1996 G16A starting problem

[Dino615]

The starter on my g16 died last fall. I had it rebuilt but just got around to putting it back on. Since it had been sitting so long I decided to pull the carb, spray it all off with some carb and choke cleaner, empty the float bowl and the old gas, and start with fresh gas. Now that I have put it back together, I cannot get it to start. It cranks fine, and I have spark at the plug. Here are a couple of things to point out in case they make a difference:

1. When I crank it (air box off) gas wants to blow out of the carb. Big mist blowing out of the carb, I can't imagine any blowing in.
2. When I choke it, it slows that some, but you can see most of the force is towards the air intake instead of into the motor.
3. I took the float bowl off but it is not keyed so I am not sure which way the bowl goes back on. Does that matter? It is round so I was not sure.

Thanks for your help.

[Michael Eddie]

Hi Dino. Open the choke and spray starting fluid into the carburetor for 3 seconds, crank it over, if it starts than you have a carburetor problem. If it does not start, you have either a compression or spark problem. Let me know what happens.

[Michael Eddie]

I forgot to add, Did you ever take apart the carburetor? If so, when you put back together the carburetor did you put it back how it was? Because the mix screw on the side needs to be out 1 1/2 turns, not fully tightened.

[Dino615]

I will try that tonight. I did not take apart the carb except for the float bowl to empty any old fuel. I sprayed everything with carb cleaner to remove any gummed up gas and put it back on. I'll let you know what happens.

[Dino615]

Ok, I just tried it with the starter fluid and it didn't help at all. It never so much as tried to fire over. It still blows fuel out the carb too. I pulled the spark plug again and I am getting a good spark. Any other ideas? Could the timing be off from the spark? Like I mentioned, all I did was replace the starter and now I get nothing.

[Michael Eddie]

Well. It is not the timing. If the cart sat for all this time and by the way you are telling me there was a lot of gunk in the carburetor, it is going to need a good carburetor cleaning, mainly the main jet in the carburetor. That hole is the size of a pin, it is probably clogged. And if that is clogged, all the fuel in the world will be spitting out of the carburetor and it still will not fire.

By the way, if fuel is spitting out the carburetor that means you are flooding it. Let off the choke.

[Dino615]

Ok. That will be my next step. I will take apart the carb and clean everything really good and put it back on. I will also let off the choke.

[Michael Eddie]

Yup, let me know

[Dino615]

Ok, I took the carb off and cleaned it all out. The float pin had actually slipped out a little so I was hoping the float was stuck. No luck. I pulled the plug and sprayed some starter fluid directly into the plug hole and put the plug back in. It cranked over about 10 times and then backfired out the carb. The smell was not good either. I am going to pick up a new plug tomorrow and see if maybe the plug is fouled. I am at a loss at this point. I had a BR8ES sitting around from the dirtbikes so I stuck it in there and texted the spark and it is about the same as the plug that was in there. I still figure it's worth a few bucks to try it. I am definitely at a loss right now. I have a clean carb, and spark at the plug, but no ignition. Could I be missing a wire somewhere? Have I made a simple mistake? I am at a loss right now.

[Michael Eddie]

Did you take out the main jet with a Flathead screwdriver and clean it? You have to take off the float, take out everything and every screw, spray carburetor cleaner in it and then let everything metal sit in a solvent over night.

I think you might be taking it a little to fast, don't worry the warm weather isn't here yet but we'll get you back and running before then

[Michael Eddie]

And if you already hadent done it, do a tune up to it. Drain out the gas, replace the fuel filter, replace the oil filter, replace the oil, replace the spark plug. Its just like your car.

[Dino615]

I did take out the main jet and clean it out. It was actually very clear, I was surprised. I can take it off again and let everything sit in solvent. I had company in town this weekend so I didn't get a chance to buy all the tune up stuff but was planning on doing a tune up. I will get all the parts today and hopefully tune it up tonight.

[Dino615]

Can the engine stop relay or any electronics be causing this issue? I did the tune up and put in a new plug and it just will not fire up. It cranks over and over but never seems like it wants to fire.

[Dino615]

Can the engine stop relay or any electronics be causing this issue? I did the tune up and put in a new plug and it just will not fire up. It cranks over and over but never seems like it wants to fire. I have the wiring diagram from the manual, but I don't see exactly where the spark comes from. Can you tell me where the spark comes from, backwards from the plug? Or maybe if you have the diagram as well. I want to try tracing everything backwards.

[Dino615]

Ok, so after looking at the golf cart long and hard, and racking my brain, I left it alone for a little while. I got to thinking about it, and I realized that I had no ground hooked to the battery aside from the one to the starter. That didn't make sense to me. So I pulled the battery and looked, no missing wires. I then pulled up the wiring diagram again and traced all the wires. On my starter there are 4 posts and two wires for the generator. Well I had the ground connected to A2 instead of A1. I switched those and it fired right up. I apologize for wasting your time but I appreciate all your information.

[Michael Eddie]

I love helping with golf carts, thanks for letting me know what the problem was!

[Dino615]

That's funny, I actually like the challenge of working on small motors. I am very into dirt bike motors so working on this was kind of fun. Now my dad is having a problem with his engaging so I will get to help him with that some.

Thanks again.