Ooooohhhhhh Sooooolenoid!

[Pipsta]

Originally Posted by TahoeDawgZ71

You need to have the proper voltage regulator installed on the car before you can properly diagnose the problem.... It uses the voltage regulator circuit to activate the solenoid. If you want to eliminate your solenoid as the problem, disconnect the wires from both small posts and let them hang, not connected to anything. Leave the large posts untouched. Hook a 12V Positive jumper to one side, and a 12V negative to the other... The solenoid should click and the engine should turn over. If this happens, it's not a solenoid problem.

Ok, when the right volt reg is in there I found out the the solenoid isn't clicking and not turning the engine when jumped across the larger poles with a screw driver as instructed by a dealer tech here in phx. He also told me to throttle it to get the engine running to check the microswitch. He told me to ground the yellow wire coming off the volt reg and get the engine running. Test the volts at the battery to see if I'm getting 16 volts there, if not then it's a bed start/gen.

Bad solenoid.....$29

Bad Starter/generator...... $30-$300(depending on if it's just brushes or a whole new start/gen)

Bad cart part salesman who doesn't know anything about carts or parts even though he's been in business for 15 years......worthless

[crash12888]

Jumping the two large posts on the solenoid does nothing for you but tell you the starter is working or not.
If you jumper the two small posts like Tahoedawg mentioned and it spins over then the solenoid is working porperly and you have an issue with either the power feeding one of the small post on the solenoid or the ground wire from the other small post on the solenoid.
have you checked this yet?

[FIXEROFCARTS]

Pip, you need to slow down here, You got some bad info and parts from your local guy and now you are going in the right direction with info from here. Getting the right parts in the car is first, then trouble shoot, but we first need to make sure the system is right and has not been "covered up" to make it run.....you know rigged to work.
I feel your pain, I know about those guys in your area.

[Pipsta]

Originally Posted by crash12888

Jumping the two large posts on the solenoid does nothing for you but tell you the starter is working or not.
If you jumper the two small posts like Tahoedawg mentioned and it spins over then the solenoid is working porperly and you have an issue with either the power feeding one of the small post on the solenoid or the ground wire from the other small post on the solenoid.
have you checked this yet?

He didn't make it clear in his instructions which posts to jump. Also that info didn't get posted till after I had left my cart with the part in hand so I didn't have a chance to do it.

The solenoid is off the cart right now in my truck and I'm 25 miles from my cart. It's 50 miles in the opposite direction from where I need to get the part so I have to test the solenoid off the cart if I'm going to be doing anything to test it at this point. No way I'm driving all that way just to put it back on my cart. Then 100 miles round trip to get a part. I still have to get the start/gen dealt with today, too.

The weekend is here and if I'm not working, I'm not making money and I have no way to pay to fix anything nor cover my bills due in the next 10 days. I got to make hay while I got the grass....

I just tested the solenoid off the cart by taking jumper cables and putting hot on one side and neg on the other side of the small posts and it was vibrating....wtf does that mean?

[scottyb]

[Pipsta]

Scotty...is that meaning it's still good solenoid or that I found my problem?

[scottyb]

I am pretty sure you can bench test that solenoid with 12v and a continuity tester.

[Pipsta]

Well I bit the bullet and drove all the way back to test the part on the cart, yes I'm peeved about this but......

I did the test T-Dawg told me to and yes the engine turned over. But I'm still not getting any power to the other post, the white wire post, the one with all the wires going to the rest of the cart. Why is there no power there if the solenoid is working? Doesn't the function of the solenoid pass the power through to this post?

I'm at a loss now as to where to turn to.

I checked the microswitch that is part of the throttle in the black box. This is the microswitch for the accel pedal, correct? It get's lit up, all three of the poles on it once the key get's turned to 'start'.

[Pipsta]

I've been test lighting every connection and every plug in and around the box with the key 'on' and after I turn it to 'start'. The one little box that's screwed in above the accel pedal microswitch(if that's what it is but I'll call it that until I'm corrected), it has five wires plugged into it. Only one wire gets power when it's like I just said. I see that two of them are commons according to what it says on it. It says 'coil' on it I guess it's a coil relay of some sort, correct? Should this have two wires hot? One going in one going out?

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Originally Posted by Pipsta

I did the test T-Dawg told me to and yes the engine turned over. But I'm still not getting any power to the other post, the white wire post, the one with all the wires going to the rest of the cart. Why is there no power there if the solenoid is working? Doesn't the function of the solenoid pass the power through to this post?

I'm at a loss now as to where to turn to.

.

I'm assuming you're talking about the Large white wire opposite the large red wire, and yes... when the solenoid clicks you should have 12V+ at this wire... and you do, if the starter turns over. No need to check for voltage if the starter is turning over... You've still got to figure out why the solenoid won't click on it's own without you using jumper wires... Have you installed the proper voltage regulator yet?