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Gas EZGO Gas EZGO Marathon, Medalist, TXT and RXV.



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Old 02-05-2016, 05:28 PM   #1
steve_empire@yahoo.com
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Default No spark on my 88 Marathon...

I've been driving this cart for about 5 years and never had a problem, drove up to the house and went inside, came back out and the engine would not start, it just cranks over. Plenty of fuel, so I checked the plug and found no spark. I can hold on to the bottom of the new spark plug with my fingers and crank the motor over and nothing, not the slightest fire. Fuses are good, plug wire looks good, took it out of the coil and put it back in. Test light shows power to the coil when stepping on the starter pedal.


Where do I go from here? Can someone explain how the ignitor and pulsar and coil works on this cart? How do I test these ignition components?

I hope I'm in the right forum...

Steve
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Old 02-06-2016, 11:48 AM   #2
racin161
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Default Re: No spark on my 88 Marathon...

Welcome to BGW Steve yes your in the right forum. If you see the red and blue wires coming from the pulsar you'll see a plug between the pulsar and the igniter. Disconnect it and make sure it's clean and secure when connected. First thing to check!!! Then remove the coil wire again and cut about a 1/4 inch off and reinstall it. See where this goes ??? I've seen where it's possible to check the value of the pulsar but I don't know the values. As for as the igniter there is no known test as for as I know. Try all of the above then lets see what happens.

LOU
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Old 02-06-2016, 11:41 PM   #3
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Default Re: No spark on my 88 Marathon...

Quote:
Originally Posted by steve_empire@yahoo.com View Post
I've been driving this cart for about 5 years and never had a problem, drove up to the house and went inside, came back out and the engine would not start, it just cranks over. Plenty of fuel, so I checked the plug and found no spark. I can hold on to the bottom of the new spark plug with my fingers and crank the motor over and nothing, not the slightest fire. Fuses are good, plug wire looks good, took it out of the coil and put it back in. Test light shows power to the coil when stepping on the starter pedal.


Where do I go from here? Can someone explain how the ignitor and pulsar and coil works on this cart? How do I test these ignition components?

I hope I'm in the right forum...

Steve
Sorry about your troubles. The pick up (pulsar) is pretty bullet proof from what I understand. The CDI box (ignitor) is less so from what I understand. If you put a multi meter on the pick up wires, check first to make sure it is not open, (not sure what the resistance should be, but it should not be open), then put the multi meter on A/C and crank the motor, there should be a slight A/C voltage. If your CDI box is bad, you can buy a replacement, (I have one on ebay for $50) OR (and this is what I would do) put in a 4 pin GM HEI module. Should run around $10, and will be very reliable. Buy 2, so you always have a spare. There is a thread here about how to wire it in. VERY easy, the red and blue pick up wires go to the G and W (respectively) and the B gets +12V and also goes to the + side of the coil, and the C goes to the - side of the coil. You can use your stock coil, or a can car coil (oil filled) or an HEI epoxied coil, your choice.
All this is assuming your coil is good, which it probably is. You can put a test light on the - side of the coil, and it should go on and off as the motor cranks.
Tom
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Old 02-10-2016, 12:55 PM   #4
steve_empire@yahoo.com
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Default Re: No spark on my 88 Marathon...

Thanks guys, I'll try all these things...
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Old 02-17-2016, 02:08 PM   #5
steve_empire@yahoo.com
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Default Re: No spark on my 88 Marathon...

The pulsar measured 147 ohms and generated a small ac voltage on the multimeter when I cranked over the motor.


I have upgraded to the HEI module as described in the instructions in the "Sticky" note section, custom mounted it to a really nice grounded aluminum heatsink with thermal grease, the module generates no heat at all, the heatsink stays cool to the touch. I now have spark and the engine starts up instantly, but does not have the power to pull itself out of it's own tracks. I am still running with the old coil, which I trimmed the end of the plugwire and reinserted back into the coil. New sparkplug also, I tried 3 different plugs, still no power. I found if the battery is low the HEI will not throw a pulse to the coil, even though the engine cranks over, so I charged up the battery and checked it with my load tester and it is good to go, the pulse returned.

Should I replace the coil and sparkplug with better components? Any suggestions?



Thanks, great forum,
Steve
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Old 02-17-2016, 02:17 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steve_empire@yahoo.com View Post
The pulsar measured 147 ohms and generated a small ac voltage on the multimeter when I cranked over the motor.


I have upgraded to the HEI module as described in the instructions in the "Sticky" note section, custom mounted it to a really nice grounded aluminum heatsink with thermal grease, the module generates no heat at all, the heatsink stays cool to the touch. I now have spark and the engine starts up instantly, but does not have the power to pull itself out of it's own tracks. I am still running with the old coil, which I trimmed the end of the plugwire and reinserted back into the coil. New plug also, I tried 3 different plugs, still no power.

Should I replace the coil and plug with better components? Any suggestions?


Thanks, great forum,
Steve
I would run an HEI coil, but don't know that is your problem. I am running an HEI aftermarket coil and a .045 plug gap. Are you sure your timing is correct, and there are no fuel issues? The HEI setup will work fine with stock cart coil so long as it is good, did that on a buddy's cart. So perhaps your coil is bad, putting in an HEI coil is a good idea and will eliminate that as a possible issue. Keep timing and fuel in mind if coil does not fix it
Tom

RIT rocks, cancer sucks. sent from my S5 by tap a talk
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Old 02-17-2016, 04:48 PM   #7
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Default Re: No spark on my 88 Marathon...

.

Power Problem Solved


I swapped the blue and red wires coming from the Pulsar on the motor where they were plugged in on the new HEI module I installed. I had them correctly wired as per the schematic's instruction, but I guess the internal windings of the Pulsars are not consistent from the factory.

Make sure your battery is fully charged when working on ignition problems, I had swapped the wires earlier and got no pulse, thinking it was wired correctly the first time. In reality, it didn't pulse because the battery was too low, even though it cranked the motor. There was a visible voltage drop when applying a test light or multimeter...
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Old 02-17-2016, 04:53 PM   #8
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Glad you got it done. Driving these carts is WAY more fun than pushing them!

RIT rocks, cancer sucks. sent from my S5 by tap a talk
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Old 02-17-2016, 04:57 PM   #9
steve_empire@yahoo.com
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Default Re: No spark on my 88 Marathon...

Yes it is, I use mine as a tool, I have 20 acres with 6 shop buildings scattered all over, it's much more convenient to use the cart to get around than one of my pickups.

Also, I'm single, the ladies loving riding around with me on that thing after dark in the woods...

Thanks for all your help...

Steve
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Old 02-17-2016, 05:10 PM   #10
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Lol!

RIT rocks, cancer sucks. sent from my S5 by tap a talk
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