1990 club car DS vglide works only at top contact

[grandpa1]

Yes the rear of the cart is in the air and on jack stands. wheels rotate just fine.

[physcoflip]

If I remember correctly from what I have seen on here the resistor coil carts actually always have full power it's the coils that reduce it to control speed. That's why they aren't the most efficient battery wise. I would check the wiring to the coils since it's unlikely you broke them all. Unless you got a faulty new v glide.

[Budule]

it does not seam possible to me that the wiper arm could have power , make contact with a piece of copper , and NOT have power at the back of the piece of copper.....you do know that the 2 bottom contacts are "dead" , but the 3rd one should make it go......again , if you say its wired right and coils are all good and motor is fine , and nothing is holding the rear wheels back ( im still concerned that it "locked up and drugged the rear tires") .......im at a loss

[grandpa1]

I have moved the wiper up about half way on the contacts and nothing happens. There is full voltage on the wire that goes to the wiper arm contact. I will dig deeper tomorrow. I don't know if power is to be there or not. The cart was running fine before something happened. I put a ne v glide in and it still has the same problem. I am gonna tear all the coils out in the morning. Thank you so much for your on going help.

[Budule]

do one more thing when you get back at it....put your voltmeter across the whole battery pack (should have close to 37.5 volts more or less) and watch to see what it does as you press the go pedal , to see if voltage drops BEFORE the wheels start to turn at the top contacts.

[Budule]

one other thing , you said

Originally Posted by grandpa1

almost like something locked up for a moment or it went into reverse somehow.

you don't think you hit the lever with your leg somehow and put it in reverse do you?

[93yellowclubcar]

This is the same cart that has a history of melting V-glides IIRC. Seems the consensus was that the motor was getting weak enough that it caused enough excess draw (and therefore heat) to melt the V-glide. My mind goes to something wrong in the motor, you could always test it with a 12 volt battery and see if it spins (it should at about 1/3 speed) and how it sounds while doing that.

Motor testing procedures are:

Remove all cables from the motor; connect a jumper from A1 to S1. Connect 12 to 24 volts, positive @ A2 and negative @ S2. Swap S1 and S2 to change rotation direction.

(LEAVE IT ON THE REAR END when you do this, you risk grenading it if you spin it with voltage while the motor is on a bench.)

[grandpa1]

Found it. Last coil was broke . thank y'all very much for all the help. Y'all rock

[Budule]

Originally Posted by 93yellowclubcar

This is just me thinking out loud, but isn't the top contact the one that bypasses all the coils and puts juice right to the motor for top speed? If so, then your coils or something in the wiring going to them is causing the problem.

nailed it !!

[93yellowclubcar]

Originally Posted by Budule

nailed it !!

Lucky guess. It's been a looong while since I worked on a resistor cart myself, I get my daily dose of resistor cart via this site.

Glad you found the problem! If you replace your coils you may find they were what was causing the other Vglides to melt by being out of spec - hopefully it'll keep you from more costly Vglide purchases.