ezgo workhorse starter generator

[worqhors]

My EZGO 97 350 cc Workhorse was running great when it stopped suddenly in the middle of the road. I thought my battery failed me.

I replaced the battery with a known good one. Still starter does not respond. I removed the starter gen belt and started the cart. The starter turned albeit rather slow. Is it possible for the starter generator to "lose" power or weaken to the point it can't turn the engine? I just had a complete engine rebore and replaced the pistons and even the connecting rods. The engine was initially "tight". Did I over exert the starter gen resulting into losing its power?

[Plumbergs]

Worn brushes maybe?

Does the 350cc S/G have brush inspection windows like the earlier carts? If so, you should see 4 little removalbe rubber covers around the rim of the S/G. I'd start by removing one of those and pulling out a brush to inspect it. Once you get a brush out (should be just a single screw and a coil spring holding it in), you should see a wear mark which indicates when its time to replace 'em. If its really close to the wear mark, or if you don't see any wear mark at all that could be your problem.

If the brushes are OK, you'd probably need to get a voltmeter and check a couple of things. Maybe Dave will chime in about that.

[worqhors]

Brushes are new. A week ago, the starter A1 terminal gets real hot (it even emits smoke)when starting but then it was okay a few days later. So I did not think of any further problem.

It's also possible that it is a bearing problem, a commutator problem or too much dirt inside. I will do some cleaning and if the problem persists, I could change the commutator as I have a used spare. Thanks for the feedback.

[c21tupper]

We're having a very similiar problem with a 96 gas EZGO workhorse. Replaced all the brushes. Using a volt meter when it starts it produces only 12 volts max at high speed. Then at lower speed it just slows down and dies and then the battery needs to be recharged. What's causing the battery to have to be recharged after only being run for a few times? EZGO does not list a commutator for sale... where do we get one and how do we test for that ???

[worqhors]

Well, I found out one of the brushes is not seating well.

[410MAN]

do a search for this posted by "land owner" generator 101, I can get to it but not sure how so search by poster Land Owner, if you find it lots info about this problem, I ordered new volt regulator and it fixed my problem, good luck


click here < i have no idea how I did this but it works.


http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/gas-c...tor-101-a.html

[barney1golf]

My cart I bought last spring is a new refurbished one. The battery ran down twice right after I got it. The green ground wire on the s/g had come unplugged or wasn't even plugged in during build down by the voltage regulator. The battery should have 12 volts on it not running, then when you hit the gas pedal the voltage should drop to 10-11 during start up then the generator should kick in and you will see 14-14.2 volts during the time the engine is running. But if the green ground wire is broken or damaged the voltage regulator doesn't know what the voltage is and will do nothing with it.

[c21tupper]

Thank you, all of your posts have been extremely helpful. Have a 97 Workhorse that I have now got running again. It would start and then the battery would go dead. After a recharge it would only run once or twice, and would backfire if we went too far, and then die. After many tries and replacing the voltage regulator, solinoid and removing the Starter/generator, about 10 or 12 times, replacing the brushes, found that one of the leads (strap from the f1 post) that was grounding out on the body. Had to take the S/G apart and remove the brush holder from the end cap to find it, as the strap had been bent 90 degrees and stuffed against the frame. The end of the strap had a small hole in it and I finally deduced that the end of the strap should be attached to the screw where the brush lead goes. The insulator on that post fell apart when I took it apart , which told me that somebody had messed with it before and couldn't remember where the strap was supposed to be attached. There are no pictures of the brush holder and how they are supposed to be assembled, and I think that the post that talked about one of the leads was supposed to be AC was the clue that helped. I'm guessing that this thing being a magnetic field, that each brush is a minus and the next brush is a positive. I couldn't get more than 12.5 volts from the battery when running and it would go down to less than 9 when running, so I knew it was grounding out. It has taken almost three months to find it. It now puts out 14.7 volts at the battery posts when running. Many thanks to jiminpa, and to Land Owner and all his problems. RE: Generator `101.

Conrad and Cindy @c21tupper@aol.com