What have I damaged?!?

[Lightninn]

Hello everyone. I have a 48 volt 97 CC. I have a Plum Quick motor installed that is wound for 36 volts. New Trojan batteries in in 2009. New 4 gauge wires same time. 400 amp controller. I was trail riding it the other night with friends. As I went up a sandy hill it began to spin. I'm running 22" tall tires. It kept digging and making ground, so I held it wide open. It went up the hill and my friend noticed some sparks that fell under the cart while I was climbing the sandy hill. The cart still runs forward, reverse, and will still hit the top speed it did before. However, the power seems "soft" or "spongy" down low. It doesn't have the grunt it did before. Any ideas as to what I burned up the other night?!? Gotta pay to play right?!?

[dougmcp]

No grunt in the low end indicates the inability to allow high amperage to flow, I would start by checking all your battery and cable connections.

If sparks were coming out from the motor, you may have a brush problem and will have to pull the motor to assess that.

[Lightninn]

I know for certain all the battery connections are tight. I will inspect the connections on the controller and motor and see if I find a loose one. Thanks for the help.

Any others?

[shadowman]

sparks flying is never a good thing, i would take the motor out and take a look at it but as for the controller i don,t think i,d worry much cause if the sparks were from it one would think it would no longer run...............won,t hurt to look at all cable connections and i would also go over all the batteries........if the cart is still running it sounds like you got mighty lucky............................

[Lightninn]

Checked all connections and all are tight. Guess I'll pull the motor next and see what I find....