2008 Tomberlin Emerge Power issue

[laverma]

I live in the midwest and have a hard time finding anyone who knows/can diagnose issues with my Tomberlin. Currently it will drive for about 30 minutes then the lights cut out and the batteries eventually go dead. Batteries are one year old and have been tested and are good.

When I lift the seat when it dies, it smells. It's kind of like the smell of burning hydraulic fluid. It's also very warm so I think it may be overheating. Any ideas? The only technician in town I found who says he knows these doesn't have the diagnostic tool necessary to check the controller. Seems like that would be a logical place to start.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[laverma]

I've continued to research and the one thing that seems similar has to do with replacing the motor brushes. Any thoughts or instructions on this? I've researched and seen replacement of other motor brushes but nothing on the Emerge - just that it's pretty easy. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Other than this forum has anyone found a good resource for troubleshooting Tomberlins? I've had a couple issues over the past few years and really struggled. Whenever I'm in FL I see them everywhere but when I go online there seems to be very little. Maybe most owners are not DIYers and they have good services/dealers in their area. Unfortunately I'm not in that boat.

[Golf cart guy]

You need to find the source of the smell. Where the smoke is, thats where the problem is.

Early cars had wiring issues. Does the dash go out? or is it just the headlights?

[ojo]

I have a 2010 Tomberlin Manual (PDF) including a troubleshooting section, would that help?

[Purpleharley61]

I have a 09 emerge 400 that powers up but wont move. Its been in the tomberlin service center shop in my area sinse aug 15th. Going on 4 mo now and they cant figure it out. All they tell me is its a trigger wire. I've replaced f/r switch, emer brk switch, key switch,micro switch, halo effect switch, big solenoid, motor brushes cleaned, controler rebuilt, new speed magnet. Still no go. Here I took it to a tomberlin dealer cuz i figured they would find problem and now im 2nd guessing if i did the right thing.

[laverma]

Originally Posted by Golf cart guy

You need to find the source of the smell. Where the smoke is, thats where the problem is.

Early cars had wiring issues. Does the dash go out? or is it just the headlights?

Thanks for the reply. It is difficult to tell as it's just a smell, no smoke. It ends up losing all power, but it's not right away. It will go for about 30 minutes and seems to drive normally, but then it slowly dies in about 5 minutes. Batteries are a little over a year old and very well maintained - always watered and very clean connections. They supposedly tested fine. If anything it would be there's just a bad one in the bunch, just testing is difficult. I hooked up my multimeter while I drove it to various batteries but don't really know what I'm looking for as far as voltage drop.

Again, it's just surprisingly difficult to find anyone who knows these.

[ojo]

You can check the controller for fault codes ( if stored, controller flashes codes permanently ). Remove rubber plug of controller cover and watch for it.
Regarding the batteries you wrote, they are 1 year old. Which battery brand? Is it the 6 x 8v setup?
Check battery pack voltage and every single battery when fully loaded with the multimeter. All should have nearly same voltage. Drive the cart, until it goes down. Check again the pack and all single voltage. Seems, that at least one of them could be bad and you will see, which one is it.
No idea with the smell/smoke...

[laverma]

Originally Posted by ojo

You can check the controller for fault codes ( if stored, controller flashes codes permanently ). Remove rubber plug of controller cover and watch for it.
Regarding the batteries you wrote, they are 1 year old. Which battery brand? Is it the 6 x 8v setup?
Check battery pack voltage and every single battery when fully loaded with the multimeter. All should have nearly same voltage. Drive the cart, until it goes down. Check again the pack and all single voltage. Seems, that at least one of them could be bad and you will see, which one is it.
No idea with the smell/smoke...

Thanks - Trojan 6x8 is correct. Have checked batteries and even had it connected when running. Problem is definitely worse as it starts to die after a couple minutes with the smell. Curious on the controller where the leds flash. I have pics of the front and rear shots of the controller.

[ojo]

Curtis 1268
LED DIAGNOSTICS
A built-in Status LED is visible through a window in the label on top of the
controller. When the controller detects a fault, the Status LED flashes the
2-digit fault code. The code is flashed continuously until the fault is
corrected.
For example, code “3,2”—welded main contactor—appears as:
¤ ¤ ¤
¤ ¤
( 3 , 2 )

¤ ¤ ¤
¤ ¤
( 3 , 2 )
etc.
The codes are listed in the Troubleshooting Chart. Only one fault is
indicated
at a time, and faults are not queued up. If multiple faults are active
simultane-
ously, the code of the highest priority fault is flashed. After all
faults have been
cleared, the code of the last active fault will continue to flash for
one minute.
This feature is designed to help service personnel identify intermittent
faults
when no programmer is available.
These same fault codes will also be flashed by the external fault LED
(connected to Pin 22), if one is included in the system.