Lack of power from vanguard 18

[garrett1308]

Wound up getting two 18 hp vanguard pump motors in a deal for a hustler. Have one in the Max 2 right now which sports 22" GBC gators. It takes it a little while to get up to speed, and if I bump up to a fallen log with an 8" diameter and give the max throttle, it doesn't go anywhere, motor doesn't try to spin up. Going to throw in some new spark plugs and move the governor spring over a slot to get more leverage over the arm. I was told that the motors had low hours as they had been used by a small town's volunteer fire department before being replaced by 23hp motors.

Any other ideas as to the lack of power?

On a side note, the motor squeals real bad when turned over by hand. Took the valve covers off, and saw that it only squeaked when one side's intake valve was returning to the closed position. No squeal after, and no squeal when the valve is getting pressed down. Sounds like it is coming from the cam area, sprayed a few things with wd40 to no avail. Attributed it to the motor sitting for years. Would this have anything to do with the lack of power?

[thebuggyman1]

Are you sure it is a motor problem and not a clutch/belt issue?

[garrett1308]

I am not. Both clutches suck in and out though, and the machine did not have this problem pre-motor swap (from a 16, or for that matter, from the 14 before that). No muffler on it, so it'll be tomorrow before I can do any more testing and tuning.

[grease monkey]

Really you could have any number of problems. I'm not really familiar with that engine but for a start i'd do the basics like change the plug, clean the carburetor, see what kind of condition the oil is in (looking to see how old it is and checking for anything that don't belong like metal shavings). You could check and make sure the timing is still set correctly, i'm not sure what the valve clearances are for that engine.

I'm not overly excited to hear there's a squealing sound from the cam area. It could indicate poor lubrication in the past. I would inspect this area closely and make sure there is no excessive wear to be seen, also check camshaft bearings.

[thebuggyman1]

Consider your clutches to be a transmission. If the belt is not the right one/tight/wide enough it will be like starting your car up a hill in third gear. At idle the belt should stick slightly above the sheaves on the secondary (transmission) clutch. I tighten the belts too tight (machine walks away at idle) then loosen them to just enough slack. I find that easier than trying to gauge what is 1 1/8" deflection. I also buy the 1 1/4" wide belts not the 1 3/16".

Remember too tight will make shifting hard/impossible, but too loose will mean low power.

[miller_time]

Check valve lash if you havn't already. Maybe even see if the exhaust pipes coming out of the heads are about the same temp after running for a little bit. It may be running on 1 cylinder.

[Toys4Me]

Have you changed the governor spring?

[garrett1308]

I have not changed the spring. It looks to be the original one.

Oil looks good, and from what I can see from under the valve covers, the cam looks good. Carb looked brand new, but got cleaned anyway. Will re-check belt tension today, as well as give it some new spark plugs and check for a dead cylinder.

There's two wires coming from where the kill switch stud should be. One red and one green. Ran the green to ground and the red to the key to get grounded when the key is turned to off. Motor ran and shut off, but did I kill one cylinder in doing so?

[garrett1308]

Valves were in tolerance. Did unground the green wire coming from the coil, and it started right up with all 18 ponies ready to boogie.
Key no longer cuts power to the motor though, only one cylinder. Would like to have the key kill the motor though, any ideas as to what to do about that?

As usual, thank yall for all your help, much appreciated.

[Nubs]

Something's not right there, i'd be pullin the fan shroud and see whats goin on. I'm thinkin' the wire that goes between the two coils is bad or somebody jagged with something

[ARGOJIM]

Something's not right there, i'd be pullin the fan shroud and see whats goin on. I'm thinkin' the wire that goes between the two coils is bad or somebody jagged with something

My thoughts, had to come back later, but my thoughts.

The wire coming off the engine should go to the key switch which should ground when off, hooking the wire from the stud to ground should not let it run.

If you shut off the key and it kills one cylinder and the green one kills the other, I'd guess it goes direct to one coil.