G1 wont turn over, key switch issue??

[Landcruisin60]

Hey guys my friend and I are n00bs to golf carts, but we both are knowledgable about automotive mechanics...so this should be similar...right??

Anyway... so we have a G1, it ran decently this fall until it was parked, last week we pulled it into the garage to tinker on it and it wouldnt start. The battery voltage is good (13.5v) we think it may be the key switch thats the issue. With the key in any position: off, forward, reverse if you press the accelerator a solenoid clicks. Turning it to forward doesnt change anything, the solenoid clicks but the starter/generator doesnt do anything, it doesnt appear to even put a draw on the battery. If you put it into reverse the same thing happens, but reverse is supposed to have a buzzer, but the buzzer doesnt sound. The buzzer worked fine before it was parked.


Does anyone have some words of wisdom? Can we hotwire the ignition and bypass the key switch?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

[GMB74]

Take your cables off the battery and clean them so they are shiny. You may have one that is loose or corroded, causing a voltage drop. If that doesn't work, check the sticky at the top of the page,"So your Yami won't turn over".

[rando]

The samething happened to my G16. Click but no starter. It was just like GMB74 stated Bad battery cables. They were tight and didn't look bad but after replacing them it started fine.
Landcruisin60 welcome to BGW

[sho305]

I had to file the clamps out on my G9, they looked clean too.

G1 has a solenoid for forward and second one for reverse, so if both act the same way you know its up or downstream. You know the key and pedal are working or it would do nothing, power goes to key then pedal then solenoids. So likely start with the starter and its cables, the starter/generator is pretty reliable. You can test voltage at the generator when this happens. Make sure you test all grounds, the frame is not ground on these that is different from a car plus the engine cradle is on pivots. If a ground wire is bad it will not work just like a bad positive. Wire connection issues are common with these, but easy and cheap to fix.

[berthasquare]

Check your gound cable first. If okay, check if solenoid is okay.

[Landcruisin60]

The reason why I think its the key switch is even with the key switch in the off position and the key out of the ignition if you press the accelerator pedal the solenoid clicks...or is that supposed to happen? Some of the things on the cart seem odd to me..

[sho305]

I think the wiring diagram for G1 is posted here someplace, I don't have one. It would tell you where the power goes exactly. They are pretty easy to test when you know that but connection issues are pretty common in these old carts. In G1 one of the two solenoids going bad might be second but then you get only forward or reverse, so that is not your issue...it is common to both.

[GMB74]

Wiring diagrams are in the stickies section above. Check for melted/chafed wires where the harness curves around the muffler and battery. Loose/corroded connections and damaged wiring is common on these old buggies.

[Landcruisin60]

Ok thanks guys! I havent been to my friends to work on it yet but it sounds like we have some things to test.

[Landcruisin60]

We cleaned the connections and it didnt change a thing. No problem though, a z6xr engine running Megasquirt will be a nice replacement.