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Old 09-09-2011, 09:11 AM   #1
russstalvey
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Default 2004 ST350 Not Running, gas and spark but no fire

I am not an expert by any means, but have re-built a lot of tractor motors and car motors and a lawn mower or two. If anyone can pass along any ideas that would be great and I appreciate it.

The symptom: Will not fire at all at any time.

What I know at this point after going over cart:
1) Initially checked plugs, they were very wet and possibly fuel fouled. Replaced them and checked for fire by grounding plug, spinning motor. Plug had spark, weak from what I am used to, but it was there. I can usually hear the spark when testing but not on this. I turned lights out and checked for possible crack in plug wires, none found, spark only coming from plug. Turned lights back on, scratched head and a few other places then continued troubleshooting.

2) Looking in the carb while turning over motor, saw fuel spitting into intake when opening throttle open wide. Not atomized very well, so I took the carb off to look for floating junk in carb or perhaps a stuck open needle valve. Needle valve seemed free, and really didn't find any dirt in carb. Fuel pump works fine, checked it before and after carb work, and after putting carb back on there was fuel going into the intake from the jet afterwards.

3) Checked compression, seems low to me (50 pounds) with no throttle, but when I open throttle while testing compression both cylinders have over 165 psi. Checked valve adjustments and they were at about .007 intitially and readjusted to .004. I race formula vees and do my own valve adjustments, so this is pretty basic to me.

4) Now, I don't like doing this, but I did it in this case cause I was a little befuddled. I had some starter fluid (with lube in it) and tried that by spraying some in carb (just a little squirt). The cart would not fire unless I held the throttle all the way open and only for a few seconds (using up the starter fluid I sprayed).

So, gentlemen (and ladies, sorry) have I missed anything? I was going to go out and buy a new coil at lunch today to have it this weekend if I needed it. The reason is that I have usually seen a stronger spark in my plugs when testing them. I don't know, perhaps that is normal for these things.

As you can tell, I lurk a lot. I joined the thread way back and this forum really provides a lot of ideas and suggestions. This is the first time I felt I needed to reach out.

Any thoughts?

And thank you for your time.
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Old 09-09-2011, 09:18 AM   #2
worqhors
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Default Re: 2004 ST350 Not Running, gas and spark but no fire

Possibly pulsar coil and/or ignitor. Borrow from another cart to test. Alternatively, install yours in a known running cart. Also check if coil is properly grounded. Ensure that the two small wires going to the coil are properly installed (there is a + and - sign on top of the coil).
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Old 09-09-2011, 09:34 AM   #3
russstalvey
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Default Re: 2004 ST350 Not Running, gas and spark but no fire

Thank you Sir. Actually I did not know about an Ignitor. As for installing in another cart, my ST350 is an only child. This has been a real "workhorse" for my farm, so it has been missed greatly in the past 4 days.

I really do appreciate your comment and it gives me a new avenue to search out. I was pretty much at a dead end on where to turn to next other than this excellent forum. I will pick one of those up at lunch time today as well. I'll try it first, before the coil.
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Old 09-09-2011, 04:54 PM   #4
worqhors
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Default Re: 2004 ST350 Not Running, gas and spark but no fire

I am very familiar with my 97 Workhorse 350cc. (I am not sure if your cart has similar electrical-wiring set-up).

The ignitor is that small squarish/flattish thing (2" x 3/4" x 3 1/2") installed near the solenoid with 5 wires coming out of it. Talking about those 5 small wires, ensure that they are in good condition, i.e. no broken connection. In my cart, the middle black wire is ground and should be properly grounded. The two wires (right-most if ignitor is facing you) are connected to the pulsar. The remaining 2 are connected as follows: one goes to the solenoid and the other goes direct to the ignition coil.

You can download a wiring diagram from this website.
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Old 09-09-2011, 05:45 PM   #5
simple man
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Default Re: 2004 ST350 Not Running, gas and spark but no fire

How old is the fuel? I read in your post that you miss the cart. If it has sat for over a month and a half in the summer heat, the fuel has probably gone bad! If you can, use only alcohol free fuel or premium! Your engine will run much better and the fuel won't go bad nearly as fast!


P.S. The reason I mention this is you said it did start with ether. That means you do have ignition, even if it was for a few seconds. I work on small engines and the gas we're stuck with now is garbage!!! And I'm being kind!
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Old 09-09-2011, 09:03 PM   #6
russstalvey
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Default Re: 2004 ST350 Not Running, gas and spark but no fire

Thanks Worqhors and simple man. Yes, I found the Ignitor when I got home. The fuel is all new and we go through a tank every 3 to 4 weeks, so it gets used before it goes bad. As I indicated in the last post, I was going to go and get a Coil and Ignitor during my lunch today. The place I go to is pretty bug into selling the used carts and has a big service area. They are pretty friendly. Mentioned to the parts guy what I was having trouble with and he said to hold on a minute. He went out and pulled in one of his more experienced mechanics. After I went through basically what I said in the first post, he gave me a priority of what to check. He suggested that I check all the ground connections first, clean any pin connectors with electrical cleaning spray, then try the coil and after that replace the Ignitor. Since they don't have an Ignitor in stock, I felt that this would work out ok. He brought up the gas too. Your responses are most appreciated. I'll let you folks know how things turn out. I feel it is important to me that any successful fixes be documented here as that might help someone out in the future with the same symptoms.
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Old 09-09-2011, 09:12 PM   #7
stretchman
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Default Re: 2004 ST350 Not Running, gas and spark but no fire

coils go intermittent all the time on the ezgo's
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Old 09-09-2011, 09:49 PM   #8
rusty shackel
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Default Re: 2004 ST350 Not Running, gas and spark but no fire

test the coil with a dvom meter check it on ohms .

rusty s
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Old 09-12-2011, 03:32 PM   #9
russstalvey
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Default Re: 2004 ST350 Not Running, gas and spark but no fire

OK, as I indicated on the thread earlier, I was going to get back to this site and report the outcome. I went through all the ground connections and pins cleaning them as I went through it. I also took rusty Shackel's suggestion and put a volt ohm on the coil. It looked fine. So I didn't take the new coil out of its package, which would have made it non-returnable. Fortunately they did not have an Ignitor in stock, so I didn't have to buy that either. Now I will go into this other little story to bring you up slowly to the ultimate reason for this thing not running. About 10 years ago a really bad sinus infection destroyed my sense of smell. It has its good parts (not able to smell certain things we don't want to) and it's bad points. Like not being able to smell bacon frying in the kitchen or cinnamon buns cooking in the oven.....the list goes on. EVEN DIESEL FUEL THAT THE BARN MANAGER FILLED THE TANK WITH!!!! Yep, that was the problem. On Sunday I threw my hands up to my wife and we loaded it on the trailer to take to the service shop on the other side of town. I told her this thing was throwing me for a loop and that there was no reason for it not to start and that maybe a professional could figure it out. Well, a professional with a nose did.....which is what professionals are paid for. Got a text from her a few minutes ago with the news. Now I need to have a talk with my barn manager and get to the bottom of this mistake. Thanks all and I hope that someone faced with the same circumstances will either smell what is in the tank if they can.....or ask someone else with a workable nose to take a sniff.
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