My buggie went swimming

[Tlkess]

My son and I own an older electric golf cart. While camping by a lake his grandson (4) decided to drive the buggie without permission of course. Naturally it went right into the lake. His father was able to get it out of the lake and another buggie towed it back to the camp-site. When it dried out it was driveable. That is not the case today. The batteries won't charge now. We will change the batteries this weekend. Are there any ideas about what pitfalls we might run into as we get further into this project?

[bokeasmowl]

Everything electrical is probably shot...besides the cables. That's an expensive mistake not taking out the keys...and thankfully the 4 yr old didn't suffer a terrible fate.

[mrgolf]

If that ever happens again to anyone, the best thing to do is take it completely apart. Everything. Dry it all and re assembly. Or have good insurance. Water will not do a lot of damage if you can dry it before electric is applied.

[93yellowclubcar]

Shoot a little WD40 in the charge plug holes and wait a bit, then try charging. Got one too wet washing it once and it wouldn't charge - that fixed it.

[Volt_Ampere]

Water gets inside the motor and will make a mess. Take it completely apart and clean and dry it or you will be replacing it shortly.

[TAT]

Upgrade time! At least everyone is ok. The cart can be fixed.

[Tlkess]

Thanks for the info. Thought that would be a major job for us. Fortunately he was unhurt except for his psyche. He was at the lakeside with his father (my grandson-in-law) who was concentrating on his fishing and left the keys in it. Again thanks for all the info. It's been almost a year since the event so every thing should be dry. Think we will take it all apart and clean all connections change the batteries and see what happens next. I'll pass on the results as we go. Lesson for all. TAKE THE KEY OUT!!!

[teecro]

Originally Posted by Tlkess

It's been almost a year since the event so every thing should be dry.

Wait.......... Its been almost a YEAR and now its being dealt with?


How long has it been since the cart actually last ran?

How was it stored?

Have the batteries been checked and charged?

How far was the cart submerged and for how long was it fresh or salt water?

Was there anything done to displace the water when this first happened?

If its been near to year that the cart has been neglected since going for its swim it is highly likely that anywhere water was trapped has severe corrosion and is total FUBAR.....

[Shenner]

I bought two 2008 Club Car Precedent Carts that were flood damaged in the Calgary areas floods of 2013 and they were completely submerged and choked up with Bow River Silt. I dressed both down to the frame to clean them and reassemble.

The parts I replaced or had repaired included the following:
Motors were salvaged cleaned and repaired professionally ($250 each)
New to me Controllers bought on Ebay ($100 each)
New Speed Sensor ($75 each)
New Computers ($200 each)
New MCORs ($125 each)
New Wiring Harnesses after trying to repair the old ones ($125 each)
New Solenoids and resistors ($ 60 each)
New Ignition and Key ( $35 each)
New Back up buzzer ($15 each)
New signal lights ($125 one only )
New Charge port ($75 one only)
Miscellaneous Electrical Stuff ($100 total)

Don't quote me on the prices as they are quoted from memory not receipts. I ran some trouble get the carts to run until I bought the new wiring harnesses. I'm up probably $750 per cart on their value versus what I've paid for the carts and parts, but have about 50 hours of labor into each cart that's not accounted for. I also upgraded the battery connections

Items that couldn't be salvaged were the stereo and speakers and head lights

Batteries need to be replaced but I haven't done that yet. Good luck, it was pretty rewarded when they were all reassembled and actually ran.

Shenner