Generator/starter overheating

[Shanelee78]

Good morning all. I am new to this. Been up alot of the night searching for a solution. We just bought our kids a golf cart, it is a 1995 yamaha G9 gas. Previous owner could not keep it running. We cleaned the carb, rebuilt the top end, and bought a new generator/starter.

Yesterday I went to drive it home from where we had it which was about 2 miles away. I got half way home and it just died. Would not start back up. Lifted the seat and noticed smoke coming from the generator. Also notice one of the rubber caps was off that let's you see the brushes. The generator was very hot. Let it cool down, tried to start it but nothing, no clicking, no nothing. Towed it back to where we came from. Took the generator off, opened it up and it was fragmented inside, noticed the bearing was seized. It was an Ebay generator. Put the old generator back on, charged the battery, and tried going home again.

On our way home again, my daughter and I passed the spit where I broke down the first time and celebrated! Short lived however, 100 yards further and we broke down again. Lifted the seat and the old generator was smoking now. Got towed back to the house this time by my wife and her VW bug lol.

My question is, what are all the things that would make a generator overheat and quit? I looked on here all last night, downloaded wiring diagrams, checked everything over. All the wiring looks routed to the correct places. One more thing to note, I did notice there were some wires coming from the generator that was melted to the point you could see thr copper wire.

Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

[slonomo]

It sounds to me like there is a short somewhere. A complete physical inspection of all of the wiring is in order. You can also use a multimeter to check the resistance of the wiring, or even a test light. But usually if something is shorted that bad you will find a broken, melted, damaged wire somewhere.

[Shanelee78]

Update. We got a new generator and a new voltage regulator. Was out for about 20 minutes and the cart came to a stop and started smoking. Raised the seat and the new generator was smoking!!!! Frustrating to say the least!!! Went inside for about an hour then came back out to push it to the garage. I was curious so I got on it and to see if it would start and it did. Drove it to the garage and parked it. Lifted the seat to check everything out again. Found the same wire as before was melted. It is a black wire that goes from the generator to the pick up. I am at lost. Any suggestions on why the generator is overheating and why that same wire melts when it does?

[Golf cart guy]

Its a very simple system, but you just cant put parts on it and call it a day. Sounds to me like it is overcharging, like in the 17-19 volt range. That needs to be checked. Are you using after market parts? If so buy OEM parts so you know your not dealing with crap.

[Shanelee78]

Its not overcharging. So tonight after further investigating of the wiring I noticed that the previous owners had all the black wires (ground wires) connected and ran to the frame. So after looking at the wiring diagram I noticed that the only things that are to be grounded to the frame would be the black wires from the back up buzzer and the coil. After putting all the black wires where they should go I went for a drive again. The cart stalled again and I had to push it home. The same black wire to the pick up melted again. Could the pick up be bad? Am I missing something?

[Shanelee78]

Any suggestions?

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[CP241]

May be a bad ground. What kind of resistance do you have between the negative battery terminal and the black ground wire?

Could be voltage regulator as well. What kind of.voltage is the generator outputting when the engine is running?

Could be a hundred things really. If the wiring was tampered with and stuff moved around like you describe, first thing I would do would be get a wiring diagram and go through every single wire to make sure it is all correct, doing continuity tests the entire way to make sure there isnt a bunch of corrosion in any of the wires causing high resistance and issues. It is 25 years old after all..... on my G9 I just made a new wiring harness and rewired the entire cart. If you're not comfortable doing that, a new wire harness may be in order.

I wouldnt recommend driving it or doing until the entire electrical wiring has been inspected, corrected, or replaced or youre just going to keep cooking new parts.

And, dont buy ebay starter/generators, voltage regulators, ignition coil, ignitor, or anything else except maybe add-on accessories like set kits, lights, etc. Even if everything in the cart is good and right, many dont last more than a month or two before they either go up in smoke or eat themselves from the inside out

[Golf cart guy]

What is battery voltage with cart running?

[Shanelee78]

Battery voltage was at 13.5 to 14

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[Lochlin]

In just all about electric circuits excessive heat is caused by one thing.....something is preventing current from properly passing through the circuit. Invariable, this is corroded or otherwise weak wiring somewhere. As the current isn't able to move freely it must dissipate somewhere and it will cause a lot of heat when it does. Think of it as a stream....if you block it something is going to flood. You have something in your wiring that causing extra current to be expended in your starter. It can be anywhere.
Like a previous poster mentioned, every wire has to be examined.