Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum - View Single Post - 1988 par car backfire lack of power on inclines

Lochlin · 05-24-2016, 07:26 AM

I believe that year cart had the electronic ignition factory installed so it may not have ever had points. Don't quote me on that though.

Optimally, compression should be 90 psi or higher but anything over 80 will do. Less than than and your cart will have power issues like you are describing.

A couple of other things:

When those ignition modules are going bad they will cause a cart to backfire like that too as the spark is going in and out. As yours is running good on the flat that's probably not the issue though. Still, if you want to check it here is the test:

1) Remove the black wire from the ignition module, where it connects to the coil.
2) Connect the positive lead from the volt meter to the black wire.
3) Connect the negative lead from the volt meter to ground.
4) Remove the spark plug wire
5) Turn the meter on, set to the "diode" tester. It will either show a flashing number(open state) or a value around .55V. An "open state" (flashing number) shows that the transister is NOT conductng and needs replaced.
6) Turn the ignition key to ON. While watching the meter, turn the flywheel by hand. The value (.55V) should be on for approximately half the rotation and the "open state" (flashing number) for the other half of the rotation.

Last thing, it could be that your cart is delivering enough fuel for running on flat but when it needs more for the inclines it isn't delivering enough. If you are able to open it up on flat with no problems then maybe not but fuel pumps are pretty cheap and easy to install.

05-24-2016, 07:26 AM	#7
Lochlin Gone Wild Join Date: May 2011 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 2,953	Re: 1988 par car backfire lack of power on inclines I believe that year cart had the electronic ignition factory installed so it may not have ever had points. Don't quote me on that though. Optimally, compression should be 90 psi or higher but anything over 80 will do. Less than than and your cart will have power issues like you are describing. A couple of other things: When those ignition modules are going bad they will cause a cart to backfire like that too as the spark is going in and out. As yours is running good on the flat that's probably not the issue though. Still, if you want to check it here is the test: 1) Remove the black wire from the ignition module, where it connects to the coil. 2) Connect the positive lead from the volt meter to the black wire. 3) Connect the negative lead from the volt meter to ground. 4) Remove the spark plug wire 5) Turn the meter on, set to the "diode" tester. It will either show a flashing number(open state) or a value around .55V. An "open state" (flashing number) shows that the transister is NOT conductng and needs replaced. 6) Turn the ignition key to ON. While watching the meter, turn the flywheel by hand. The value (.55V) should be on for approximately half the rotation and the "open state" (flashing number) for the other half of the rotation. Last thing, it could be that your cart is delivering enough fuel for running on flat but when it needs more for the inclines it isn't delivering enough. If you are able to open it up on flat with no problems then maybe not but fuel pumps are pretty cheap and easy to install.