Jacobsen 810 - 295 Robin - No Spark, new ignitor and pulsar.

[Bbrooks8159]

I am new to the world of golf carts. I recently purchased a Jacobsen 810 with what i believe is the Robin 295 engine. It had no spark. I occasionally would see a random spark while testing.
I read a few threads on hear as well as looked at google for info. I tested both resistance and well as ac voltage at the pulsar. I had just shy of .1 v ac while cranking and 20 ohms resistance. I read several contradictory posts about resistance should be 75-150 ohm and cranking ac voltage should be at approx .5v. I ohmed the new one i purchased and the resistance was approx 160 ohms and observed the cranking voltage after install which was now .14v ac. Still no start.
I cleaned my ground and power clip on wires to the ignitor. still no spark. Replaced ignitor with $30 china replacment. - still no spark. I ohmed the wires from the pickup coul connector to the 4 pin connector and the ignitor and also ogmed the wires from the coil back to the ignitor and both test out good. When i check with a test lamp i have power while cranking on the positive side of the coil. But with a grounded test lamp i do not on the negative side. I ohmed the coil and the secondary tests right, but the resistance on the primary side is minutely higher than the spec. but if i unhook the wire and tap it repeatedly on the coil while cranking it will throw some sparks.
I then grabbed a known good ignition coil from a gm 3800. i made two jumper wires from the original robin style coil and still could not get spark. i then switched the wires as i did not know which side of the gm coil was pos and neg and still no spark.
Running low on ideas. Does anybody that works on these have any insight ?

[rodney98ezgotxt]

i got ezgo txt doing same thing. im going to be watching this

[Bbrooks8159]

After some extensive research i came to the conclusion that this is just a machine, like any other machine it operates on some very basic principals. I have worked in the automotive field for over 20 years and diagnosed systems way more complex than this. Even though i have little/no experience with golf carts i started over from scratch.
I had previously cleaned all ground contacts, adding grounds where i thought there might be a breakdown in continuity for some reason. I then checked resistance from the battery ground to the frame, engine and the panel that hold the ignitor to very what i thought was a good ground circuit actually was.
I then using my graphing multi-meter to watch the output of the new pulsar coil that i installed. Although, i gaped it as described the ac voltage produced was less than the .5v i have read about. the absolute most . could get was .2v. But, no one mentions what the cranking rpm/s need to be to achieve this. My resistance of the new pulsar was around 170 ohms i believe. It seems to vary with temp 23-30 ohms.
I did check the resistance of my ignition coil. It fell slightly outside the figures i had read about. But, when i manually triggered it there was a nice consistent blue spark so i decided to look elsewhere.
I had previously installed a new ignitor. I ohmed the harness from that to the pickup coil and to the ignition coil and checked the terminals for corrosion and tension. All seemed reasonable. I verified the same ac voltage i observed at the pickup coil was getting to the connector at the ignitor.
Having extensive experience with gm HEI systems back in the day i liked the idea of the conversion but was not originally in a hurry to modify this cart from stock components. I converted the system over as described by people on this site and it came to life.
My conclusion is the new ignitor, as well as the old ignitor were both faulty. Just because the part is new does not mean it is good. A proven part can be a better than a new part. I had run into this a few times over the years with automotive style components. Of the thousands of repairs i have completed there was maybe 20 times this had happened in 20 years but it does happen.
Trust your instincts !

[CP241]

Did you get it running then?

I agree completely. Problem is, most of the new ignitor you can buy are aftermarket China junk, and very very common to be bad right out of the box, or fail shortly thereafter. I've had brand new ones work perfect and fail after 10 minutes.

OEM parts are pricey but you get what you pay for

[56servi]

I have had the same cart as yours for over 20 years. 3 things I found that can cause No spark are:
1. Bottom of plug wires are bad where they go into coil. I cut about 1/4 in off bottom. Look for good wires after cutting (wire inside plug wire). I test with a flashing plug testor in line with plug.

2.Bad plugs. Had them spark holding against engine & they work but not installed in engine. Don't try to cleam them, buy new

3. 2 wires to coil reversed. Be sure + wire is on correct side.

[1MALDERMAN]

Can anyone tell me what spark plugs to purchase for the Jacobsen 810?

[56servi]

Jacobsen 810 is same as any EZGO with 295 a engine. I have used many brands and they all work until they stop working

[slonomo]

NGK BP4ES gapped to .028"