Highway Villager dead - no start

mrlmd

I have a Highway Villager, live right on the coast of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico, and the moisture and salt in the air quickly corrodes and rusts everything. My cart sometimes will start with no problem, turn the key, push the accelerator and the choke button, and it starts in a half a second and runs great. Other times it's absolutely dead, no turnover, just sits there, makes no noise whatsoever except a clicking from a relay underneath the dashboard when you turn the key. If I put it into reverse, the reverse buzzer sounds, the lights work, the battery is not low or dead, there's just no juice at all to the solenoid or the starter. I think that one of the micro switches or relays is probably corroded, and would like to know what relay or switch it is, and where it is, that's connected to the gas pedal linkage. Maybe if I replace or clean it, it will be reliable again and start on demand. I don't think the problem is the starter solenoid, I've tested that, there's no juice getting to that when I step on the gas pedal.

BGW

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johnandret

take a look in the diagrams it should help you see which switches are in the cranking/starting circuit . its a little more challenging when its an intermittent problem.

mrlmd

I have checked all the circuits including all 3 of the microswitches in the starting circuit and the solenoid and the starter key switch, as well as all the fuses, and everything seems to work, but the cart is dead when you turn the key, put it into gear and push the pedal. Nothing happens, no noise, no nada. I get 12V at the solenoid from the blue wire starting in the key switch, with the key on, and there is continuity to ground from the solenoid through all the wiring and the 2 micro/limit switches when in gear and the pedal is pushed, so right now I am stumped why the solenoid won't work. The battery is fully charged too. How often do these microswitches fail?, I am thinking of replacing the 2 in the box by the starter solenoid and fuse holder just for the heck of it but I do not want to start replacing parts without an understanding of why this is happening. I also could very easily bypass that whole system with a push button switched wire directly to ground from the stater solenoid and eliminate that whole thing. Or what would happen if I just disconnect the accelerator kill limit switch in that box- could that microswitch be causing my problem?

johnandret

from what im reading from your tests you should be hearing a click at the solenoid when you push the pedal. did you try to jump across the two big lugs on the solenoid ? doing that bypasses all switches and puts battery voltage directly to the starter. you can also use a jumper to go from pos. term. on batt. to big lug on sol. that goes to starter. as a double check. if it tries to start like this I would say bad solenoid as long as you tests are what you say they are .

be sure the engine is grounded good, you can take a temporary jumper cable from negative post on batt. to engine or motor generator (starter) just as a double check.

some of this may seem redundant but its not hard to miss something.

the kill switches have nothing to do with the cranking switches , other than key switch , but you have voltage at the small terminal on sol. and a ground on the other small term. so that says key and micro switches are o.k.

mrlmd

I have totally removed the solenoid from the cart and tested it with 12 V jumpers and it loudly clicks and works fine. After reinstalling it to the battery and starter cables, but leaving it disconnected from the cart's low current circuit, and then connected (+) and (-) 12V wires directly to it, the solenoid works, the starter will engage, so it is not the solenoid. I am very aware of how to test for solenoid function and grounds, etc.

When you stop the cart, or, when you come to a stop, it normally shuts off. Then it will restart again when you step on the gas pedal. That is because of the 2 limit switches in the box in the engine compartment (the box that also contains the fuses and the solenoid). One of those microswitches completes the low current (-) lead (ground connection) to the starter (as long as the cart is in gear to close the other microswitch in the circuit that is located behind the gear selector lever at the top of the engine compartment), and the second microswitch in that box kills the cart when the pedal is released. So the problem has to be a failure of one of those switches that energize the solenoid, or the kill switch, not the solenoid itself.
Take a look at it mechanically if you are ever in there for anything, and look at the wiring diagram. What I am asking about here is if anyone has experienced failure or intermittent operation of any of those microswitches. I don't think replacing a good functioning solenoid will help me in any way.

johnandret

try to jump across the starting micro switches to see which one it is.

mrlmd

I may try that, thanks.

mrlmd

Well, persistence pays off - so never give up. Maybe I fixed the problem but not sure I found out what it was.
I checked the 2 microwitches in the electric box again, did and undid the connections, maybe that cleaned off some corrosion- who knows. Also lubed up the hinges and linkages in the gas pedal system as that was getting stuck, not retracting the full way when you let it off -so now the friggin thing works. Went for a long drive around my community with the dogs, making numerous stops along the way, and it started flawlessly each time.
If this problem recurs, I'll probably just replace those 2 microswitches and see what happens.
(I'm also carrying around a long piece of wire so if I ever get stuck somewhere I can jump the negative terminal on the starter solenoid and get going again.)
The benefit of all this is that I know have a thorough understanding of how this thing works. Thanks.