starter/generator smoking

[samfromMO]

My starter generator smokes when I put it in forward. reverse is fine, no smoke, moves the cart.

When I put it in forward the generator spins very slowly and begins smoking and the wires get hot.

any thoughts about this? I'm pretty clueless as to what it could be.

[bkahler]

Sam,

Have you tried testing with the drive belt removed? I don't know much about these carts yet as we just got ours two days ago and it had cut wires that I had to sort out. Wiring them to match the diagram seemed to work for me. With the drive belt removed I've been able to run the starter in forward and reverse.

Attached is a diagram of the wiring for an 83 ezgo cart. Off hand I can't think of why the generator/starter would work in one direction but not the other. Were you able to positively identify the four connections on your starter/generator? I suppose its possible that if you had F1 swapped with F2 or A1 swapped with A2 something like this might happen. Bottom line is before running it much more I'd compare your wiring to the diagram that I've attached and see if you can see any differences.

Good luck!

Brad

1983 ezgo wiring diagram gas.jpg

[samfromMO]

I got it wired up correctly. I don't have the belt connected, so its just the generator spinning. It goes great in reverse, but when I select forward, is spins slowly and starts smoking.

[bkahler]

About the only thing I can suggest is pull the starter and take it to a good repair shop. Off hand I can't think of what could be causing your problem other than possibly the brushes.

One other suggestion I have is to ensure that you have a good ground going form the engine to the frame of the cart.

Brad