecting it to be running out, maybe if the fuel pump was bad???? Anyway, pulled one of the vacuum lines off and noticed that is had a good bit of "stuff in it. Replaced it and pulled one off of the carb and noticed it was clogged with stuff as well and the port on the carb was clogged too. Decided to pull the carb. Labelled all vacuum lines and took a lot of pics. got the carb off and started cleaning it with carb cleaner. Really didn't look that bad, but doused it with cleaner and sprayed in every orifice that I could. took the cover for the float off, didn't get the float all the way out due to the gasket but it looked clean, sprayed it with cleaner and moved on. Took off a few more covers and checked them out, nothing real bad. Got to the choke mechanism and found it to be stiff on the water temp sensor plunger thingy. Anyway, had to use pliers to open and close the choke. Then i noticed that it had double springs. There was a larger spring with a smaller spring inside of the bigger one. Is this NORMAL? Thought it was crazy so, I removed both springs and just put the smaller one on. The choke was easier to operate and I was even able to blow air into the port where the coolant goes in and the plunger went down and opened the choke. Swapped the spring to the larger spring and was able to do the same thing. Wasn't sure what to do. Left the big spring on and moved on. Pulled the idle stop sensor(??) and was wiping the end off and the o-ring fell apart. ran to the parts tore and bought on o-ring kit. Nothing exactly the same but one that was close. It was a little tight going in past the thread, but I took it easy and worked it in. Got the carb back on and the new oil and filter in and on. Tried to crank the truck but no go so far. The gas gage is showing down around E but not on E. Am wondering if maybe the gas level is to low to be picked up or have I killed my carb? How quick should the empty carb get gas? I will put some gas in it tomorrow and try to start it again. Included a pic (I think) of the double springs. Should I have left them both on?? View attachment 12748
Yesterday, put gas in the truck tried to crank it, no go. Pulled the input line from the carb and spun the engine and saw no gas coming from the hose. With the line off I used a good size syringe to put gas in the carb. Put two syringes full in and hooked the gas line back up. Cranked and ran for a few minutes and died. Pulled line and shot three syringes full in it. It cranked and ran and even made it to temp and did good, but at temp there was a light white smoke from the tail pipe. Turned it off and cranked it right back up. drove it around the yard for a couple of laps and parked it. When I cut it off it was dieseling, turn the key on and back off it would stop. Went inside for a good 40-45 minutes, went out and cranked it with no problem. Checked the oil level and it was good. Put it to bed for the night. Feeling pretty good at this point. Went out this morning and fired it up, ran for about a minute and a half and died. Tried to crank it several times and no good. After church, I got back on it. Puled the input line from the carb and put gas in it, it cranked and ran for a few minutes and quit, would not crank back up. Decided to pull the fuel pump off to see if there was anything I could do to it. It looked all gummy and stuff. clean it up a little, tried to see if I could free it up a little, tried to take it apart (guess that is not an option), put it back in and tried to crank the truck, no go. SO, decided this was crazy, took my lawn mower apart and robbed the electric fuel pump off of it, found hot wire under the steering column that only comes on when the key is turned to crank it and not on when turned back to the auxillary position. Spliced in a wire and ran it back to the electric fuel pump and hooked the ground to the negative on the battery. Took the input line from the manual pump and put it on the input of the electric pump and ran the output from the electric pump to the input on the manual pump. Went around and turned it over a few times and it busted off. Ran gout up to temp, started to stumble a little, adjusted the idle adjustment picked up a little, ran for a few more minutes and started stumbling again, adjusted the air flow adjustment wile it was stumbling and it got better. Still have the faint white smoke from the tailpipe????? let it run for several cycles of the cooling fan and it seemed fine. Turned it off and it tried to diesel a little, cut the key on and back off and it quit. Decided to put it to bed as it was getting dark. Decided to check the oil just to make sure, and it seems that the oil level is HIGH again. I did check it right after i turned it off, so maybe the oil was still running back down in the pan (please god let that be it!). Still haven't made up the new plug wires yet, but plan to. About ready to pour gas on it and set it on fire, worked on it for a solid two days (all day Friday, off and on yesterday, and all afternoon today) and it would appear that I have got it running better but possibly am still getting gas down to the oil pan. Anybody got any dynamite???????
Well, I ordered a new fuel pump from FG Procurement (?) for $70, got a fuel filter, and an oil filter. I'm sure the fuel pump is a knock off, but I figured for half the price of most of the others I found, it would do fine to see what would happen. So, all of my parts arrived today and after I got home I went out and drained the oil (and gas) and changed the oil filter. Put in three quarts of oil and installed the new fuel pump. (I removed my temporary electric pump.) I had already changed the spark plugs and spark plug wires and the coil wire earlier in the week while waiting on the new fuel pump. Took the key out of my pocket, said a quick prayer and put the key in the ignition and turned it over. It spun about six or seven times and WAALLAA!! it fired right up. Let it run while I cleaned up tools and such and waited for it to reach operating temp. Gas it a couple of times and it responded well and idled back down. The temp gage kept easing up, checked for leaks from the new pump and from the drain in the oil pan. The temp reached operating temp and the fan kicked on and it was still purring right along. No rough idle, no stumbling, and no leaks. Let it run for a few more minutes and shut her down for the night. Will check all fluid levels tomorrow evening and will try her again. If all looks good I may even give it a spin around the yard. Keeping fingers crossed that all will still be ok tomorrow.
Went out and checked the fluids in the ole HiJet this evening. Everything still looked good. Fired it up and let it run and it ran fine. Took it for a little spin and it ran fine. Will take it to the woods tomorrow afternoon and feel it out a little more.
Inside of old fuel pump may have had a crack in the rubber and I think that was where the fuel was communicating with oil ??
Yeah, Trax, I think you are correct. I also believe that Ralph was right about the plug wires. One of them ohmed open after I pulled it off. Another showed good but I could move the ends around and it would loose continuity. Had to be loosing fire every once in a while at least.
Took the truck out to the woods today. Cranked fine, idled fine, came up to temp and ran fine. Started down the road an after about 200 yards it died, came back and died, came back, so I turned around to head back and it died again and came back. Ran fine so I went on up the road the other way and it stalled again, Turned around and it quit completely. Sat there for a few seconds and it fired right up. Got back to my vehicle and it seemed fine. Went out around a different way and it ran fine, turned around and headed back to my vehicle after about a 1/4 mile and halfway back it quit. Tried to crank it and the starter wasn't hitting right the first two times, then it started right up. Made it back to my vehicle and decide to let it sit for a while and cool. After 20-30 minutes I cranked it up and went down the road. it was fine until I started back and it would cut off and come back. The only difference between yesterday and today is: After letting it get up to temp yesterday I cut it off to run an errand and it sat for 30 minutes or more before I took it out for a ride and it ran fine. I put about two gallons more gas in it today before I went out (Half tank total), and it was rainy and damp this afternoon. When it dies it is like you turned the key off, no running rough, no spitting or sputtering, just cut off. Could it be a cracked distributor? Could the starter be getting hot and swelling? (The starter did drag and not engage on a couple of restarts after it had died)
I dont know how your rig is set up but........ Does it have a single coil? If it does, remove the coil from the truck and wrap it with an inner tube or a couple plastic bags. Dont bolt it back to the truck. Zip tie it. That way it cannot ground. Then try and take it for a test drive. If it runs good and it doesn't die, the problem is solved. Bad coil. Happens a lot up here. They get hot then cold then hot n cold.......then they crack or burn out.
Yes Moose it has a single coil. I will have to try that. I also read on an older post where someone was having a similar problem, someone suggested that the gas tank may not be venting properly and drawing a vacuum on the tank. I remembered that I had added a home-made gasket on top of the gas cap gasket when all my troubles first started. I just went out and removed that. Could this be the cause?
Well, took Moose's advice and pulled the coil out and rapped in a piece of inner tube and wire tied it to the frame. Cranked the truck up and let it get up to operating temp. Went out for a little ride and almost immediately it started to die. Ran it for a while and it died multiple times. Noticed today that it seemed to be stalling in the carb area. Came back in and thought about it for a few minutes. Wondered if that spring that I left off of the choke back a few posts ago might have something to do with it. Decided to pull the carb and put the spring back on. Got the spring back on and carb hooked back up, changed out a couple of the vacuum lines going to the carb. I had also pulled the ground wire running from the distributor to frame apart this past week when installing new plugs. (The wire has a male to female quick connect fitting in the middle of the wire.) So, I checked that by ohming it out. Took it loose at the frame and just made sure all of the connections were good. Also, decided to go ahead and change the fuel filter while i was already here. Also, adjusted the air flow screw by turning it in until it stopped and then backed it out 4 1/2 turns. Cranked the truck and let it warm up while I put the engine cover on and put up the tools. Took it out for a spin and ran it for about 2 - 4 kilometers (Watched the odometer) and not a single hiccup or problem. Never stumbled never stalled just ran like it should. Not sure exactly what made the difference but I hope that it lasts.
Very nice!! I bet that spring and vacuum lines had a bit to do with it. Try putting the coil back and see what happens. Ive had coils go bad in commercial fishing boats 300 miles from nowhere. So I'm a bit quick to check those. And its a fairly simple test hahaha. Glad to hear your up and running again
Yeah Moose, I'm thinking it was the spring that I bone-headedly removed. But it did seem odd for there to be double springs on one arm. Anyway, haven't put the coil back in place yet, but I will soon. Went out to the woods today to take my son out for our youth hunt weekend and the truck performed flawlessly. Plan to run it a few more times and then change the oil again just to make sure I have washed all of the gas out of the motor. So far so good. Hope all of my rambling and fumbling around can help someone else or at least show them what not to do (don't remove any springs).
Hahahaha Ive done the same thing....... Check out my resurrection and restoration of a Suzuki carry thread hahahaha
I finally got around to putting the coil back into place. So far, the truck is still running great. Been out on several runs while hunting and have had no problems. It's really nice to get in and take off and have heat going in just a few minutes on those cold mornings.
Check all your fuels lines, these vehicles are 20 plus years old! wears out. I would replace all the rubber fuel lines with high grade silicone or braided fuel line and replace all the vacuum lines with silicone high temp vacuum line. “2mm I.D.”
vacuum leaks are 85% of carb and idling problems, use a vacuum gauge or carb cleaner, carb cleaner will send the engine to high idle if you have a vacuum leak, make sure the vacuum port in the air cleaner canister is working properly, also check that your vacuum advance hose isn’t cracked coming off the distributor to the vacuum manifold tree. The vacuum manifold tree is brass on the bottom to go in to the block and plastic on top. Plastic wears out with time and will break or leak, which causes a vacuum leak. Some manifold vacuum trees are 3 or 4 port, make sure to replace it with a new one. When I buy parts I buy 3 at a time that way I have them on hand or in case they can’t get them any more. The vacuum manifold tree is located behind the carb. If you looking at the carb from the right side of the bed, it will be to your 1 O’clock tucked down inside. Remember to use a marker or different colored tape to mark the vacuum lines so you know where everything goes back too! Good luck!’
