G16 intermittent weak spark

[Dougo]

G16 Sometimes it runs sometimes it don't. Starter seems to turn over slow and sometimes I need to press pedal several times for it to spin. When it stalls it has weak to no spark. Replaced battery, coil, plug cap and put new brushes in starter, no change. Then replaced ignition relay same same. I have checked all connections, grounds and wires all seem intact and good.

[Dougo]

Cart ran for awhile after installing parts, could something in the starter generator have caused the new coil to burn up, barely any spark without plug cap none with cap and plug.

[bigstik40]

Looks like you've replaced just about everything with "no joy"!! You didn't say anything about replacing the high tension spark plug wire. That would be a pretty cheap item to replace and is about the only thing left to replace. The other thing you could try, is to make sure you have the new ignition coil gapped properly. I think you need to loosen the coil mounting screws, then slip a 3 x 5 index card between the coil and flywheel magnets. With that in place, you then push the coil into the flywheel magnets (the index card maintains the gap) and tighten the coil mounting screws. Rotate the flywheel slightly while removing the index card (Others can chime in if that's not correct). Thats about all I can think of for now. Good luck and let us know the results. - RAY

[bigstik40]

Ok, I see where the new coil includes a new high tension wire, but I just thought of something else. Make sure that the black "kill" wire between the coil and the stop relay is not pinched or rubbed bare. RAY

[1989Marathon]

Check with a meter that the keyswitch and the pedal switch is closing to zero ohms each time you activate them. Try this multiple times as it is intermittent. You can unplug each of them and check them by themselves.

[1989Marathon]

Originally Posted by bigstik40

Ok, I see where the new coil includes a new high tension wire, but I just thought of something else. Make sure that the black "kill" wire between the coil and the stop relay is not pinched or rubbed bare. RAY

The wiring diagram shows a blue wire going to the coil. I believe that it gets grounded when the pedal is pressed(the diagram shows a normally open contact). If that is the case, if the wire was shorted to ground, the coil would still fire. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[bigstik40]

Originally Posted by 1989Marathon

The wiring diagram shows a blue wire going to the coil. I believe that it gets grounded when the pedal is pressed(the diagram shows a normally open contact). If that is the case, if the wire was shorted to ground, the coil would still fire. Please correct me if I am wrong.

OOPS !! Just double checked and 1989 Marathon is correct. The kill wire is blue and not black. I am not 100% sure that the blue wire gets grounded with pedal depressed (even though the wiring shows it that way). This question came up on another thread, but was never totally resolved. Usually, grounding the kill wire kills the ignition. The next time I'm with my cart (weekends) I'm going to check the relay to see for sure. - RAY

[Dougo]

Thanks everyone still no luck or any spark.
Read another tread that made a really good point, that the ignition system is stand alone and needs no other power source. The blue wire is only to ground the system out to shut it off. Disconnecting that removes the possibility of that being the problem. Funny that person also said buy OEM unless you can afford to buy it twice, looks like I'm doing just that..

[bigstik40]

That's what I found also. The wiring diagram for the stop relay is misleading. The stop relay connects the blue wire to ground when the main switch and the accelerator switch are off. Now back to what I said about the blue wire possibly being the problem. Just disconnecting it doesn't prove that it is not the problem (unless you disconnect it at the coil). If the blue wire is pinched or chafed somewhere, you will have no spark. Did you check the blue wire to see if it may be pinched or grounded? Did you try disconnecting the stop relay to see if you regain spark? (If for some reason the stop relay is not being energized you will have no spark). Let us know how it goes. RAY

PS - Here's a good thread, esp read the last post (sounds a lot like your situation)
http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/gas-y...ght=stop+relay

[rlester]

I have a G14 cart that was doing the same thing recently. Sputtering, running for a short while, then cutting out. Spark was intermittent.

Turns out, even though the grounds checked out fine, I ran a new one from the battery to the voltage regulator and that totally fixed it. Been running for days now with no problem.

I just used a wire with alligator clips on each end as a test and sure enough, it runs better with another ground wire.

Not sure if this is your problem or not, but its worth a try.