Have Mercy! Parts source?
 

Hi. New to the group. After weeks of pestering, I finally agreed to let my son use his own money and get a kart. Long story short, it's chinese :banghead: we've had nothing but trouble, and the dealer (an online shop on west coast) has been no help whatsoever. What little documentation we have lists it as a 125cc Dongfang engine.

What are my options for snatching this one from the jaws of defeat and turning this heap into something reliable? Will most American-made stuff work with this, and with the exception of engine internals, should I shop for 150cc stuff? Already have carb and starter relay problems and want to replace both with something that will not crap out a week later.

I'm good with basic mechanical, can follow a user/service manual and wiring diagram (if I had one, but I don't), I'm not a gear head, willing to experiment as a means to teach me and the boy more about engine mechanical in general.
Pat...

don't feel down, your in a huge club of folks that have been let down by a drop shipper. I never heard of that particular name before but that's not unusual. if it is a gy6 based motor then it is fairly easy to diagnose and repair. there is tons of info on the web featuring these motors. if you coud descrbe the symtoms and better yet post a few pics them we could be sure about what we are talking about.

Post a picture of the buggy and or engine and we can guide you further. As CKAU mentioned, if it is GY6 based then it should be pretty reasonable to deal with.

Based on the history of buggys that we have seen come from "drop shippers", there are a few things you can and need to do right from the start.
Firstly, drain ALL fluids. there no telling what sort of oil, brake fluid etc was put in the machine. we have seen some real crap and stuff we couldn't identify. replace with good quality fluids.
Go through entire buggy , check all nuts and bolts for tight and replace any that have been stripped. you will most likely will find several. Don't assume this thing was assembled correctly! It probably wasn't. Use loctite on frame hardware.
go through the wiring harness. check for loose/bad connections and poor craftmanship. my gut reaction to your first post was poor connections. A bad ground/poor connection will affect both the carb and relay.

As stated above send pics of engine and buggy. Must say though it sounds as if you have a Chinese brand engine and very possibly not one of the Honda/Yamaha cloned engines.Do you have warranty if so is it still under warranty. Did you pay with credit card. What state do you live in. Some state attorney generals give protections to their online consumers. If the dealer was misleading in any way shape or form you may have rights to correct their wrongs. Hopefully the engine is of the popular Honda design. If so there are many parts available as well as dealers.Not all China made buggies are crap. Get the info to us asap and plenty of good people will be to give you any assistance possible. TOM