Big block big screwup

surfdog

I'm hoping someone can tell me where or how I screwed up my 24 hp honda while trying to wire in a new ignition switch. The old switch was the lawnmower type that you could start with any key so I bought a new one from an automotive supply. The old switch wasn't marked but the new one was. I found the battery wire and the starter wire and plugged those in. There was a black wire that ran to ground and I found what I thought was a ground on the switch and plugged that in. Then there were two other wires, one came from under the air cleaner and was black with a white or faded yellow tracer, the other came out of the fan shroud and was black with a red tracer. I assumed, apparently wrongly, that these two wires would need power to them and plugged them in accordingly. The cart would turn over but not start. Then as I sat there, pondering what I did wrong (key left on) there was a loud pop, explosion really, and smoke started pouring out of the top of fan shroud under the carb area. What happened? This thing is in a 99 ezgo.

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

ORTitan

Then there were two other wires, one came from under the air cleaner and was black with a white or faded yellow tracer, the other came out of the fan shroud and was black with a red tracer. I assumed, apparently wrongly, that these two wires would need power to them and plugged them in accordingly.

The wire from the Air cleaner area would need 12v applied to open the fuel solenoid in the bottom of the carb. Removing power from this wire closes the solenoid cutting off the flow of gasoline in the carb.

The wire from the shroud area is to ground (when ignition is off) the coils and stop them from providing spark. There are some diodes in this wire that may have been zapped. Battery voltage should never be applied to this wire.

There should be more wires from your voltage regulator someplace.

The pop and smoke could have been from the fuel solenoid. Odd though as it can take the full battery power to it.

fstg21

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/big-b...g-diagram.html

Black with yellow is the carb solenoid. 12v + key hot only.

Black with red is your ignition coils, this is the wire you ground to kill the engine.

Hopefully you just popped the ignition kill diode and not the coils themselves.

Diode is part number 30550-ZJ1-845

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Ho...OIL/parts.html

surfdog

Thanks for the replies. Can I get to this diode by removing the carb or do I need to remove the fan shroud? I ask because I need to pull the engine to remove the fan shroud.

surfdog

Also, would there be a post on the ignition switch that grounds when you turn it off? I can't find such a post.

surfdog

More questions, It looks like I cooked at least one coil, is there a way to test coils to see if they are good? Is there a way to test the diode? It looks ok.

1989Marathon

You can check the diode with a meter. There is usually a diode setting on the meter. Looks kinda like this... -->|--

It should read open one way and about 500 when you swap the leads. If the meter doesn't have a diode setting, measure the resistance both ways. It should have a 10:1 ratio between readings. That's called front-to-back ratio.

pachanga90

Look at the back of the switch.There should be a terminal that the tab has a leg that touches the switch-body(usually labeled "G")The switch will need a ground as well.If you have a plastic-panel,I have used a wire with large eyelet that fits over the body-threads where the switch goes thru the panel,then ground that to the ground-circuit.Hope this helps.

sho305

A lawn switch will ground the ignition wire to kill in 'off' position, do nothing in 'on' position. An automotive or old kohler (with coil and points) is opposite and will power 12v to the ignition when 'on'. In a lawn switch the only 12v is to the starter solenoid and accessory if it has that....but not to ignition. You can wire a relay to use one on the other, as my G9 had a 12v power ignition and now the clone does not. I used a relay to kill it when I let off the pedal or there is no way to turn it off when using the gen.

surfdog

Thanks again for the information, I'm still not quite sure how to get the switch to ground when the key is turned off. What I'm wondering is could I have damaged anything more than the coils and the diode. Like the contacts on the flywheel? The reason I wonder is this thing is in Mexico and I'm wondering if I can just bring those parts down with me next trip or if there could be more wrong and I should haul the whole cart back home to repair it which would be a major hassle.