'98 Club Car DS - No Drive

[smockers]

Hey guys, this has been a great forum and a huge resource since I bought my first golf cart back in December. I figured it was time I finally registered.

I have a 1998 Club Car DS 48V Regen II that recently took a dump on me. Here is a little history on the cart. I purchased it this past winter, previous owner bought it new. Garage kept. Fresh Napa batteries, all maintain charge ~50V. Two issues I noted when I bought the cart - one, the back alarm didn't work, and two, the cart made noise while under way.

The backup alarm has me baffled. The connections are all good, continuity is good, and the alarm works when electrified from another source. I'm not worried about it, just odd. Every so often it decides to work when I hit reverse. No rhyme or reason.

The noise underway appeared to be isolated to the electric motor when using a 'stethoscope' ie paper towel tube. I figured the controller might have been omitting interference through the motor basically turning it into a speaker. The best way I can describe the noise was like an high pitch 'eeee'. Not a mechanical whine or gear whine. New 4ga wires all around didn't change the noise at all. Again, not a showstopper, just odd.

Back in December I installed an Allsports 6" long travel suspension, front brush guard, and winch. Mod installations didn't affect anything electrical. Winch is on it's own separate circuit with a small 12v battery.

About a month ago I pulled the cart out of the garage, drove it around, parked it in the driveway, and when I went to put it away it had no drive. Batteries were all fully charged/maintained. Found the A2 lead on the motor was charred black and the A2 wire had burnt off at the lead.

Prior to jumping on the new-parts bandwagon I started doing some diagnostics to see what had failed. Here is the checklist:

Batteries: all check out good, hold charge, ~50v for the bank
Wiring: cart has the original harness, but all major wires for battery circuitry are new
Main Solenoid: Passes solenoid checks. 48v across the small posts when pedal is activated with key on in fwd. Had a spare solenoid and swapped for the hell of it, no difference.
Jumping main solenoid: produces spark but no drive.
Voltage checks with A2 wire disconnected at motor:
-Key on, accelerator activated, FNR fwd, B+ to M- test points: ~27v with 0.5V change as accelerator is depressed.
Motor: Old motor still runs when an aux power source is applied. Tried a known good spare motor as well to rule it out, no response.
Pedal Potentiometer: resistance correctly changes through pedal stroke.

Any other thoughts of things to check before biting the bullet on a new controller?

Thanks!

[TahoeDawgZ71]

I'd say there's an excellent chance you need to replace the controller. You're on the right track.