EZGO Workhorse / Jacobsen Build

[slonomo]

Does this look right?

I haven't looked at the pedal switch yet, just making a guess on that. I know there has to be a relay/solenoid in there somewhere.

[kgsc]

Power comes from the battery side of the solenoid then to a fuse. Now feeds the pedal switch then to the key switch. That activates the solenoid. Solenoid and fuse are under a cover on the driver’s side under the seat under the choke cable.

[slonomo]

Originally Posted by kgsc

Power comes from the battery side of the solenoid then to a fuse. Now feeds the pedal switch then to the key switch. That activates the solenoid. Solenoid and fuse are under a cover on the driver’s side under the seat under the choke cable.

Ok, a bit more complicated than I was hoping, but nothing I can't figure out. It looks as if someone hot wired it to run without a key by twisting the two wires together. And it works. Maybe they wired it to run constantly like a car. It will start with the pedal, but not stop. It would have to use a key switch to break the circuit.

Looks like I'll have to do a complete rewire to get this starting/stopping like original.

And thank you for your help!

[kgsc]

Look under that cover and see what you have.. Might be a simple fix. It sounds like they ran constant 12 v to the key switch and that activates the solenoid. Then also constant power to the pedal switch that then activates the coil..

[slonomo]

Originally Posted by kgsc

Look under that cover and see what you have.. Might be a simple fix

Yeah no substitution for physical inspection right?

[kgsc]

Slo I edited my post.

[slonomo]

Originally Posted by kgsc

Slo I edited my post.

Thank you, yeah that sounds like what's going on. Supposed to be 40 + degrees tomorrow I'll give a look see.

[slonomo]

I played around with the wiring today. All the wiring from under the plastic box runs into a plastic loom, then runs all the way up the frame to the area under the steering column, then makes a right turn and disappears under the dash. It all looks factory, all wrapped up tight and dirty.

I did find that the two yellow wires are spliced into a blue wire and a green wire. There is also a third wire that is black.

The black wire = 12v constant
The green wire = to starter
The blue wire = ??? mystery ???

If I touch the black wire to the green wire it will spin the starter.

If I touch the black wire to the blue wire nothing happens.

I really hate to take the loom apart, but it looks like I'll have to in order to trace the wires.

[slonomo]

On another note, I wired up a standard key switch that I had on the shelf and just use it that way for now. So if I turn the key to "on", the starter starts to spin, then I just press on the accelerator pedal and it goes.

I did have a chance to drive it down the road. At first it felt really lack luster and dull. I noticed the governor spring was loosened almost all the way. Speed was 10 mph. Just for kicks I tightened the governor spring all the way, making sure there is a little slack in the cable to the pedal. Much better feel, good powerful takeoff and 18 mph top speed.

I also noticed the air filter is old as he#* so I took that bugger out and took another drive, felt like it picked up some power, so I'll order a new air filter. The one that's in there is a Purolator brand, is there a downside to the aftermarket air filters?

Add to this the belt is obviously worn out. It's well below the rim of the driven clutch sheaves. It's a double cogged belt, but I can't read the numbers. I'll add that to the shopping list. I'm guessing factory Ezgo on those?

[Cartmaster]

If you bridge blue and green, then press the pedal, it should work normally. The black will probably be a live feed for an oil lamp and fuel gauge. If the machine had lights, you would also have two lighter blue wires ( one with a white tracer ). One a positive feed from a fuse and one switched to the lights (connected to B1 and L on that switch you showed. KGSC posted a diagram in post 87 for the start/run circuits. Lighting is independent, so will not show that option. I will post more detail later when at a computer. It may be that the black wire is a feed for lighting? But factory is usually blue.

EDIT

OK, I am back with more detail.
Forget your wiring drawings as you left out the solenoid anyway.

Ok, so if you incorrectly attach the live black wire to the blue one, you get constant crank. That means the solenoid is working as it should. When you press the pedal the engine runs. That means the ignition is all working as it should. What has been done here is a bypass of the pedal switch which activates the solenoid. If you remove the live feed on the black wire and connect the blue and green together, this should put the pedal switch back into the circuit and work as factory. The only issue i see is that maybe the switch failed and this was done to get the cart running again. That pedal switch is prone to failure!

so if you try joining the blue and green and it works with the pedal, then you are good to go. Connect the green wire to B on the switch and the blue to I on the switch. Isolate the black live supply as it is only there for gauges. Or wire in the oil lamp and / or fuel gauge if you have them. We can explain that later.

If you look at that diagram that kgsc supplied, The Key switch is clearly shown and MS3 is the pedal switch. MS4 is the reverse buzzer switch located behind the forward reverse lever.This is a fairly large switch and is where some wire joining is done by a piggy back connection. The pedal switch is located under the floor mat. Lift the mat by removing the rocker panels and you will find a plastic box in the floor with a screwed on lid. The pedal switch is in there.

To understand this circuit, you need to realise that power ( from the battery post of the solenoid ) is fed through a fuse located close to the solenoid ( under that plastic cover in front of the battery.) to the buzzer switch to feed the pedal switch and buzzer. The part that confuses most people is that the pedal switch is before the ignition switch on these, so no power at the ignition switch until the pedal is pushed! The power goes from the piggy back on the reverse switch down to the pedal switch on a red wire and comes back on a green wire from the pedal switch. This is then directed on green wire up to the ignition switch, then goes down from the ignition switch on blue wire to the small activation terminal of the solenoid back where the circuit started.

Confused? You will be LOL.

Dont worry, we can sort this. If the wiring at the reverse switch is messed up, dont worry its an easy fix, we can bypass all that and still have it working as it should, just without a reverse buzzer!

If this makes sense, check it out and let me know what you find. I still suspect the pedal switch may have failed to permanently closed, and this is why someone hot wired it or maybe the switch failed permanently open circuit and the ignition circuit is also hot wired? we will find out one way or another.

ANOTHER EDIT.

Just re read you first comment about this. You say if you touch black to green the starter spins but not if you touch black to blue!

That's the wrong way round, touching black to blue should spin the starter. Are you sure you wrote this correctly? if so we may need to dig deeper to sort out the wiring properly.