Cart won’t move

[jcampbell08]

Need help diagnosing a problem. We have a 2001 EZGO TXT PDS 36V Cart. Was working fine and now it won’t go forward or reverse. Batteries show good on voltage meter. When I put the cart in diagnostic mode I get a 2-1 beep., which says low voltage. So I charged the batteries again but the cart still won’t move. The voltage meter tells me I have over 38 volts coming from the batteries. Are there any other places I should start with trying to figure out the problem? Thanks for any help.

[georgia088]

Is the solenoid "clicking" and engaging? You should be able to hear it when the pedal is pressed. Check the voltage on the large terminals of the solenoid. There should be pack voltage on the large terminal (battery side) all the time. There should be full pack voltage on the other side (controller side) when the pedal is pressed.

[jcampbell08]

Ok so I checked all the connections and all is tight. I checked the full pack charge and get a 38.8 V reading. Then I checked each battery and I get a 6.5V reading on each. When I turn the Cart on and turn the F/R switch to reverse I get the buzzer sound. And I can also get the headlights, taillights and underbody led lights all to come on. So I think the F/R switch is fine by those tests. I’m not overly confident that I checked the Solenoid or controller voltage correctly. After moving my meter to different posts on the solenoid I got the full pack reading of 38.8V and the same for the controller. But if you have a video or pictures that show what terminals I should be placing them on that would help a great deal. Any other ideas would be great as well. I have heard of a “switch” in the pedal that can go bad???? Possibly idea? Thanks for the help.

I should also mention that the people who own this cart that I am tying to help have run the batteries dead and have had to push the cart home on 2 occasions. They said they put it in Tow but I can’t be 100% of that. Just thought I would put that out there in case it helps anyone trying to help. Thanks.

[georgia088]

Originally Posted by jcampbell08

Ok so I checked all the connections and all is tight. I checked the full pack charge and get a 38.8 V reading. Then I checked each battery and I get a 6.5V reading on each. When I turn the Cart on and turn the F/R switch to reverse I get the buzzer sound. And I can also get the headlights, taillights and underbody led lights all to come on. So I think the F/R switch is fine by those tests. I’m not overly confident that I checked the Solenoid or controller voltage correctly. After moving my meter to different posts on the solenoid I got the full pack reading of 38.8V and the same for the controller. But if you have a video or pictures that show what terminals I should be placing them on that would help a great deal. Any other ideas would be great as well. I have heard of a “switch” in the pedal that can go bad???? Possibly idea? Thanks for the help.

I should also mention that the people who own this cart that I am tying to help have run the batteries dead and have had to push the cart home on 2 occasions. They said they put it in Tow but I can’t be 100% of that. Just thought I would put that out there in case it helps anyone trying to help. Thanks.

I am sure someone has a picture, but there should be 4 “posts/terminals” (bolts coming out of the solenoid with wires secured by nuts). Two of them are smaller (they activate the solenoid) and have small gauge wires. The other two are larger (larger nuts, bolts, and wires coming off of them). Those that I referred to in the previous post were the large “posts/terminals”. Use your volt meter to give a reading between b- and those large “ posts” of the solenoid (both sides controller side and battery side) when the pedal is not pressed and when it is pressed.

[jcampbell08]

On the right side of the solonoid I get a full pack reading no matter if the pedal is down or not. On the left side of the solonoid I get nothing no matter if the pedal is down or not. The white wire I am pointing to looks like it has been melted to the wire. I put tape on it and moved it away from the solonoid. The solonoid is still hot even though it hasn’t been in the charger for over 24 hrs.

[georgia088]

Originally Posted by jcampbell08

On the right side of the solonoid I get a full pack reading no matter if the pedal is down or not. On the left side of the solonoid I get nothing no matter if the pedal is down or not. The white wire I am pointing to looks like it has been melted to the wire. I put tape on it and moved it away from the solonoid. The solonoid is still hot even though it hasn’t been in the charger for over 24 hrs.

Sounds to me like possibly bad solenoid. But, with negative lead of volt meter on b- what voltage do you have at pin 4 of J1 connector on controller? Also, what do you have on the small solenoid terminal with yellow wire? What voltage do you have in the same place with pedal pressed? Now do same thing on the small terminal with blue wire. What do you have?

All these tests done with negative volt meter probe on b-.

Btw: wish my cart looked that clean!

[jcampbell08]

Ok new discovery. I took a good solenoid off of another cart and put it on the “broke” cart. Still the same results. Plus the “jumper” wire fuse looking wire that goes from one big post to the other big post on the solenoid gets super hot after just 2 minutes of being put on.

I took the solenoid from the “broke” cart and put it on the good cart and everything worked fine. So that tells me that the problem is not the solenoid.

So any other ideas? Why would that “jumper” wire get so hot so fast?

[jcampbell08]

On the right side of the solenoid I have a full pack voltage when I touch that terminal and the B- on the controller. On the other side of the solenoid I get like a 0.3 reading when the pedal is pressed. So that’s why I am getting a low voltage warning when I put the cart in diagnostic mode. So now the million dollar question would be why? Since the solenoid has been found to be good.

[jcampbell08]

I just found out that this cart has been ran dead twice and had to be pushed home both times. I asked if it was put in “tow” when pushed and I was told that it was. But I’m not too confident that it was bc it was kids that pushed it home. So there is a possibility that it may have been pushed in “run”. Not sure if that helps anyone figure something out for me.

[jcampbell08]

Seems like we have found the problem. It is the controller. See pic for details.