Tap water in batteries.

[Pickajoe]

Hello, my friend and I are having some problems with our golf cart, we are both new to them so we have made some mistakes. First the problem, the golf cart is not going as fast as it once was, and when you ride it for a while it will just stop working all together. We have to push it back to his house many times.
We have tried cleaning the battery connections, checking the connections and filled the battery water. Although cleaning the battery connections helped gain some speed back, it still will stop working forcing us to push it back to his house. So I found this site and started reading some posts and found out that you have to have distilled water for the batteries. Well a few weeks ago when the batteries were low I remember my friend using tap water to fill them up. So my question is, How can I get the tap water out and effectively switch it with distilled water? Would tap water cause the cart to completely stop working?

[gornoman]

You cannot remove the tap water now. What's done is done. It doesn't kill the batteries, it just shortens their lifespan.

How old are the batteries, and who makes them?
What year of cart is it?
Which drive system?
What make of charger are you using?

Quick diagnosis says your batteries are shot, but lets get some voltage readings on each, as well as the entire bank.

[roady89]

Yep....first impression says the batteries are shot. If tap water has been used in them since new then they more than likely are. Are the batteries bulging from the sides?

[RaginEagle]

This looks like a good place to ask. Does the desulfator really work,,,or is it just a way to part me from my hard to get cash???

[Pickajoe]

The cart is at my friends house so I might be a few days before I can answer the questions you have asked, but I will try to get the answers as soon as possible. I do know that the cart is a 2001, and it used to belong to a golf course so, I'm guessing they took good care of it when they had it.
Thanks for the quick responses.