Buggy won't start after melting wiring harness to exhaust

[ckidwell]

I recently disassembled my Carter 150, painted the frame and reassembled the kart. I must have ran the wiring harness on the wrong side of the back of the frame and it melted against the exhaust while my son was riding. He shut it off, tried to start it and no go.

The battery works fine, we have a winch connected directly to it and it still works. I cut and soldered all the wires that were damaged when it melted, however I get no power to lights, horn, turn signals or to start when the key is turned on.

Just wondering where I should begin. I'm planning on replacing the CDI, Regulator Rectifier, starter relay and ignition coil. Are there any other parts that could have gotten damaged? I'm hoping to get an order in soon so we can go riding, the corn just came down and the fields are open for our first fall ride.

Thanks for all your help!

[BuggyMaster]

There should be an in-line fuse right off the battery. If it’s popped (and it likely is based on what you wrote you’ll have the problems you described. The fuse is an old style fuse usually in a clear plastic enclosure.

[ckidwell]

That was it! The old fuse looked good, but I replaced it and now everything is working as it should. Thank god too, I have put a ton of time into this old buggy, got it a couple of months ago and it was in bad shape

[BuggyMaster]

Sometimes the connector itself is bad. I had one just last week that just had bogus contact at one end or the other. You could wiggle it with the headlights on and all the sudden they would cut off.

[ckidwell]

Did you just solder new ends onto the old wires? I may look into doing that too

[BuggyMaster]

No I replaced it with one I had here that came with a lighting kit or something.