Delay or hesitation when starting.. Is this normal?

[Plumbergs]

When I depress the pedal, theres a delay of about one or two seconds before the starter turns over.. Is this normal for these carts (older 2pg marathon)? If not, what should I check to resolve the issue? The battery is good, so I'm thinking maybe worn brushes in the starter/generator or maybe a switch going bad. Opinions?

[racin161]

Mine does the same thing and it has a new belt and new starter/gen brushes.I would say yes its normal.Mine also has a new battery it's an 87 so I just let it do what it wants.

[Plumbergs]

Originally Posted by racin161

Mine does the same thing and it has a new belt and new starter/gen brushes.I would say yes its normal.Mine also has a new battery it's an 87 so I just let it do what it wants.

Ah, thats good to hear. Thanks for the reply.

[Race Chaser]

I have an 83 marathon and it does the same or similar thing. When I depress the pedal, it whines a little, then I let off the throttle and try again. The hesitation, with associated whine, goes away after a few tries. This happens intermittently.

[Plumbergs]

Weird.. Mine doesn't whine or do anything for about 2 seconds after pressing the pedal. Then it finally springs to life. It doesn't go away either.

[racin161]

Race Chaser I would look at your belt adjustment. As I said just replaced mine as I didn't have any adjustment left. I new that when I did my rebuild but it was late and wanted to get it going. It did produce a bit of a whine before starting before I changed it.

[Race Chaser]

Originally Posted by racin161

Race Chaser I would look at your belt adjustment. As I said just replaced mine as I didn't have any adjustment left. I new that when I did my rebuild but it was late and wanted to get it going. It did produce a bit of a whine before starting before I changed it.

This sounds more like an electrical whine. The motor doesn't turn at all. Just whines a bit, until I let off the gas and retry.

[Dave Box]

Plumburgs,
If you hear nothing then I will bet that you have a bad connector associated with your solenoid or indeed a sticky solenoid. I would pull the plug lead off (so it doesn't run away with you) and put a voltmeter across the two small terminals of the solenoid. With the key on, as soon as you depress the throttle you should see 12 volts. If you do then the throttle microswitch is good. Now connect the negative of your meter to your negative battery post and the positive to one of the big terminals on the solenoid. If you see 12 volts then connect to the other terminal, now depress the accelerator. I bet that you see nothing for 2 seconds then 12 volts.
If this is the case your solenoid is sticky or the shaft as a little corrosion. In either case a new solenoid will fix you up.

If this is not the case please let me know as I always enjoy the humiliation of going out onto a limb and being wrong.

Dave

[Plumbergs]

I tested the solenoid today as Dave instructed. It gets 12 volts instantly when the pedal is pressed.

I noticed that even when it does start to turn over it seems like its dragging a bit on the first couple of engine rotations. Just for the heck of it, I tested it with the spark plug removed and it turns over instantly. No hesitation at all. To me, that sounds like the problem is either a dragging starter (worn brushes?) or the timing is off.

When I rebuilt the motor I made sure that the pulsar was centered, so I'm leaning towards it being the starter dragging. That would explain why it turns over instantly without the spark plug because less compression = easier for the starter to turn the engine. Thoughts?

If it does turn out to be the starter, would repairing it be as simple as replacing the brushes? If so, I can do that myself.

[Plumbergs]

Thanks Dave. I'll have to pick up a volt meter and check it out. I'll let you know the results.