DS Solenoid, Volt Reg, or Reverse Micro??

[sp_clark]

Ok I'm new to this forum...love it by the way. I've read everything I could about starting problems, solenoids, micros etc. I have a late 80's DS gas cart. It was really hard to start...starter acted like it was laboring to get moving. When pedal pressed, sometimes it would take a few seconds for the starter to turn but it eventually would, albeit slower than it should. I replaced the starter and the delayed start and slow turning problem went away. BUT.....In the past, I had randomly blown the 10amp fuse by the solenoid...not sure why but every once in a while it blows. After new starter, I had started it, then shut it down, switched to reverse and it wouldn't start. The fuse was blown. I replaced it, it started. Drove around a bit, parked it for a bit, wouldn't start. Fiddled a little, found a ground strap I 'missed' hooking back up to the starter (other ground WAS connected though), re-connected that and the starter turned over. Sat for a while, wouldn't start...nothing. The micro's in the box are ok I think. I've tested voltage with a meter and they seem to function as they should. I have power to the small terminal on the solenoid when the micro's engage with pedal. The voltage regulator (not the solenoid) intermittently clicks and/or buzzes when pedal pressed but starter does not turn. Screwdriver across the big posts on solenoid yields nothing. This cart is at the river and when all this happened, I didn't have access to this forum and the wiring/testing info avail. I have that now so will try those things when I get back to the river. My cart starts in neutral. The neutral lockout micro is not connected. In looking at the wiring diagrams, I see there is a reverse micro somewhere on the cart that appears to engage the reverse horn. When thinking about past 'blown fuses', it does seem that it's been when using the shifter....I'm thinking I might have a short in that circuit. BTW the fuse is not currently blown. Anyway, where is the reverse micro? And is there anything significant about the voltage regulator clicking/buzzing when pedal is pressed?

Thanks,
Steve (sorry for the long post)

[crash12888]

Make sure you have a good, charged battery, check ALL of your battery/starter cables, both pos and neg and all ends for corrosion.
Corroded cabled will give a correct 12V reading with a meter but will choke the amps needed to turn the starter down to what you are describing.
Try using a "quality" jumper cable and jump from the neg side of battery to the neg post on the starter/generator.
Try it also from the pos side to the input side of the solenoid, then from output side of solenoid to starter post and try it.
All you are doing here is just bypassing potential bad cables to troubleshoot.

You say you jump the large posts on the solenoid and get nothing so this means you have one of the following:
a bad battery, a bad or multiple bad cables, bad solenoid or bad/weak starter/gen.
Don't overlook having the starter checked again just because it's new.
Keep us posted.

[sp_clark]

Thank you very much for the quick response. The battery is new and good. Interesting comment on the cables. While I haven't inspected them real close, they look good and certainly their connections at both ends look fine but I will check more closely when I get back out there. One thing I failed to mention in my original post but you kind of hit on it with the cable/amp comment. The voltage drops from 12+ down to about 2v when you press the pedal. Something is definitely drawing down the amps, and also intermittently blowing the fuse. I'm not sure if these are related or not. When I installed the new starter, it worked GREAT! I ran it up, stopped it and started it a couple times no problem. First time I put it in reverse and then tried to start it, the fuse blew. Replaced the fuse and it started fine. Drove it around a little, stopped and started several times...worked great. I thought I was DONE! Later, drove it down to the beach (all paved)...sat for a while...wouldn't start...fuse fine. Never got it going again after that.

It's gonna be a couple weeks before I'm back down there. I wish I'd had access to this info when I was out because I certainly could have done some tests that I did not know about.

Did you have any comment on where the reverse micro is?

[scottyb]

The reverse micro is going to be mounted on the top of the F&R

[sp_clark]

Scottyb...hmmmm.. by F&R are you referring to the fwd / rev shifter? So in the engine compartment, you can see the back side of the shifter. there IS one micro there, but it is not connected to anything. It's broken and there are no wires running to it. There is only ONE switch there. I assumed this was the neutral lockout, which is obviously disabled on my cart.

[crash12888]

Originally Posted by sp_clark

Thank you very much for the quick response. The battery is new and good. Interesting comment on the cables. While I haven't inspected them real close, they look good and certainly their connections at both ends look fine but I will check more closely when I get back out there. One thing I failed to mention in my original post but you kind of hit on it with the cable/amp comment. The voltage drops from 12+ down to about 2v when you press the pedal. Something is definitely drawing down the amps, and also intermittently blowing the fuse. I'm not sure if these are related or not. When I installed the new starter, it worked GREAT! I ran it up, stopped it and started it a couple times no problem. First time I put it in reverse and then tried to start it, the fuse blew. Replaced the fuse and it started fine. Drove it around a little, stopped and started several times...worked great. I thought I was DONE! Later, drove it down to the beach (all paved)...sat for a while...wouldn't start...fuse fine. Never got it going again after that.

It's gonna be a couple weeks before I'm back down there. I wish I'd had access to this info when I was out because I certainly could have done some tests that I did not know about.

Did you have any comment on where the reverse micro is?

Where are you taking your voltage readings at when it drops to 2V?

[sp_clark]

I KNEW I should have added that piece of info! :) Negative battery post, RED large post on solenoid.

[crash12888]

Originally Posted by sp_clark

I KNEW I should have added that piece of info! :) Negative battery post, RED large post on solenoid.

HAHAHA!! No biggie, we'll get to the bottom of it.
Red large post on solenoid I assume from the battery.
Do you have a set of jumper cables?
Connect the red clamp to the pos side of the battery, the other red clamp to the post on the solenoid that is connected to the pos battery.
What we are doing is bypassing that stock positive batt. cable incase it is bad.
Take another voltage reading. if still you have a voltage drop I would swap batteries or have that one load tested for a bad cell.

[sp_clark]

Thanks Crash...I will do that but it'll be a couple weeks. :(

[crash12888]

No problem, Any chance you did the same voltage test on the pos and neg posts of the battery?