Intermittent Go/No Go Problem

[MauiHoss]

Originally Posted by handtools

Ugh. That's next. Clearly it's were the signal to the solenoid comes from. I sure hope I haven't trashed my Alltrax!

[EZHO]

I didn't save what cart this is exactly for , or really even seen exactly what your car is ...but that hasn't stopped me yet .............,Newbie

MauiHoss :...Is it possible to test the yellow/blue wires for signal by removing them from the solenoid, attaching them to the DVM set to volts and depressing the pedal?

Copyed from another post : ...Remove environmental cover from to access solenoid and controller.
With Run/Tow in Run, Keyswitch on and either F or R selected on F/R switch, you should have battery pack voltage (38.2V when fully charged) on the yellow wire and on the blue wire. (Yellow wire is voltage source and the voltage on the blue wire is via an intact coil)
When you press the pedal, the voltage on the blue wire ought to drop to Zero and the solenoid ought to click.
Everything is stock. Brand new batteries. The Pedal Box was replaced but I used the same ITS and Switch inside. Somehow the ITS pegs were broke off to hold it secure.
No solenoid click.
I have full voltage on yellow wire I have 2 volts less on Blue. Voltage doesn’t change when I push on pedal
On the PDS the blue wire will be (+) until the pedal is depressed. Then it will change to (-) and complete the solenoid activation circuit. IF it is not changing from (+) to (-) then the controller has failed. A work around may be to run a new (-) solenoid wire. Disconnect the old one and run a new 16g wire from the solenoid to the battery main negative.
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but due to the fact that it is "intermittent Problem " scottybs (bad pin) on controller seems like a good guess to me
cart bouncing around would cause that.
and, Since you have replaced a lot of the usual suspect parts already

MauiHoss:...I would jiggle the adapter harness wiring or disconnect and reconnect the three plugs on the harness. Sometimes this worked but usually only after several tries
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scotyb:...Do not overlook the Ezgo wire harness main controller connector itself. I have seen a bad pin cause erratic behavior.

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if it is a loose type external pin connection problem, then maybe loading the harness with a zip tie / small bungee / light spring to load a loose pin holding it up' ,down' , side to side,' might tell you if that could be it . .easy test without having to swap out controller . .but if its a internal loose connection inside the controller it wont make a difference . .so ya swap out controller test as mentioned.
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adding the sw180 sol page 7 / if you haven't seen this yet
. http://www.alltraxinc.com/files/Doc1...ns-Learned.pdf
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and scottybs page , shurly you seen this , but just in case ..
http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...-solenoid.html
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http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...e-testing.html
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http://www.cartsunlimited.net/troubleshooting-tips.html
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http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...agnostics.html
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just throwing everything i've saved so far at ya ,

[EZHO]

Again / really haven't even seen exactly what your car is ...but that hasn't stopped me yet .............,Newbie
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So why stop now right' I stumbled across this this morning .
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This throttle noise is found to affect any motor
controller causing’s weird throttle responses,
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http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/gener...e-problem.html

[MauiHoss]

It's been a couple days and lots of rain since making getting any work done on the cart difficult.

Since cleaning all the wiring contacts on the old solenoid, the cart actually does work better. It did have a couple of times where the motor was trying but very slow movement. Both times, it cleared quickly and the cart was running well otherwise.

The new solenoid (SW180) arrived the other day (thanks ScottyB) and as soon as the rain stopped I got it installed. Also installed new resistor and diode since they are fairly cheap. Again, the cart seemed to be running very well but I've only had it installed for 12 hours.

This morning, I took a quick spin. On the way back it suddenly lost power and stopped. Let up the pedal and try again -- WHOA -- the cart went in reverse while the F/R switch was still in forward. OK, try again -- still reversing. Flip switch to reverse and it goes in reverse. Switch back to forward and it's going forward again. Very strange!

The cart is all torn apart right now because I'm rebuilding the cargo bed. So the roof is off at the moment and the cart normally lives in the elements. I'm thinking the F/R switch got a good soaking and was fine until water sloshed around inside the switch. This is not a problem that's ever happened before.

I'll keep running the cart to see if things are more stable and report back. For the moment, it seems that cleaning the wiring contacts on the solenoid was at least one of the problems.

I should have said in my first post that this is an 2002 EZ-GO PDS with Alltrax DCX 400 controller, stock motor and now a new SW180 solenoid, pedal harness, pedal micro switch, ITS.

[MauiHoss]

Since my last post, I've replaced the FNR switch and motor brushes.

Changing out the FNR switch seems to have helped somewhat. As JohnnieB said in post #3 there may be "multiple problems".

A week later, the brushes arrived and I had an opportunity to install them in the motor. They took a little while to bed in. Now that they have, the problem is still present. I'm occasionally getting the stuttering but not as often as before. More often it will either go very slowly or not at all.

When the cart has no reaction to throttle input, I have a few times jumped off the cart and checked the Alltrax controller for possible red lights. To my surprise, I'm seeing two red flashes on the LED. This indicates a low temperature condition which is crazy considering I live in Hawaii at 300' elevation where temps are rarely below 70 degrees.

I decided to reinstall the old controller as someone had suggested several posts back. This seems to be working just fine so far. I should have tried this several months ago but I just didn't want to believe that the Alltrax had failed. When I saw the double red flashing LED I should have known it wasn't working correctly. I guess it's now just an expensive paperweight.

I appreciate all the help and input from all you folks here. It makes such a difference to know that there's a community of knowledgeable people willing to think through a problem with you.

I've attached a couple pictures of the new rear deck I built and installed. She's ready to get back to work on the farm. In retrospect, the stock controller is fast enough for the way we use this cart. Driving at speed is fun on the road but it's too bumpy out in the orchard to go very fast.

Again, thank you all!