81 ezgo gas wont run in reverse

[Dave Box]

I think that's a good idea to look at the points again. With regard to the piston, the port in the skirt must face the carburetor. You have it in correctly as the engine will hardly run (in either direction) if the piston is reversed.

Good Luck
Dave

[red97tj]

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Ok, so I pulled the vent fan off, and I started adjusting the plate that everything is attached to. I actually got it to start running in reverse (it was very rough still, but running), then the next time I loosened the screws and moved it, I cant get any spark at all, forward or reverse. I have power at the coil, both sides. I am at a loss as to why I lost spark.

I have also attached a couple of pictures (I hope) to show you what I have

[red97tj]

I have been tinkering with a little bit more tonight and noticed that when I press on the accelerator, I dont get any spark at all, but when I let off, it gives a very faint little spark.

Any ideas what to check?

Will the HEI conversion work on this cart?

[Dave Box]

Well as you know I am not an expert on this style of ignition but I kind of, sort of know my way around so let's see if we can't fix her and maybe someone else will jump in as well. To start the HEI mod is not appropriate for your cart as it replaces the ignitor and you don't have one. The good news is that your ignition is nice and simple really only comprising of the points, the coil and the spark plug. You should see on the end of your crankshaft two lobes which cause the points to open and close. The engine is designed to fire well before the piston reaches top dead center so the second lobe is for reverse. I would first check which way the engine turns in forward and then make sure that the first lobe is the one that opens the points. With that done I would check that the points are opening and closing and are gapped correctly at 13 thousands. Now all the points are doing is shorting the negative of the coil to ground and thus creating a quasi ac signal which the coil then amplifies several thousand times to produce a voltage that can jump the spark plug gap. If you can remove the negative from the coil it would be useful to check the continuity between that wire and the chassis, by turning the engine by hand you should see the reading going from 0 ohms to infinty as the points change state. With this done I would then remove the 12 volt line from the positive of the coil. Now with your ohm meter measure across the two teminals of the coil. You should see quite a low reading say between 2 - 8 ohms if you see 0 then your coil is probably shorted out and if you see very high like 100 ohms then it is probably burning out. This would be a good time to clean all the wires and connectors. Make sure that you have a good solid 12volts on the positive of the coil also make sure that your system ground is good. A corroded ground connector will cause a plethora of strange systems. On mine (and I think all other 80's carts) the negative of the battery connects to the frame, from that point the negative goes to the F/R switch. Also from that point there should be a nice earth braid going to the engine, if this is missing or corroded the engine will try to ground out through the accelerator cable or the choke or anything it can find. I hope that you read all of this first because now I think about it this should be your first step. Remove the connectors from the frame, scrape the paint off the frame down to bare metal, clean all the connectors with some emery paper and make sure that earth strap goes from the frame to the engine.
If all of this does not get you going then we may need to look at a new coil. The good news is that several folks have used a coil sold on ebay which goes for some $20 as opposed to the $$$$$ that EZGO charge. Finally and I am sure you know this there will only be 12 volts on the coil when you press the accelerator so when you measure for 12 v on the coil get a buddy to press the throttle while you measure. BTW just for safety jack up the back end or remove the drive belt.
Let me know how you get on
Good luck
Dave

[red97tj]

Dave, I have not had a chance to check the electrical yet. But, I did want to check on something you said. You said there should be 2 lobes on the crankshaft, but I only have 1. Are you sure about the 2 lobes?

[Dave Box]

Pretty much sure. The spec on the engine calls for the spark to fire at 20 degrees before top dead center. Now if there were only one lobe then the engine would fire at 20 AFTER TDC in reverse and that just won't work, it also sounds like your problem. On the pointless system there are two magnets on the flywheel to trigger the coil in either direction (this of course causes two sparks the second occuring after the gas has exploded and is just wasted). As I said before I am no expert on the points ignition but I will do some research and get back to you.
Dave

[j-bro738]

I have an 81 ezgo also with this same style setup as this one with points. Mine runs awsome in reverse but just spudder in forward and very slow unless you go down hill lol.. and if going up incline it stops sputtering but loses power.. everything new other than points and coil and am at a loss.

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