timberline go kart and GY6 Chinese sourced engine

[motor gauntlet]

The GY6 engine design is every where and is known and sold by many names such as yerfdog and Lifan but where did it come from and why is it so hard to keep one of these in opperation. I have a timberline crossfire with a 150cc howitt GY6 and have had so many problems with it such as ignition, timing, electric choke, carb, charging, and eventually the wiring harness was basically junk.

 

[Hellion]

It's a Chinese copy of a Honda (at least that's the rumor), and copied only in a mediocre fashion I would surmise.

I too have rarely heard anything good about them as far as long term reliability is concerned. And that's just experience with people coming to DIY with their concerns. Most of these units are bought used/abused so there's a unhealthy bias already.


EDIT: Then again, I blame people. People don't maintain things nearly as well as they did 50 years ago. Everything is neglected until it no longer works and put up for sale on CL.

 

[motor gauntlet]

The Lifan version is the only reliable one but it's been altered so much that it can't be used on any other platform other than motorbike and I can't find any Lifan engines that are not super expensive. If I do find one I am probably going to heavily mod it then find a way to throw it in my buggy. And you are right people are lazy these days and would rather let things sit than working on them. I have bought so many parts for that gy6 and frankly I blame the over complexity of the design for the multi failure that happened to it.