90 DS Hitting rev limiter and hard to start

[Springbok]

Is there any difference with the governor rod disconnected from the carb?

[dremmick]

I will have to try that this weekend since the golf cart is at my dads house. If there is no difference with the governor disconnected what would this imply?

[meimk]

In the thread we seem to have some confusion, not with the OP but rather with some of the replies. The "Rev Limiter" and the "Governor" are 2 separate things. The rev limiter on a flathead is in conjunction with the ignition coil and interrupts the spark when the engine exceeds a preset RPM's. The is no way to adjust the RPM's that cause it to kick in. Not all years of the flathead (KF82) engines have the rev limiter on them. The governor is a mechanical part inside the drive axle assembly that pulls back the final cable to the carb when wheel speed gets too fast. When the governor is operating correctly the cart will accelerate to speed then the throttle will be pulled back to a lower engine RPM's to keep wheel speed within the governors setting as the clutch set has raised the effective gear ratio.

[dremmick]

Meimk your saying that the RPMs should exceed max rpm then the governer should reduce the rpm? I cant remember what it says to set max rpm in the manual, but I set it to that setting and when I push the pedal to the floor it exceeds that number by around 300-400 rpm then instantly drops down the max RPM I set it to initially.

[fotofx]

Does anyone have any experience yet on how this works with the new Subaru EFI engines? The governor seems similar but I do not think the rev limiter works the same.

[meimk]

Originally Posted by dremmick

Meimk your saying that the RPMs should exceed max rpm then the governer should reduce the rpm? I cant remember what it says to set max rpm in the manual, but I set it to that setting and when I push the pedal to the floor it exceeds that number by around 300-400 rpm then instantly drops down the max RPM I set it to initially.

What I'm saying is they are 2 separate things. Rev Limiter limits the frequency of the ignition spark and there by limits engine RPM's. The mechanical Governor is inside the rear end and works on wheel speed, NOT engine RPM. It is designed to pull back on the throttle once it gets past it's set wheel speed. If everything is set up correctly the engine will pick up RPM's quickly as you accelerate the clutches will transfer the drive belt from low ratio to high ratio, then as that things increase the wheel speed, the governor will pull back on the throttle to decrease the engine RPM's as you reach the wheel speed the Governor is set for. So yes, the engine will momentarily run at a higher RPM's while accelerating up to speed, then be backed down by the Governor as the cart reaches "cruising speed". The trick is to get things set so that max RPM while accelerating doesn't exceed the Rev Limiter cut out point.

[Springbok]

Just to clarify, when you push the pedal to the floor, are you in maintenance mode (running the cart motor while cart itself is in neutral)? Or are you pushing it to the floor during a normal driving situation?

If you're running the cart motor in neutral, then the cart speed governor will not be a factor.

[meimk]

Originally Posted by Springbok

Just to clarify, when you push the pedal to the floor, are you in maintenance mode (running the cart motor while cart itself is in neutral)? Or are you pushing it to the floor during a normal driving situation?

If you're running the cart motor in neutral, then the cart speed governor will not be a factor.

The governor is still working, because even while the transmission is in neutral the gears inside the transmission ARE turning the governor, just not the wheels. Even in maintenance mode: if you push the pedal to the floor the engine will raise rpm's, the clutch's will transfer the drive belt (you can watch it work toward the outside of the front/drive clutch and the inside of the rear/driven clutch) then the engine rpms will be backed down by the governor. If you have the cover over the carb linkage off you can watch the cable from the governor to the carb physically move to back down the engine rpm's. Looking back toward the rear end you can see the governor's lever arm move the cable