flooding when cold

[wfo]

sounds like you have multible problems..you may have a worn out piston and rings..if when running
does it make a tinging noise ? if so it need piston and rings if not check the compression it should
be a low compression engine around 90 psi should be good..anything significatly lower is bad and it
should have a good snap to the spark and blue strong..in cold weather two stroke oil is heavy therefore
your compression should be optimum for the oil to burn off other wise what happens is it loads up and fills
crank case with fuel....thats why the sinthetic oil works better.......KEEP CHECKING AND YOU WILL FIND THE ANSWER

[wildman]

I’m having the same symptoms with the JLO L230 and Tillotson HL in the Tricart now… no start cold after a few pulls, wet plug, etc. I know if it doesn’t start on 2-3 pulls to quit and get the plug out and dried off. With the air cleaner off, it just looks like it’s overfueling. I have the idle screw turned out only about ½ turn now. I’m running 50:1 gas, new D-9 Champion plug (originally K-9) gapped to .018”. It seems to have plenty of spark with dry plug. I rebuilt the carb, new diaphragm, seals, etc. If it happens to start it runs great. Right now this is the only frustrating thing with the Tricart… well, that and the guy STILL doesn’t have my seat cover finished yet. Any advice greatly appreciated.

[thebuggyman1]

I thought about compression, figured it might be low till it warmed up and the rings sealed. I tested it and its approx 155psi. Since puting in synthetic oil at 50:1 mix it has started just like it should. I've given up trying to figure it out, consider it a second wife, I'll just never understand it.

[6X6]

Buggyman. I remembered to check my JLO manual today. Gap is .016 - .020. I'd set to .018" When you went to 50:1 from 30:1, you actually richened up you're mixture slightly, since more gas is passing thru the jets because of less oil. (Yes it's slight, but it does work, and I use it on cheap small equipment without adjustable jets, add oil to lean, remove to richen, just stay within tolerances ) Now I know that you can run much less oil with today's oils, but I still run the 20:1 and don't foul, a little smoke, but not bad at all, and you get more power too, up to a limit, usually around 20:1
I guess what I'm trying to say is figure out what it was. Bad gas is a definite possibility, but it WASN'T too much oil. A sticky carb needle, maybe a piece of grit held it open, I don't know for sure. IF it were me, I'd re-set gap and see if it works as it should on maybe 32:1. Just my opinion.

[thebuggyman1]

It's finally fixed! Since this is an older thread, I'll give a recap. I have a jlo L300. When cold it would foul the plug unless I reved it to high rpms. Typically it would start and stall, I'd clean the plug and repeat two to five times before it was ready to ride. I rebuilt the carb, tried a new coil, checked compression and pulled out alot of hair, no luck. I even switched to synthetic oil at 50:1(it helped some). Finally I went to check the timing and noticed the flywheel had a small amount of movement. When I tore the engine apart, the main bearing on that side had broken the cage allowing the balls to float around freely. This intermittent movement on the crank end/cam that runs the points was causing the timing to go all over the place. With new main bearings, and proper timing it stars right up. I also learned to wipe all the crud off a label and read it completely after I ordered gaskets for a jlo297 (mine is a 297cc jloL300).
P.S. Thanks Don I.O.U.