88 marathon No Go Batteries?

[o4mustang70]

I have a 1988 Marathon electric cart 36v. The cart clicks when the pedal is depressed but it does not move. When placed in reverse it will the back up alarm goes off but it does not move. I thought it was the batteries being weak. The battery charger does not turn off like it is designed to do while charging. The volts for each battery is 6.4v. When I test the volts when all the batteries are connected it reads 6.4v. I have no experience with these carts and have had this for my daughter for a year. Worked good most of the year but then just the reverse went out and now its not moving at all. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

[tculpepper]

My guess is going to be something in the F&R switch. My switch is about to go out and it does what you are saying every now and then. Wiggle some wires on the switch and make sure everything is tight. Check all connections everywhere.

[o4mustang70]

My FR switch has a solenoid looking thingy on the bottom of it that has two smaller gauge wires going to it. It looks like one of those wires grounded out briefly with one of the larger gauge wires on the FR switch. Could of that have burnt out the solenoid looking thing therefore needing a new one? Everything else looks good on the FR switch.

[o4mustang70]

I see that its a backup alarm and wouldn't cause my problem

[radioman]

You might have a bad solenoid. Measure the voltage on both big terminals of the solenoid (the contacts) when it energizes. (You will measure voltage on both lugs when it is not energized because of a pre charge resistor that is supposed to be across the contacts.) You should measure full battery bank voltage across both. 37-38 volts would be a good reading when energized. However this would not have caused the earlier problem not to go in reverse. That might be another problem. If you get good voltage on both solenoid terminals solenoid is not likely the problem and will have to dig deeper.

Since the charger is not cutting off like it is supposed to you might have a battery charger problem too. Check the water level in batteries. Please furnish charger model # and any additional information on cart exact model. Look through the stickes and see if you recognize your cart's operating system.

Sorry this is not much help but this will get you started troubleshooting. Maybe some more help will show up. You might browse through some other post and the stickies might help you understand a little of how these things work and the problems and headaches they can cause.

[radioman]

Did you ever check the voltage on both of the solenoid big terminals when it energized?

[o4mustang70]

Im going to be working on it today. What solenoid are you talking about. The one next to the control box? And what do you mean when energized?

[radioman]

The solenoid that goes click when you press the accelerator and is mounted to the controller. When it goes click it is energized and it is the first thing in line to feed power to the rest of the electrical workings. A lot of problems is caused by the solenoid contacts not making connection when it goes click and is a good place to start before getting all strung out on more advanced troubleshooting. Just because it energizes does not mean it is making good contact. Anyway you have more good info on the other post.

[radioman]

If you have the same voltage as the batteries + on both big terminals of the solenoid when it clicks and stays energized, the solenoid is probably not the problem.