Broken A2 ground terminal on starter generator

[zellerj]

Hello all,

My 97 Gas Club Car was always slow to start since I bought the cart last fall. I tightened the starter belt and that helped some, but there still was a 3 to 5 second delay from when I heard the micro switches click to the cart starting. A friend suggested that it may be a dirty electrical connection, so I set out cleaning all the battery, solenoid, and starter generator connections. I could get everything apart and clean except the A2 ground connection from the starter generator that attaches a copper ground strap to the frame. The nut would not come off.

After a few starts to see if cleaning all of these connections fixed the problem, which it did not - still the same delay - I felt the one nut that I could not get off and it was very hot- too hot to touch. I sprayed the A2 stud with PB Blaster and tried once again to get it off, but no luck, and the stud would just spin. Now the starter generator would not turn over at all.

I took the starter generator off and apart and the A2 stud was broken where it connects to the brush assembly. In fact the nut that holds the grounding strap seemed welded to the stud. It must have gotten very hot from a poor connection.

I have a new stud on order from one of this sites sponsor, and used my angle grinder to remove the old. My question is: is this a common problem, and if so, what caused it.

Best,
Jim
1997 Club Car DS

[Murphy]

I would say with the lack of responses, not to common. Nice find, hope that fixes the delay.

[jiminpa]

The issue is not limited to club car generators. It used to be an issue years ago on vehicles with generators. People would only use 1 wrench when removing the connections. With any of these type of connections with a nut above and below the wire, you should ALWAYS put a wrench on the bottom nut to hold the stud from turning before you remove the nut on top. If you don't, and the stud turns, you can break the wire on the inside or you can loosen the connection on the inside causing it to heat. And the rest you know.