1999 ezgo fully charged, clicked and stuttered before dying

[Lilhook3]

The other night I had to tow my cart home because the batteries got too low.. I charged it for a little and then moved it around back and it ran fine. Plugged it back in and let the batteries fully charge. Went to run it today and I heard a clicking/stuttering sound that slowly died off and it never moved.. the headlights started to go out everyone I hit the pedal and eventually wouldn’t stay on at all and the clicking stopped also. Still no power despite the volt meter showing fully charged.. thoughts?

I should add sometimes after fully charging it would do the rumbling stutter and then jolt into gear. Almost like it was slowly powering back up. It would do it a couple times until it would start going smooth again. Not sure if that’s related but it seemed like that’s what it was doing tonight but the power never came until I got nothing when I hit the pedal.

[sthreatt]

It would be helpful to know if this is a series cart, a DCS, or a PDS. Does it have a tow/run switch ?

[Lilhook3]

Originally Posted by sthreatt

It would be helpful to know if this is a series cart, a DCS, or a PDS. Does it have a tow/run switch ?

It is a dcs and has as run/tow switch under the passenger side of the seat.

[bronsonj]

Certainly sounds like a voltage issue. What is the actual volt reading while any of this is happening? Just using a voltmeter with six or eight bars isn't enough to let you diagnose an issue since they are notoriously inaccurate.

After checking your voltage with a DVM I would then check if all your cables are good. Are any of them loose? Give each one a tug and see if the cable looks fine but when you tug on it the cable comes out of the connector. Also, be sure the big fat cables are the ones connected to the battery first, then the smaller ones (like the ones used for the volt meter) are connected after. The order (called stacking) does make a difference.

If you have to re-tighten them don't go crazy. That's a hex headed bolt just sitting there in the lead, so if you overtighten it then the lead deforms and it will cause excess heat leading to a melted terminal.

[sthreatt]

When you towed it home, how far did you tow it and did you put the switch in TOW before towing ? I have seen more than one destroy the motor and controller by towing in RUN.

[bronsonj]

Originally Posted by Lilhook3

I heard a clicking/stuttering sound that slowly died off and it never moved.. the headlights started to go out everyone I hit the pedal and eventually wouldn’t stay on at all and the clicking stopped

The fact that the headlights went out tells me there's no/low voltage to them. If there's low/no voltage for headlights then that's the same thing to the motor and controller.

Sometimes 12v headlights are used and wired to just two of the batteries in the cart. This ages those batteries faster than the others and that imbalance can kill your pack.

Before you go any further you need to check the battery pack with a digital voltmeter ($10 at Harbor Freight if you need one). Charge the cart, remove the charger and let the cart sit unused for several hours then check the voltage of the entire pack and the voltage of each individual battery and post those numbers back here. Then (with the meter connected to the whole pack) turn on the cart and try to go and see what happens.

I'd wager that you see either low voltage before trying to run or when you try to run the voltage drops to the floor.