2005 EZ-GO PDS - Bad Controller?

525fury

I have a 2005 EZ-GO PDS Electric golf cart. It has a rear seat, Jakes 4" lift, and 22" ATV tires on it. Was camping this weekend, drove fine. Went to put it in the rear of my 5th wheel toy hauler yesterday morning and it would not run. (We ride it around the campgrounds and such during dirt bike rides in Tennessee/Kentucky).

Hit the gas and you hear the solenoid click, but the cart tries to go, but only about moves about 6" and then all power cuts off from the motor. Same in reverse. Took the cover off the controller and all looks clean, tight, and good in there.

Do I have a bad Controller?
Them babies are expensive too. I have been thinking about getting a 2008+ Freedom RXV, but I have to at least fix this one first.
What do you recommend?
Buy a used one from someone?
Or buy an upgrade controller and just keep the cart for while longer?

It has been a good cart, but I would like more torque for climbing hill without slowing down and tired of having discharged batteries, thus the reason for wanting gas.
Thanks for your input!

BGW

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mikesmotortoys

PDS lifted carts are not good unless you change the wiring to 4 gauge and upgrade the controller to at least a 400 amp Alltrax. Once you do this, you my end up liking what you have. It does sound a little odd that it ran fine until after you parked it, though? Have you checked all your cable connections for proper tightness?

525fury

I thought it was weird too. All cables are tight. Just checked them again for the third time, and still doing the same thing.

mikesmotortoys

Is the reverse buzzer unhooked?

525fury

Yes, I unhooked that when I got the cart, as it was driving me crazy.

mikesmotortoys

Unfortunately, without the reverse buzzer on a stock PDS cart, you were not able to hear the diagnostic codes it was trying to tell you before / during / after the damage occurred! I'd bet the controller is fried....

525fury

I just reconnected the one wire that I had pulled off from one side of the buzzer, and it is now working again when I put the cart in reverse. Tried to drive forward and backward, but did not hear any beeps or such.

Should I now be hearing beeps if the controller is bad or damaged?

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me on this!!!

mikesmotortoys

I doubt if you will hear the diagnostic codes now, since there is already a failure. IF it were hooked up back before the damage was done, you would have heard a series of beeps, a pause, and more beeps. This would have given you a "code" to reference a shop manual. You can try to jump your solenoid (t larger posts) to see if that gets it to run. If it does, then replace the solenoid. I'll bet the controller is gone - which will almost always happen on a lifted PDs cart with stock controller...