1983 G1 No Spark after wiring harness melted

[pathfndr35]

Well, my 15 year old decided to take the buggy off roading, hit a particularly large bump and knocked the battery loose, right into the exhaust. Trapped between the battery and the exhaust was the positive battery cable. This caused a short that literally *melted* a good chunk of my wiring harness. See pic. I picked up a used wiring harness on ebay, plugged it in....and the starter/generator fired right up in both forward and reverse, but I can't get the bugger to run. I removed the spark plug, held it next to the exhaust for ground and got no spark. I hooked up a volt meter to the orange wire going to the ignition coil and I get between 6 and 9.5 volts that sort of bounced around. I figured this was normal based on how the CDI sends voltage to the coil. Based on the fact that some voltage was getting to the ignitor from the CDI, I bought a new plug and new ignition coil. Still no spark. I also unhooked the white wire with the black stripe that goes to the accelerator to make sure that wasn't grounded out.

I ran a ground strap from the negative terminal on the battery to the frame through the floor in front of the fender like it was before (see pic). I also have a ground wire that goes from the solenoid (which is also connected to the negative terminal of the battery), into the negative fuse holder and continues to the frame at the back of the cart. I checked both positive and negative fuses. My next step is to purchase a CDI. Are there other tests I can do to check for other problems? Should I get an inline spark tester? Is there a way to test for good ground? Some of the wiring I got on the used harness is a little janky....should I rebuild the harness from scratch before buying the CDI?

Also a voltage regulator came with the new harness. I replaced my old one with it but am not sure it's good, but my understanding is it's not related to spark generation, but rather to taking voltage that comes from the starter/generator and sending it back to the battery.

I have a feeling I would buy the CDI and still have the same problem, but I don't know. With the amps that must have gone through that wire to melt it and the plastic fender it was resting against....it's hard to say. Any advice is appreciated.

[slonomo]

I have a complete harness with sensors, cdi, solenoids stored in my garage. It's left over from when I installed a big block in my cart, it was removed and kept intact. No splices, cuts, damage. If you're interested, PM me.

[mikeasis]

I seen it posted here on alot, and would assume it applies to the G1. There should be no grounds to the frame.(i assume this is all or most golf carts) All grounds go to the negative terminal on the battery. That said i belive there is one small ground wire next to the battery that is rivited to the frame on the G1.

if you have not done so, Id suggest tring another battery than the one that was in the cart. make sure the battery has been charged and load tested. bottom of my post is a link to the G1 service manual. perform the tests for the stator as i suspect the short may have toasted the coil. these coils are no longer available but can be sent out to a place such as rickystator or rmstator for rewind if this ends up being the case

[pathfndr35]

PM Sent!

Originally Posted by slonomo

I have a complete harness with sensors, cdi, solenoids stored in my garage. It's left over from when I installed a big block in my cart, it was removed and kept intact. No splices, cuts, damage. If you're interested, PM me.

[pathfndr35]

I tested the pulser coil resistance and charge coil resistance and both were within spec (14.x OHM and 344OHM). It said to check both brown and black for ground and there should be no circuit, but the black is ground according to the electrical diagram, the black beeped, the brown didn't. I checked for ground by holding one multimeter probe on the wire and the other on the negative terminal of the battery. Based on these results, it seems as though the CDI/Magneto is within spec.

I went and got a sparkplug light tester, confirmed there is no spark.

At this point I'm thinking the CDI unit. I had also had another main switch come with the electrical harness I bought, so unless both are bad, it's not that.

The troubleshooting guide says "check main switch" but I don't see a testing procedure, it also says check "CDI Switch" I assume they mean in the magneto, but again have no testing procedure.

The electrical diagram specifically has a ground that says "grounded to chassis"

Hopefully a CDI unit will fix it. It's odd though, the CDI circuit is fairly well isolated from the battery, but it is grounded, so a short could have traveled up the ground and blown it I suppose. The negative terminal from the battery to chassis ground is supposed to have a 10A fuse on it. Some previous owner had removed it, thus allowing damage I suppose?

Originally Posted by mikeasis

I seen it posted here on alot, and would assume it applies to the G1. There should be no grounds to the frame.(i assume this is all or most golf carts) All grounds go to the negative terminal on the battery. That said i belive there is one small ground wire next to the battery that is rivited to the frame on the G1.

if you have not done so, Id suggest tring another battery than the one that was in the cart. make sure the battery has been charged and load tested. bottom of my post is a link to the G1 service manual. perform the tests for the stator as i suspect the short may have toasted the coil. these coils are no longer available but can be sent out to a place such as rickystator or rmstator for rewind if this ends up being the case