Weak Spark G9

[KHPaint]

I bought a non-running G9 from a guy that had it for years. He bought it non-running. He was told it just needed a solenoid. He bought a new solenoid and installed it, and claimed he replaced the brushes in the gen-starter. He had the float bowl off, when I bought it. He said it "pops" when you spray starting fluid in the carb. I traded a snow plow for it hoping for an easy fix. I get it home, put a new battery in it, a new spark plug in it, got rid of the old gas and went thru the carb. (it was clean) When I turn the key on and hit the gas it will not turn the engine past the compression stroke. If I arc across the solenoid with a wrench it will turn over fine. It will occationally backfire thru the carb and "pop" over but never acually start.. If I take the belt off of the gen-starter and hit the gas pedal, it will spin for about 2 seconds before slowing to almost a stop, then starts spinning again.(is this normal?) When I take the plug out and ground it against the engine, the spark is a weak purple color. Interesting enough when I first hit the gas pedal it will have one nice blue spark, then dull purple. I am confident that the carb is clean the fuel is fresh, the exhaust is not restricted and there is plenty of compression, and I tried the plug by attaching it to my weed whip and it has a nice blue spark as many times as I cared to pull it. Before I buy a new igniter and or coil, I would like to hear some feed back on the starter thing, Sorry for the long post and probably some spelling. Thank you

[KHPaint]

Sorry I posted it under electric carts I don`t know how to delete.

[crash12888]

You can PM one of the mods to move it to the gas section.

1st, try using one side of a pair of jumper cables and clamp the black to the starter/generator housing (ground) and the other to the neg of the battery and try it. This is just checking for a bad or weak ground cable.

2nd, Unhook both small wires from the solenoid and use two jumper wires from the battery pos and neg and run to the two small posts.
Doesn't matter which jumper goes to which small post because the solenoid is not internally grounded.
If the motor spins over by doing this you have determined the soleniod is good and you have another issue, either the start circuit feeding power to the solenoid by way of fuse, key switch, micro switch on F/R shifter and pedal switch has a partial break in it somewhere (corroded wire connection?) or a bad ground.

[KHPaint]

It was a poor ground! I took a set of jumper cables and used only the ground(black) one and went from the battery neg to a bolt on the engine. I hit the gas, and watched in total amazement as the engine turned over without a prob, and the spark was crisp and blue. I still didn`t think it would run, but after screwing in the plug and pulling out the choke for a second it was running!!!!!!!!! I took the cable off and it wouldn`t turn over. I went to the local auto store, bought a 36" ground cable hooked one end to the battey the other to the engine and I have a running gulf cart! I am so happy I cannot even explain. THANK YOU SO MUCH! This site ROCKS.

[crash12888]

Sweet!, I love it when a plan comes together (the A team)

[SteveRand]

Crash - you da man! Congrats, KH, you have a cool cart! Welcome to the world of Buggies Gone Wild!