2003 DS not charging, odd situation.

[corvette427]

I wish my first post could be a little more on the positive side of things, but I'm kind of stumped here and would greatly appreciate some insight..

I'll give you a little back story so you kind of understand what I'm working with.
I had recently picked up my '03 gas cart from a friend of my brother whom he actually gotten his 36v 1993 cart from.

So I get my cart home $600 later and start tinkering. After using the wiring diagram labeled for a '99 cart (to which my understanding that it's the same setup) and swapped two of my micro switches around that were in the wrong position, it turns over and will fire. Okay great, right? Not really, because after doing a little probing with a multimeter it turns out that I'm not getting any charging voltage.

Now here's what I did troubleshooting-wise.
1. I noticed that as per the diagram my white wire and braided ground strap on the starter generator are backwards(this is how I got it)
After swapping it to the correct way the diagram shows, I attempt to run it but get just the solenoid click and the white wire gets extremely hot.
The cables appear to be in okay shape, ground appears to be a solid connection, and brushes appear to be fine.

2. I had followed a testing procedure for the generator to test for 17-18 volts, which had instructed me to ground out the DF terminal and check the voltage running half throttle. No results.

3. Checked all connections on the voltage regulator, all was good there. I'm planning on replacing this anyways due to the fact that it has a date from 2004 written on it in sharpie, that and it's cheap enough to just get a new one so why the hell not as a C.Y.A. item.

With that being said, I don't quite understand what my issue is here, unless there is a dead short in the generator causing it to ground out like to make the white strap hot. Being as they are mildly expensive for the cheap one I'd rather know for sure before I go ahead and buy a new one.

I've spent a pretty good amount of time digging and reading, and have come up with nothing. So if any of you guys could assist me with a bit of experience and knowledge it'd be awesome. I have pretty good general knowledge of electric circuits and engines, have tinkered and fixed a lot of things but golf carts are rather new to me. I tried giving all the details I could think of since I'm at work, but I'll be back on in the evening to check back! Thanks!

[rose88]

I think you may have answered your problem ( dead short ) would be my thinking, someone on here will provide you with some things you can check I'm sure.

[corvette427]

Originally Posted by rose88

I think you may have answered your problem ( dead short ) would be my thinking, someone on here will provide you with some things you can check I'm sure.

Exactly my train of thought. But I'd rather ask and get second opinions than shotgun repair it. Thanks

[ezgo on fire]

just curious did you swap the ground strap back with the white wire and would it run again? I cant remember which is the df post but the yellow wire is the one you want to ground at the starter and see if it starts charging. Sounds like this is what you did. Those voltage regulators do go out.

[corvette427]

Originally Posted by ezgo on fire

just curious did you swap the ground strap back with the white wire and would it run again? I cant remember which is the df post but the yellow wire is the one you want to ground at the starter and see if it starts charging. Sounds like this is what you did. Those voltage regulators do go out.

Yes I did try that, that is when the white cable got very hot. The DF terminal is the smallest one, and I did try grounding it out and got no results.

[corvette427]

Okay, so I think I fixed my problem. Removed the starter generator, pulled it apart and went to town with 500 grit to all the innereds then blew everything out good and then took a wire wheel to the posts.

After doing that I put the green strap back on and put power to it the way it's supposed to be and it spun up like it should. Then refered to a video of a guy testing one off of a tractor, by spinning it up then while it's free spinning move the positive over to the DF terminal and if working properly it'll stop it like a brake. So all is good now. At this point I'm going to get myself a new voltage reg. And carb. Should run like a champ after that.

[LESLIELRD]

We are having the same issue on our 2003 DS..but, our starter generator is fairly new. Any ideas?

[corvette427]

Well I think half of my issue was an internally shorted voltage regulator. I would say try that, but I'm no expert.

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Usually it's a voltage regulator issue. Remove the yellow wire from the DF terminal as described earlier in this thread. Use a jumper wire with alligator clips on both sides. Clip one side to the DF terminal on the starter and the other side to the frame. Rev the engine and check the battery voltage at the battery. It should be near 18 volts or so at full throttle. This test allows you to test the generator output without the voltage regulator. If you pass this test, replace the voltage regulator as it is the problem. 102711201 is the part number for a DS voltage regulator.