1988 Marathon starter sticking on

[oachs83]

Hello, I have a 1988 Ez-Go Marathon gas cart that I need some help with. I only use the cart a few times a year when I go to events to putt around. Last year it stopped dead on me. I would cross the solenoid and it would run. Being out of town at the time my source of parts was a fleet farm where I got a new solenoid for a older Ford and replaced it. That was not the problem. It sat almost a year until I screwed with it last month. It ended up being the micro switch on the gas pedal was very corroded and a cleaning seemed to fix the problem. Now this morning I ran into a new problem. Throughout the time I have owned the cart now and then it would not always activate the starter when I would hit the gas for the first time of the day. After that it would work great for the day. It did this before I replaced the solenoid as well. A few pumps of the gas pedal and it would finally activate and away I would go.

I used it for a couple hours yesterday and it ran fine. This morning I went to move it and I had to pump the gas over 20 times easy to get it to activate the starter. Then I noticed the starter stayed on. If I turn the key off it would stay on also when put in reverse it would stick. The only way to get it to stop is put it in neutral or remove the battery cable. Once I remove the battery cable it stays off until I press the gas again then it sticks. It does not stick or turn fast enough to actually fire the motor, it's a slower turn to make the cart creep without firing. Where can I start to diagnose my issue. I have a 4 day trip in 10 days that I will be using this thing a whole bunch and I need it running great. Thanks in advance.

[Dave Box]

The first thing that leaps off the page is

"where I got a new solenoid for a older Ford and replaced it".

If this was the solenoid for the starter motor then it will not do. You need to be using a constant duty device. I would suggest that you order the correct part now so that you have it hand when you next visit the cart. Also if you do not already have one, get a cheap digital multimeter from Walmart or similar and take that with you as well. Then if the starter is still not correct you can measure across the two small terminals of the solenoid to see why it is being called. However I suspect that using an intermittent operation solenoid in a constant duty application has caused the contacts to arc and weld a high resistance short circuit which accounts for the slow turning.

Dave

[oachs83]

Thanks Dave, I am 99.9% sure that I have the wrong solenoid in there. Doing some searching around I found out like you just said I need a continuous duty solenoid. I am going to order one up along with a micro switch and some starter brushes (for the dead spot I sometimes get) that way I will have most everything to tackle the starting issue job. I will replace the solenoid first and see what happens and report back so other people can use this as a possible reference. I notice a lot of people get the info and never report back which is frustrating to people like me as to what and how the problem was solved.

Last I notice I have two choices for a solenoid. One is a 150A 90A continuous and another is a 300A 150A continuous for about $8 more. Am I any better off getting the stronger one or just stick with the 90A one? Thanks again...

[oachs83]

I went ahead and ordered a heavy duty solenoid, a new micro switch for the accelerator and some starter brushes. Hopefully by the end of the week I will get them and figure out the problem.

[dan161]

In reference to the issue with having to keep pumping the gas to get it to engage starter I had the same issue on my 90 marathon. What I found was dirty electrical contacts on solenoid, key switch, and forward and reverse switches. I cleaned all them up and replaced a few of the bad ones and never had another issue with it again.

[oachs83]

So I received all of my parts on Friday. I first replaced the solenoid with a continuous one rated at 150A/300A and that solved the starter sticking problem. Although I did not experience the delay to engage the starter problem yesterday since it is so random I went ahead and replaced the brushes in the starter anyways. They were about 1/8" to 3/16" left to the wear line so it was needed anyways. I will say after the brushes it engages instantly, faster then I have ever known it to before.