97 Club Car DS Sometimes wont move

[vwf@yahoo.com]

I am working at a campground where we have a 97 Club Car DS (A9712-XXXXXX). It will work fine for days at a time and then for no reason I can find it doesn't react when you press the accelerator. I can hear the solenoid click but it doesn't register any voltage across the large connections. Sometimes you can rock the cart a little or even roll it a few feet and it will then work fine. i suspect a short or loose connection but I have not had any luck finding it. Has anyone else had a similar problem or any suggestions on isolating the short?

This happened yesterday afternoon and no amount of wire jiggling, pushing or rocking would get it moving again. This morning I pushed the accelerator and took off immediately and it has worked fine all day. I don't know if this could be affecting anything but yesterday was fairly warm for this area (85° F.) and this morning was a little chilly (33° F.)

The batteries are less than a year old and I am reading ≈52V across the pack.

[vwf@yahoo.com]

It looks like I may have access to the service manual for a 1996 DS. Does anyone know if 96 and 97 are substantially the same?

[Fairtax4me]

If the solenoid is clicking you need to see if pack voltage is getting to the S1 or S2 cables at the FnR switch after the solenoid clicks.
Majority of the time this will be a bad solenoid or a bad FnR switch.
Jack the rear wheels off the ground if you can for testing.

[vwf@yahoo.com]

Thanks for the reply. I will test that if it dies on me today. Trying to diagnose an intermittent problem can be very frustrating.

[vwf@yahoo.com]

The cart finally died again. I tested voltage on switch one using white black wire to pack positive tested 50 volts. The green white wire to pack positive tested zero. Switch two the red white wire to pack positive tested 50 volts. Switch two orange wire to pack positive tested zero volts. This was with the forward reverse switch in the Forward position.

All four wires to pack negative showed zero volts