What should the idle speed be of a LO206 and why or should I say what effect does a too high idle have on the clutch.?
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Would like to hear as well. I have mine set around 2,000 right now. When it gets hot it drops to 1,750-1,800.
Another guy at the club has his at 3,000 or so. Thinks it helps him get out of the tight corner better. I have not had time to mess around with the idle speed to see the difference.
Start kart on stand, run it up gently to 150 degrees to 200 degrees cht. Let the axle gently slow down, then let the kart idle. Most Briggs run well with idle set on stand right around 1750 to 1800. Anything higher than that and it will hesitate on bottom end coming out of the corners.
Then, of course, you adjust needle, float, and your clutch as you deem necessary for the conditions. I’ll talk more about this in the near future and put some media together.
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My son is new to Karting and his new LO206 was idling at 2200, a guy came along with a screwdriver and adjusted it to 1100 being new we did,nt question him, correct? wrong?.
David,
While that is extremely low, it’s not disastrous for the engine or for performance, although I am very surprised that the kart idled at 1100…really, most tracks the throttle slide is fully open the vast majority of the time. Briggs recommends 2000 as a minimum but over time teams have found that can hurt bottom end performance as the engine will stay slightly in the power band at that setting, say going into a hairpin corner.
Again, I wouldn’t sweat it, but next time you’re getting ready for your track day, maybe see where it’s idling, and adjust it a little higher.
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That is what we thought but this guy seemed to know what he was doing i,ll set it a 1800, many thanks.
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Similar question but on the other end of RPMs. I can’t get my engine to idle at all. I have to give a little bit of throttle to keep it running no matter what I do with the idle speed screw and the idle mixture screw. Does it matter? It seems to run fine otherwise.
This only started happening after I recently cleaned the carb and put a new clutch on it. But like I said, before I did that, it would idle right under 2000RPMs.
It’s worth noting that it’s not one of those “one-pull” and go engines. I have to give it a few pulls with the choke lever up, put it down, then it starts on the next pull. Other karts on the grid that I see seem to start so much easier.
Any idea what I should do or does it matter?
Edit: I have the float and needle position set to the recommended by the lo206 carb tuning app based on my exact location.
My 206’s don’t idle.
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My 206 idles at 3,000rpm… So polar opposite of Burpo
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I have the same issue. My idle is really high (closer to 3800-4000 RPM) and almost sounds like I’m holding the throttle a little bit and the second it drops down and starts to settle at all, it tries to die. My engine races just fine and actually has a lot of power on the low end, but I have it is definitely annoying because I’m worried it’s going to die on the grid one of these days.
I’ve always been told a properly tuned 206 won’t hold idle very well. With that said, mine idles between 1,400 -1,800 RPM. Just depends how warm the motor is.
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