gas golf cart help

I bought a golf cart yesterday that the fellow said wouldn't start. He said it was the solenoid or the starter/generator that's mounted on top the engine and attached to it with a belt like and old garden tractor. I really don't know jack about golf carts and I have to ask a stupid question to a group that I know will be able to help. How are they supposed to be started. I can't quite tell if the key has a start position or not. I turned it to on and the generator started turning the engine over and over and it didn't even stop when I turned the key off. It has a solenoid. Does it start and run like a lawn tractor or does then engine do that and only fire when the accelerator is pressed or what.
 
The only one I ever dealt with you started by pushing down the "gas" pedal it would start and run until you let up on the pedal causing the engine to stop and the brake to set.
 
If it continued to turn over when you turned the ign. off, the solenoid may be stuck. Or possibly, even the ign. switchmay be bad.
 
(quoted from post at 07:56:30 11/07/12) I bought a golf cart yesterday that the fellow said wouldn't start. He said it was the solenoid or the starter/generator that's mounted on top the engine and attached to it with a belt like and old garden tractor. I really don't know jack about golf carts and I have to ask a stupid question to a group that I know will be able to help. How are they supposed to be started. I can't quite tell if the key has a start position or not. I turned it to on and the generator started turning the engine over and over and it didn't even stop when I turned the key off. It has a solenoid. Does it start and run like a lawn tractor or does then engine do that and only fire when the accelerator is pressed or what.

On my EZGO...

The switch powers up the solenoid,,, the go pedal switch grounds the solenoid when pressed... The solenoid should only work when its grounded.... I would find out why its grounded all the time are why it would work ungrounded........
 
When you turn on the key it "enables" the starter solenoid to work,,,,,,,When you press on the gas it engages the solenoid and causes the starter motor/generator to turn which cranks the gas engine which makes it start n run,,,,,,Then once its running its turning the starter motor/generator (versus it turning the engine over) so it charges the battery....

John T
 
If it is an old Harley Davidson cart (three wheeler) the gas pedal activates the starter/generator and the ignition circuit.

An interesting note on those carts is that they have no transmission. For reverse the starter/gen simply runs the other way.

Instead of a lobe for the points the machines simply had an off-center shaft that worked both ways.

I worked summers fixing these carts while going to school.

Good luck,

Brad
 
Check the tags, decals and find out what kind of golf cart you have, year, make, model- look at engine tags. Harley, ParCar, EZgo whatever it is can then be crossed to a manual. Harley 2 stoke engines wear rings- but rering kits are/were about $20/25.00 and a hours job. Solenoid switchs reverse/start switchs were older electrical-mechanical design with known wear, fouling pattern and repair procedures- not the solid state work or replace whole thing designs that did show up in last years of manufacture. Drive system is similar to scooter CVT, snowmobiles-- sliding pulley half "sheeves" and a drive belt. Depending on state of residence, a few of the older 3 wheel rigs can be licensed as motorcycles, Illinois has a "truckster" class that is used for older Cushmans, Harley golf cart types and the Harley Servicars used to be used by police- who since they weren"t on a "motorcycle" didn"t need a motorcycle driver license endorsement or a DOT motorcycle helmet. RN
 
It's a Hyundai golf cart with the Suzuki V270G 8.5 engine in it. I also know they were only made a few years in the early 90's and no real changes were made to them during that time so the model year of it doesn't really matter. It's also pretty rare (though not the collectable kind of rare) so finding info is difficult and I hear parts are virtually unavailable.

I'm scouring parts diagrams but I'm lost. Not knowing how it's supposed to work and having a big suspicion that the wiring that's on it is incorrect is making it very hard to figure out how it should be wired.

Things like having the key switch with 4 terminals on it but I find with a volt meter that the only thing it does is connect and disconnect two of them. It only has two positions Off and On. It doesn't have a start position. The only thing I see it's doing is connecting power to the backup alarm switch and to the solenoid. That accounts for 2 terminals on the switch. A 3rd terminal has a wire that goes to battery ground but this terminal never makes connection with any other terminals or the key itself which is the only metal part of the switch. The 4th terminal has no wire on it and is never connected to any of the other terminals on the switch or the key itself.

Get this: That very same terminal on the solenoid that the power is fed to from the key switch has another wire attached to it. That wire is spliced into 3 times so it actually connects that solenoid terminal with, the regulator, the coil, the generator (one of the small wires coming out of it) and a small box that I can't identify. The small box is plastic and like 1 X 1 X .5 inches with several wires coming out of it. It looks like a regulator used on a riding mower but this cart has a regulator that looks like a regulator used with an old starter/generator already. So I don't know what the small box is.

There are no switches at either brake or gas peddle or along the cables and connections from them that would work to start the engine or turn it off things the key doesn't seem to do. Like I said I'm lost.
 
Im working on my Hyundai golf cart as well. Have been for a few years. There is a switch near the bottom of the gas pedal under the floor boards that ties into a solenoid in the engine bay for starting. My switch is bad, so I wired a panel mounted switch near the choke. I connected the new switch to the battery and to the starting solenoid, effectively over-ridding the normal method of starting the cart using the gas pedal.
 
This cart doesn't have any switches like that. I've followed all the wires. Though that might be part of the problem as I'm quire sure this thing is not wired correctly.

I might just change it over to a key start like a lawn tractor. I'd assume the engine can idle w/o it pulling on the transmission. I'd prefer it work more like that anyway.

I ordered a service manual today and when it arrives I hope I can figure this out. The goal was to get it running and cleaned up a bit and resell it--unless my parents really liked it and wanted to buy it from me--I'd cut them a much better deal.

Mine has an aluminum bed on the back for utility use.
 

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