Battery failure... or something? NEED HELP!
 

So I've had this buggy for about a year, and yes it sat for several cold months here but now its warm and I'm ready to ride! This problem isn't exactly new, it just didn't seem as bad before. My battery keeps dying. Sometime even whilst riding, which to me seems impossible, right? Idk how these gy6 motors operate as far as the battery and alternator or whatever it is they have. Now, so far I've gathered that there may a short somewhere. Now, whenever this problem first arrived I thought maybe the headlights and stuff were draining it. So I took them off, rewired them to their own separate battery and left alone every wire that went to the electric start button, key, and brake (the safety feature which demands you press the brake to start the engine) On that note, the brake safety feature wasn't working when I pushed the brake so I just connected the terminals in order to not have to press the brake to start the engine, resulting in the brake light being on all the time while riding, but I don't think thats enough to drain the battery in that way. its gotta be something else, its pretty crappy. I've done much work to the carb and air intake and things of that nature, and I actually pride myself very much on having been able to keep the motor running and functioning, and now this is just a big wall that I can't seem to climb. From what I've read it sounds like there's gonna be some work involved in this solution that I just don't know if I'm capable of performing myself. So I'm hoping maybe one of you guys knows some secret that I just don't know about. I seen this solar panel battery "maintainer" made by coleman? that I was thinking about getting and hooking up just to keep my batter up while riding? Please post any questions I will answer very quickly, I can even get pictures real quick if needed! Any and all help will be MUCH MUCH appreciated! Thanks in advance!-- Also posted in BuggyNews

1st that solar power charger will not keep your battery charged while driving. one way to tell if you have a short is to make sure your battery has a good charge on it. use a charger to make sure it is charged. then take the negative cable loose from the battery, negative cable only. then touch one end of a 12 volt test light to the negative cable and touch the other end of the test light to the negative post of the battery. if it lights up, you have a short somewhere. this won't tell you where it is, but it will tell if you do have one. leave the hot post hooked to the battery while doing this.

THanks for the speedy reply!!! Ok I did that. First I checked to make sure the tester worked properly, it did. One thing I wasn't clear about was whether or not to have the key in the on position? Now, as I stated previously, the brake light comes on any time the key is in the on position. Please let me know if you need more info on that :) So I tried it both ways. first WITHOUT the key. I disconnected the negative wire from the battery leaving the hot wire on. I clipped the tester to the neg wire and put the tip on the neg terminal. Tester did NOT light up. However, I tried the same thing with the key IN the ignition and in the ON position, (which with the battery plugged up normally causes the brake light to come on) so I disconnected the neg wire, clipped the tester to it and touched the tip to the neg terminal, the tester light DID come on in this case, but I figured it was just because of the brake light being "live" with the key in the on position, right?

1st off someone has wired your brake light wrong. it should not burn just cause you turned the switch on. the brake light should be controlled by a switch on the master cylinder. if you don't know already, turn the key switch on, hook your test light to the b/light to find out which is the hot wire. that wire should run to one side of the switch on your master cylinder. the other side of the switch should run to a hot wire, that is at least hot when the key switch is on. do you have a wiring switch diagram for your buggy? Also the test I told you to do should be done with the key switch off.

some pictures would help us also.

Well that someone is me lol this is also how it was when I got it. I tried to fix it but I couldn't. The 2 wires in this image are, as I know, supposed to be on separate terminals on the master cylinder switch. (Mine is a pressure type) however I wasn't able to bleed the master enough to get the switch to work properly. Probably what happened to the previous owner. So I connect the wires "permanently" so that I can start the engine wuthout having to grab hold of the wires And to keep them from bouncing around into the frame and whatnot. Since that's how I was when I got it, I ASSUMED it wasnt all that bad.

what type of cart is this? name brand and model if known

do you have a wiring diagram? :swordfight:

No wiring diagram. All I know is thay on the dash it says gkt-mg150a-gen. Here's a pic of body

check this out
 

see if your cart is this kind go to scooterdepot.com

There are a few on that site that look similar. I wanna say mine is a jcl?

I am not saying its not a JCL, but I have never heard of that brand. maybe someone else on here has.

I have heard of it now. lol typed it into web, but all I find is parts, no full pics of it.

The buggy looks like a Roketa GK-07 or GK-28

http://roketa.com/product/product_list.jsp?cateID=259

It looks like the Kandi. As stated earlier you need a full charge on the battery. If you do not have a load bank pull the fully charged battery and bring it to a auto zone or even wallmart and have them check the battery. Once you know you have a good battery that will hold a charge, the next thing you will need to do is check that it is charging. A volt meter across the battery will tell if it is charging. If not charging then go to americansportworks.com and download the service manual for either 6150 or 7150. The manual will tell you how to trouble shoot the charging system with a volt/ohm meter.

Well I finally got a new battery, but I can't get the motor to start now to find out if the rectifier is any good. After chatting with Tom from KNM, I believe I'm having an issue with compression :( I'm not sure exactly what that means for my future, but I just wanted to post here in case any of you are still watching. Thank you all so much, I'm off to make a new thread.

This was awhile ago....but, when you're checking for a ground...you want the key in the off position. This lets you know if short is while the kart is off. I've had this happen to me a few times. I would like an update to see how things worked out. Thanks!
Compression?...all you need is a compression guage, pull the spark plug and measure your compression while trying to crank the motor. Find the specs on what it's supposed to be. Next, add a bit of oil to the inside of the cylinder, and test your compression again. If it's higher, then....alas, you have bad compression and your rings are wearing down.
Let me know the update

Based on what I remember my compression gauge reading I think it was a sad 30 psi and if I'm remembering correctly I was supposed to be around 120? Nevertheless, it pointed to bad compression. And I simply do not know what to do about that :( I honestly wouldn't mind pay for a new motor if I thought I could rig it up but idk about that. Sighs* I'm afraid this is the end of my minibuggy days.

Never give up, never surrender!! Replace the motor, trust me when I say all you need is some good ideas! Send a picture of your set up. And let's figure this out!!! Is it a gokart motor? Or a regular car engine?

Thanks, ok I'm with ya. It's a Honda Gy6 clone, top mounted. I'll post some pics when I get a chance!

you also want to hold the throttle wide open when turning over to check compression.

Do what zman said, but any ol engine will fit. Might need to drill new holes for engine mount, but no biggie. Also, just need to find a used torque converter and slap that bad boy on, and buy a new chain. And just like that, instant buggy days are up and running again. I'd say go with a 10 hp motor. Lots of fun!

Did you ever do a comp check? Sounds like a bad stator to me, and after you writes your brake switch to always be on it would drain the battery that probably want being charged while running.

Ditto, a lot of people forget to do this. If you have bad compression I would just do a top end kit and you would be set to go.

I agree ^^^^

How much is a top and kit? I guess I was trying to keep it simple. But heck, I've never rebuilt a go kart motor, I wouldn't imagine it being difficult!! Go for it!!!

Try calling sycarms. He's one of the guys that responded to this post above.

Also keep in mind that if the valves have not been adjusted, they may be too tight causing a loss of compression.

Ok so here are some pics of my motor for the engine swap. I don't know about the valves and I don't know what a top kit is lol I was in the middle of checking out the stator situation when suddenly I wasn't able to get it to turn over anymore. Thus leading to the compression check. Which I will try again soon. After fixing the stator I was gonna fix the brake switch thing. You can see why I've lost faith. Everything keeps crapping out lol but I really appreciate all of your help

Do not give up! It just may take some time! Everyone together has the knowledge, so we just need to have people tell how to check valves, and replace the top, or last resort, replace the motor. And that is pretty easy :)

Haha thanks. I did another compression check, again assuming I did it right, still no good.

What was your compression?

It just kind of sput-sput-sput-sput. Less than thirty. The only thing that makes me question the compression is that the last time it drove I was riding and it quit on me after about thirty mins (battery died) and since I got a new batt I haven't been able to turn it over. Seems strange that the compression would be shot at that point. As opposed to that being the reason it quit, instead of the battery.

If you checked compression correctly and it is indeed 30psi than redo the test, this time putting 3 squirts of engine oil in cylinder and see if your compression rises. (Make sure throttle is wide open when doing compression )If not the problem will be in the valves. Have you adjusted the valves yet? It does not matter how it ran before it died. What matters is why it won't run now. You have to have fuel, air, spark and compression so these are the first things one has to know in order to isolate the problem period.

Where is this "cylinder" I put the oil in, and how do I adjust valves? I know I have fuel and spark for sure. I assume air is basically a given. I mean the filter is clean.

Short answer is that it is under the spark plug. That whole thing is the top end of the engine. Pull the spark plug and put oil directly in spark plug whole and redo compression test. If oil increases compression it's likely the rings, if not it's a issue in the head which could be a valve not closing all the way so that it can't create compression when the piston comes up. Hopefully at that point the head is still good and you would want to adjust the valves to 0.005" intake/exhaust when they are in the closed position.

Ok. What kind of oil and how much?

Any engine oil you have around will work. Just a few squirts or a couple teaspoons. It just seals up the rings is they are leaking.