2001 club car new to me

[McRib]

hello all. i was told by a few that this was the place to go for golf cart help so here i am looking for direction.

i recently bought a 2001 club car from a friend and i believe it has an issue. it seems slow and the clicking sound that happens when you press the go pedal it clicks frequently/sporadically and it looses power for seconds of a second. no matter how charged it is the amber battery light randomly illuminates as if its telling me my charge is low. i operate my cart at the islander rv resort in havasu and can go all weekend on a charge but its sluggish (to me) and the constant sporadic clicking and the amber light is starting to bug me a bit. ive had someone tell me the the solenoid needs to be changed and the batteries need to be changed. i was told the batteries were 2 years old when i bought it. ive also been told that, that is the life expectancy of a bank of batteries. i believe there are exide batteries in it currently. its a 48v 6x8volt set up.

any advice would be great. im sure my description is very vague and prob make little to no sense to some of you more seasoned cart owners but i hope some help is available.

thanks

[Stevegrmich]

. . . start with the basics . . . charge unit and then test the total pack voltage after about 10-12 hrs of "rest" from charge and each individual battery also and post those readings here . . also pick up a hydrometer from local car parts place (about $5-10) and check specific gravity of each cell in each battery to see if any remarkable difference between readings . . . only use distilled water to keep plates covered by about 1/4 inch after charging . . . and welcome to BGW . . .

[birdleg1981]

Diddo, check out your batteries. Also your cables, anywhere you can have a poor connection. Id like to see your readings as well just as steve said. Welcome

[McRib]

Thanks. I am away from my cart till labor day. I will test the water then and charge the hell out of it for the weeked. Ill post up the readings after the weekend.

[McRib]

Ive been told there is no way to individually load test an 8v battery like u can a 12volt. Is this true?

[shadowman]

Originally Posted by McRib

Ive been told there is no way to individually load test an 8v battery like u can a 12volt. Is this true?

no its not.....you can you just need to be creative with what tool you use......all you need is a digital voltage meter and a hydrometer......check every cell and write #,s down, check voltage of each battery and write #,s down as for load testing you can either find a way to clip meter leads to battery or tape leads to battery and then just drive cart for say 100ft watch meter as you 1st hit pedal and pull out see what it drops to ( remember that # ) as you go battery voltage should start to recover ( get higher ) than its lowest point.......stop write both #,s down....do this for each battery and you have all your data, it might not be the data you,ll get using a 500 dollar machine but beleive me it will more than suffice............also theres no need to disconnect any cables while doing this...............you can post all data here and someone will help you deciper it............................