Troubles with our marathon

Papajohn011964

95 marathon with a controller. Batteries and 6AWG
cables are about 2 years old and are clean and tight. The cart only gets driven around the campground and probably never more than 5 minutes at a time.

Last week my wife was backing it out and she said it made a funny noise and stopped working. Battery voltage was around 37, I had just charged it a couple of days earlier. I got in it when I got home and when the gas was pushed I could hear the solenoid click and it acted like it wanted to move but made a funny noise, the best way for me to describe it is it feels and sounds like a slipping belt. (I know there are no belts but that's the best way I know to describe it) We pushed it back into the driveway and it rolls smoothly.

A few days later when I finally had time to look at it it was doing the same thing, click and funny noise. I plugged in the charger and heard a click. I unplugged the charger and tried it again and it ran fine for about 3 days.

The next day we went for a ride and it was running fine. Batteries around 38 and all was good until I stopped. When we went to take off again it lurched forward and then nothing not even a click. Then I noticed that the voltage was dropping, down to around 15 and then it started climbing up back to the 38v range. Now we are back to the click and funny noise again.

Not sure where to start looking so any help would be appreciated!

BGW

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Papajohn011964

OK well I had the charger on for a few minutes and went and checked. Batteries at 38.5 and it is running again!?!?!?!????

Papajohn011964

It quit again. Nobody has any idea what it may be?

yurtle

Does the funny noise sound like a grinding sound? Could be a stripped hub. When it's making the sound, remove the wheel hub dust cap and have someone watch the nut to see if it's spinning. If so, here's one solution:

http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Ezgo_Pinch_Hubs.html

radioman

A simple quick check would be the voltage on both large connections (the contacts) of the solenoid when it clicks and the cart wont go. Both should be at battery voltage with solenoid energized. Could be solenoid contacts intermittent. Just a wild guess.

yurtle

I fried two solenoids and they became intermittent, but it either ran or it didn't. No strange noise.

Papajohn011964

I have 5.2 volts on the big lugs across the solenoid, when I press the accelerator and activate the solenoid it drops to 0 and slowly goes back to 5.2.

radioman

One of the big connections should go straight to the battery + . If you are measuring from battery - and both big lugs have 5.2 volts then you probably have a bad connection between the batteries and the solenoid. Look a little closer at the battery connection and where it connects to the solenoid. You should have battery voltage on both sides of the solenoid when it clicks referenced to Battery - . Double check the battery voltage at the batteries when you are measuring 5.2 volts. at the solenoid. Appears you have a simple connection problem. Make sure you are measuring voltage on both sides of the solenoid big lugs referenced to battery - not across the big lugs. I will check back later tonight.

jjance

Here is what I would try. 5.2 volts across the solenoid with it closed is wrong. It should be zero. If you feel comfortable doing this try putting a car jumper cable across the two big terminals on the solenoid and see if your problem goes away. During the initial hookup chock the wheels in case there are other problems. If it doesn't try to run on its own then remove the chock and see if it drives normal.

Papajohn011964

Checked connections at the solenoid they looked good but I cleaned them anyways. The cart is running but still getting the 5.2 at idle and 0.00 when the pedal is pressed