2003 Club Car DS - Spark Problem

[dahr85]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum and I must say, I've seen some great stuff on here. Thanks to everyone for taking time to answer questions for folks.

I recently picked up a 2003 gas Club Car DS that is having a starting issue. At first it was an intermittent spark problem...it would run fine sometimes and on the same trip, it wouldn't run at all. When I pulled the plug out, I had no spark.

Now, I get no spark at all. So, I tried what a few people on this forum had suggested and removed the brown ground wire on the RPM limiter. After doing this, the cart starts every time. I'm assuming this means that the RPM limiter is bad? Is that correct? Could it be anything else?

If I press the gas pedal to the floor, it seems that the engine speed is still limited in some way. Is that the governor keeping the speed down? If this is the case, is it ok to leave the RPM limiter disconnected from the cart? Will it cause any long term engine damage as long as the governor is working properly?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Darren

[invalidsession]

Originally Posted by dahr85

Hello all, I'm new to this forum and I must say, I've seen some great stuff on here. Thanks to everyone for taking time to answer questions for folks.

I recently picked up a 2003 gas Club Car DS that is having a starting issue. At first it was an intermittent spark problem...it would run fine sometimes and on the same trip, it wouldn't run at all. When I pulled the plug out, I had no spark.

Now, I get no spark at all. So, I tried what a few people on this forum had suggested and removed the brown ground wire on the RPM limiter. After doing this, the cart starts every time. I'm assuming this means that the RPM limiter is bad? Is that correct? Could it be anything else?

If I press the gas pedal to the floor, it seems that the engine speed is still limited in some way. Is that the governor keeping the speed down? If this is the case, is it ok to leave the RPM limiter disconnected from the cart? Will it cause any long term engine damage as long as the governor is working properly?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Darren

You'll find mixed opinions here Darren (welcome btw ) My personal opinion is that these carts were set for pensioners by the factory to keep the warranty and liability lawyers at bay. If you do a search you will find many threads appertaining to this subject. Some advocate the inclusion of the rev limiter and some abhor it. At the end of the day it comes down to personal use and preference. If (for example) your Grand children are regular cart drivers you would probably be best off with the rev limiter hooked up, ditto, teenagers who ride hell for leather. On the other hand, if you want your cart to make a decent speed in the hands of responsible adults who have a basic degree of mechanical sympathy then junk it.

Chris.

[rose88]

Originally Posted by dahr85

Hello all, I'm new to this forum and I must say, I've seen some great stuff on here. Thanks to everyone for taking time to answer questions for folks.

I recently picked up a 2003 gas Club Car DS that is having a starting issue. At first it was an intermittent spark problem...it would run fine sometimes and on the same trip, it wouldn't run at all. When I pulled the plug out, I had no spark.

Now, I get no spark at all. So, I tried what a few people on this forum had suggested and removed the brown ground wire on the RPM limiter. After doing this, the cart starts every time. I'm assuming this means that the RPM limiter is bad? Is that correct? Could it be anything else?

If I press the gas pedal to the floor, it seems that the engine speed is still limited in some way. Is that the governor keeping the speed down? If this is the case, is it ok to leave the RPM limiter disconnected from the cart? Will it cause any long term engine damage as long as the governor is working properly?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Darren

Yes your RPM limiter is bad, and you can run it as long as you check your RPM's before doing so with a meter? We have been running a 2002 DS Club Car with ground wire unhooked for 3 months now. We did set the govenor @ 3890 RPM's. This is my opinion and you will hear alot of different opinions about this subject. Let us know how it works out for ya.

[dahr85]

Originally Posted by rose88

Yes your RPM limiter is bad, and you can run it as long as you check your RPM's before doing so with a meter? We have been running a 2002 DS Club Car with ground wire unhooked for 3 months now. We did set the govenor @ 3890 RPM's. This is my opinion and you will hear alot of different opinions about this subject. Let us know how it works out for ya.

Thanks to both of you for the reply. It seems to run fine at a reasonable speed even with the RPM limiter disconnected, so I'll take your advice, and just go without it for awhile. Is there any special type of RPM meter I should get? Where can I pick one up?

Thanks again,
Darren

[rose88]

You can either buy a tachometer or get a multi-meter that will read rpm's

[shadowman]

disconnecting the limitor was meant for diagnostic purposes only but as mentioned you can run it that way you just need to be careful cause yes you can cause engine damage ..............i have seen plenty of carts that were blown up because of the kids just riding with the pedal to the floor but if its just you and you know better than its your choice, now if it were me i would replace it because thats the proper thing to do even though its not the cheapest part..................................