1992 Ez-Go Marathon slow/sluggish

[Dgford81]

Hello all, my father recently purchased a 1992 Marathon Electric cart. The batteries were old and appeared to be damaged (bulging, leaking etc.). We replaced all (6) and have the cart running. When the accelerator pedal is applied, the cart seems to "jump out of the gate" and appears to have good power and acceleration. However, the cart them slows down drastically. It continues moving forward, but often feels as if it is going to come to a complete stop. A couple of times, I let off of the accelerator, coming to a stop, and then re-applied the pedal, with no forward movement. At that point I had to turn the switch off and let it sit for a while, before I was able to get it moving again. My next thought is, to replace all of the cables for the batteries, because they do appear to have some corrosion on them. I did clean all of the connections, which are nice and shiny now, but the copper wiring itself (where the connection is crimped) appears to be pretty dirty and green colored.
I guess my question is, am I heading in the right direction? Anything else I should consider replacing while doing the cables? Im not all that familiar with testing the electrical loads and all that. Im sure by reading through these threads, I could figure it out, but at this point, I think the cables may be playing a major part in it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

[Clemsoncartguy]

Can you drive the cart a decent distance? Will it go several hundred yards...just slow or whatever?

Take it for a short spin. Stop and get out and put your hand on the cables. All the battery ones and really any of the big cables. If any of them are hot you have found a problem. They should not be warm...unless the thing has been sitting in 100F sun or something . The heat shows resistance which could be from your corroded cables. Replace any that look suspect. Well if one battery cabelas is warm I would replace them all. If one of your motor cables is hot I would replace just it if your want g to stay on the cheap.

[Dgford81]

Tanks for the reply. When I get on and take it for a spin, I'm able to travel to the end of my driveway and back, which is roughly 350-400 feet, before I take it back into the garage. It would probably run longer but I usually park it just so I'm not left pushing it back. It is really slow and sluggish throughout that distance, especially when I turn. That is with the accelerator pedal pushed the whole time. If I release the pedal and then try to accelerate again, it will not move.
I will go out and check the cables shortly and see what I find.

At this point, I'm planning on replacing all of the battery cables as well as any of the thicker gauged wires that run to the motor etc. Just to be on the safe side.
Again, thanks for the advice!!!

[KeystonePig]

Did you solve your problem? I am having the same issue with my 89 Marathon 36v. I really don't want to convert to 48v, not to mention I have no idea where I will put 2 more batteries.

[Clemsoncartguy]

Originally Posted by KeystonePig

Did you solve your problem? I am having the same issue with my 89 Marathon 36v. I really don't want to convert to 48v, not to mention I have no idea where I will put 2 more batteries.

You could always use six 8v batteries and then you won't have to worry about the extra 2 batteries.

This is assuming your controller and everything else can take 48v, then you have to get a charger.

[joseamoreno]

So what was the result after changing the cables?
I have a 92' marathon that kind of is beginning to act sluggish. Great off the start but after 100 yrds begins to respond/move slower.