Electrical/starter problem

dougkc

Have owned a 1981 harley for 2 years. Put on new starter/gen when purchased. Had no reverse when purchased, still doesn't, but have had no problems till now. Nephew was driving cart in yard and called that it would not go past idle with the gas pedal on or off. It occured to me the cart was trying to start and wouldn't shut off. It had probably run 5+ minutes like that.Disconnected the battery.
Troubleshooting: hooked battery back up-all ok. Pressed pedal-tryed to start. Released pedal-continued to attempt start. Disconnected micro-switch-discontinued start.
Bought: new micro-swtich and solenoid (one on cart looked original). Installed new micro-switch- cart responded correctly but would not start. On second attempt hung in start mode with pedal released. Replaced solenoid. Attempt start several times, cart responded properly but would not start. Noticed coil was wet with oil, but not from engine. Checked coil, had juice on + and juice on- but spark wire was dead. Points "appeared" ok, though not much gap. Replaced coil with new. Re-gapped points. Condenser, and points have juice. No juice to plug wire. DISCOVERED ground strap from engine to frame was broken. Installed new 10 gauge wire strap. Fried strap and engine nor starter turned over. Replaced with heavy duty automotive strap. Neither engine nor starter turned over, hung in applied mode, starter started smoking at F2 terminal. Disconnected battery, "quickly". HELP, please.

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

Whitespider

Start checking ALL the wiring, every inch... which will mean disconnecting some of it in order to pull it out of the hidden spaces. Somewhere you are going to find a glob of burnt, melted and shorted wiring. It may be too late to save the starter/generator and I wouldn't be surprised if the reason you have no reverse is also the cause of this short. You need to figure out why there is no reverse.

Craigs carts

I'm with spider.
turning that starter that long wire or wires got hot and melted

dougkc

I got time to check the cart, finally. Maybe my cart is different, but all of the factory wire is out in the open where it is easy to see. I ran my fingers across every inch of it, no burnt wire or wires. The f2 wire at the starter was the last wire to get hot, and it did that right at the starter terminal.
Exactly how does the reverse switch work? Also, where should the lever be pointing to go forward?? Thanks.

Don B.

on my 73 I got it as an abandoned project for that very reason aftar the PO had spent a ton trying to figure it out (by replacing parts one at a time) Come to find out 2 of the field coils in the S/G were fried. barbecued. $150 later, I have a fresh rebuilt S/G; I have yet to bolt it all together to see if it works but considering all thats been done to this cart otherwise : would be surprised if it don't..... the F/R switch alone was $185....... that I aint so sure he had to spend. thats OK, because he gave me the cart.......his loss not mine I guess. I know that sounds mean, but if you knew the PO, you'd understand.
I see you say you put a "new" S/G on yours; was it truly new or a reman or a supposedly "good/used" one?
with all the knockoffs around these days and the headaches that Briggs and Stratton knockoffs have caused me on lawn tractors add in that a new OE Briggs one is the same price, I have to question the source of your starter generator; new does not necessarily = "good" especially these days.

dougkc

I'm about 95% sure the starter was new. The people where I get my parts seem to be pretty honest and sincere. Have you taken apart the F//R switch and looked inside to see how it works? I'm not sure mine is correct/good, but by the parts manual it is hooked up correctly. Thanks

smkummer

I was letting a 10 year old girl drive my cart around the yard the other day until we notice she didn't show up anymore. I went to look for her and the cart wouldn't go anymore, it would not go above idle (I believe it was only the starter making it idle. I check points gap, plug gap and no luck. Then I hooked a charger to my battery and now all is fine. I believe when she was driving (she could hardly reach the peddles) she was always bringing the peddle back to off and constantly restarting the engine. So I am guessing in time the battery wore down so much that it could not turn the engine fast enough to make good compression. The plug was wet also. I will go check to make sure it is charging the next time I drive it. just my .02

On the foward reverse switch, download the parts diagram and carefully go through it. Individual parts are available to fix it. Even if your base plate is broke, we had to JB weld my friends back together to make it work and now its as good as new.

Whitespider

dougkc,
I'm not talking about the heavy cables running from battery, starter and reversing switch... I'm talking about all the small wires running between all switches, solenoids, coil and such. You said the starter stayed engaged after releasing the accelerator pedal, that can only be possible if the solenoid remained engaged, and that can only be possible if B+ is being applied to the small terminal at the solenoid (unless the solenoid stuck, but you said you tried a new one).

The reversing switch lever should be to the left (driver side) in forward. Battery B+ enters the starter field coil at the F2 terminal and leaves at the F1 to feed the reversing switch. In forward, the switch provides B+ to the A2 armature terminal and B- to the A1 armature terminal on the starter, the switch reverses polarity of the A1/A2 terminals in the reversing position (lever to passenger side).

The DF starter terminal is the shunt field and goes to the voltage regulator, as do the other two small wires at the A1/A2 terminals.

dougkc

I will go back and start over. I thought I had checked the small wires too, but it's hot down here. So, I'll do it again. Thanks for all your help. Just bear with me, it's got to be something simple.

mwythe

I just fixed a similar problem.
traced all the issues to the rev/forward switch.
Took it apart and noticed my ground cable was corroded bad.
Inside i saw lots of damage from arching and forward contacts where melted deep in not allowing much of a contact.

Cleaned off all conections and dug out the contact putting a washer underneath to make all contacts at the same hight and works like a champ now.

now forward works my problem was no forward.