Starter turning too slow to start

[niemank]

87 ez go gas marathon with the 2pg. Starter turns over when the pedal is pressed down, but not fast enough to start the motor. Good connections throughout the cart, new battery, new microswitch. Any ideas where to look? The wires going to the starter are hot to the touch after trying to start for a minute. Any ideas what might be the problem?

[essness]

My guess would be the motor is the engine has something wrong with it that may be causing it to not turn easily, or the starter/gen. is bad.......

[Heliarc]

The wires being hot to the touch suggests a bad connection or a short.You say the connections are good throughout the cart, but what of the connections that are actually on the starter?A poor connection will do just what you say.Heat the wire up and cause lackluster performance of whatever item is being fed through said connection.I'd remove them one at a time and check not only the terminals on the starter, but the terminal ends on the wires themselves.

Another test, if your starter has the belt going to the engine(not sure how it works on an 87)take the belt off and see how the starter spins by hand.The bearings could be shot to heck and making the starter not only have to turn the engine, but overcome bad bearings as well.This would also heat up the wires.Also, while your checking things out, give the engine a spin with your hands.Expect some resistance from compression but it should feel smooth with no grating sounds and the crankshaft should not wobble up and down.

If you are completely convinced your connections are good, and your starter feels good by hand, then your starter MIGHT be taking a dump but don't quote me on that.If you can get the starter off and take it in to an electrical shop, they should be able to tell you(ballpark)what's wrong with it and how much it will cost to repair.Mark your wires and connections and after that it's a ten minute job to remove.Should be about $20 for a diagnosis at a shop.Many times it will be cheaper to have your starter repaired than to get a new one as well.

That's about all I can think of, but it should at least give you a clue where to check.

[niemank]

Thank you both. I will check on these things tonight.

[simple man]

I may have misunderstood your post, but you said the starter wires get hot after cranking for a minute? You should never crank the starter for that long! You may have an issue with your engine, because the cart should start within 5secs of the starter engagement. You may want to do a compression test on your engine. You can also check the crankshaft seals.
As a thought, see if you can watch someone elses cart ( with the same engine ) and see if the starter is actually cranking too slowly.

Just an update. I was reading " Heliarc's " post and he was having starting issues too. He just put in a new spark plug to fix it! Maybe you'll be that lucky!!!