Smoking cart, now malfunctioning...

WH2007

Hi all, new to the forum, and have a broken Club Car on my hands! I'm not sure what year, but I think it's a '95 or '96. 36V electric system, no V-glide or anything fancy.

Recently the gas pedal broke so it would stay down slightly even when released. So someone of course parked it with the P-brake on, the gas pedal slightly depressed, and the car in Forward. An hour later, it was smoking and smelled of awful burning. I know I have a mess on my hands.

So I towed it back and took a look. The batteries were all dry, so i topped them off with water and charged them. They seem to have charged back up fully. All of the battery cables, terminals, and all accessory wires that I can see look fine... No evidence of burning. The only thing that looks bad is two of the wires that connect to the motor. I'm a total n00b at this (but handy and electrically savvy otherwise), but the two wires connect directly to the motor, and about 3-4 inches from the motor post they are badly burned, but still intact. The whole cart reeks of electrical burning.

So after charging, I tried driving it just to see what would happen. When in forward, the cart lurches/jolts forward in quick jumps, but nothing sustained. The same in reverse (except backwards). I now have it turned off and waiting further repair. Clearly something is wrong.

Could someone help me with possible diagnoses? I think I can rule out battery issues... they charged up normally, and appear perfectly intact. They're relatively new batteries (maybe a year old).

Perhaps the motor is fried? If so, can I fix that? Other parts to consider? I have a basic multimeter, what I can I test and report back?

Thanks for the help!

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

rusty

Welcome to the forum WH2007...................

Chances are....... the motor is fried if the cables burned up 2 or 3 inches back from the motor posts. If the motor did get this hot, and is able to still run (which I doubt) the shelack will be burned off of the windings and the windings are shorted out.

There are motor rebuilders on here that can help you more. Also as many "motor upgraded" carts as there are around, you can usually pick up a stock motor from a golf cart shop pretty cheap.

You will also need to consider that the controller could be burned up too and the solenoid can not be trusted either.

WH2007

OK, can you elaborate on the controller on the solenoid? What do they do exactly?

We have a golf cart repair guy but he's a solid 45 minutes away. Do you think it'd be worth pulling the motor myself to try and replace it? Or is this really complicated work?

rusty

The

controller

is a box of electronics that regulates the speed of the motor with smooth progressions when given the command from a remote device, such as the accelerator pedal with a variable output from the mcor or V-glide resistor box.

The

solenoid

is a simple but very heavy duty switch (or relay) operated from a remote location. It consists of an electromagnetic coil when voltage is applied, which energizes the coil, sending the core, or plunger to the top making contact with two other contacts at the ends of the heavy posts completing a circuit.