[bullittben]

My son's Yerf Dog has had a few issues. It seems as I correct them, I find more. The battery has seemed to be weak, so I have been keeping it on a float charger. Even with the battery charged, sometimes it would turn over quickly, sometimes slowly, but never wanted to start. If you shook the cart, sometimes it would turn over quicker. I cleaned the battery terminals, but finally found that the start and on/off switch were part of the problem. I removed the entire stock wiring harness and made my own with a keyed ignition switch from a lawn mower. I mounted it on the back near the engine just to shorten the wires and narrow down my problem areas. At that point it would turn over fine, but still wouldn't start when cold without a snort of WD-40 in the carb. Once warm, it would start right up. Idle speed has always been erratic. I decided to check the valve clearance based on my reading online. Sure enough, the intake valve had no clearance, so probably wasn't closing. I noticed during this process that there was very little compression when turning the engine over by hand. After correcting the valve clearance, compression felt much better and the engine started immediately. I though I was home free. Unfortunately, when the engine warmed, it shut off and is popping back through the intake when I turn it over. The rubber intake is cracked, and I haven't replaced the air filter since we got it, so I ordered those hoping that it was leaning out and possibly the enrichment circuit was helping it when cold. Does this sound right?? Any other ideas?? Is it just because the weak battery can barely turn over the engine with stronger compression?