cart won't start...............

[wally01]

1994 Club Car DS stock won't start when I press on the pedel. It ran fine in the morning on last Sunday then wouldn't go in the evening. I checked battery and it's up to snuff, put on trickle anyway. Cart is at cottage so I've been trying to trouble shoot from cpu at home and am finally able to head back up tonight. I now have a wiring diagram which will help with trouble shooting. I am an HVAC tech so I have an understanding.................
Found the following;
- Have power to key switch
- Solenoid does sound like its doing its thing but didn't have tools last weekend to test
- I have lights that are on a switch in dash that activates a relay. When I turn lights on relay chatters like crazy. The lights have been on that switch for two years, no prob before.
- Have a stereo also on a switch that at low volume sounds bad now (some distortion) and as I raise volume quality degrades rapidly. If I step on gas pedel, sound goes away.
- When I step on pedel solenoid at times clunks and other times also chatters.
- Have not tried jumping across solenoid will do tonight.
Could I have a weak battery that shows 12v but amps fall off as soon as a load is placed on it. High voltage will do that but I'm not so well versed in 12v DC.
Any help will be appreciated. I'm heading to lake now and will be able to check back with my phone.
Thanks,
Wally

[crash12888]

Originally Posted by wally01

1994 Club Car DS stock won't start when I press on the pedel. It ran fine in the morning on last Sunday then wouldn't go in the evening. I checked battery and it's up to snuff, put on trickle anyway. Cart is at cottage so I've been trying to trouble shoot from cpu at home and am finally able to head back up tonight. I now have a wiring diagram which will help with trouble shooting. I am an HVAC tech so I have an understanding.................
Found the following;
- Have power to key switch
- Solenoid does sound like its doing its thing but didn't have tools last weekend to test
- I have lights that are on a switch in dash that activates a relay. When I turn lights on relay chatters like crazy. The lights have been on that switch for two years, no prob before.
- Have a stereo also on a switch that at low volume sounds bad now (some distortion) and as I raise volume quality degrades rapidly. If I step on gas pedel, sound goes away.
- When I step on pedel solenoid at times clunks and other times also chatters.
- Have not tried jumping across solenoid will do tonight.
Could I have a weak battery that shows 12v but amps fall off as soon as a load is placed on it. High voltage will do that but I'm not so well versed in 12v DC.
Any help will be appreciated. I'm heading to lake now and will be able to check back with my phone.
Thanks,
Wally

The starting system consists of two circuits.
The low amp circuit: feeds 12v low amp draw via pedal switch, micros to the two small posts on the solenoid to activate it and energize the high amp circuit.
The high amp circuit is the cables that feed big amps to the starter through the top half of the solenoid.

The statement in red tells me the low amp circuit is working or trying to work properly.
You have an issue with the high amp or start circuit.
Bad battery, bad cable connection positive side or bad ground cable.
To check ground cable or connections, Use 1/2 of a set of jumper cables and jumper from battery neg to starter housing and try it. If it works you have a bad ground.
If not it is the pos side.

[wally01]

Awesome. I'll hav e at it in am. Right now we're chillin on deck watchin time roll by. Been a rough week. Got 40 in already and I only worked 3 days this week. The life of an hvca guy. Either no work or balls to the wall.

[shadowman]

i have to agree what your posting sure sounds like a battery not doing its thing...........take a charger or another battery with you you might find your battery isn,t charging and if thats the case.....i can,t tell you how many voltage regulators i have replaced on 94,s they seem to eat them........................

[wally01]

The battery never was dead. I put on charger and the lowest it showed was 75% full. The cart has run flawlessly untill the other night. We ran it all day then rain started. I put it in the shed and after the rain went to get it out it wouldn't go. No solenoid clunk no lights no stereo. I messed with it a little, checked bat terms ect, then got some clunk out of solenoid and the light relay thin and poor stereo performance. Did take bat home to put on my super duper charger just in case and will mes with this am. Could I have a bat that shows 12 v but as soon as load put on amps drop off cause its really a bad bat. I did notice that when reading volts I had 12v at rest but when I pushed pedel and clunked solenoid that the volts dropped to 9v then when I let off volts went back to 12v. Normal?

[crash12888]

Originally Posted by wally01

The battery never was dead. I put on charger and the lowest it showed was 75% full. The cart has run flawlessly untill the other night. We ran it all day then rain started. I put it in the shed and after the rain went to get it out it wouldn't go. No solenoid clunk no lights no stereo. I messed with it a little, checked bat terms ect, then got some clunk out of solenoid and the light relay thin and poor stereo performance. Did take bat home to put on my super duper charger just in case and will mes with this am. Could I have a bat that shows 12 v but as soon as load put on amps drop off cause its really a bad bat. I did notice that when reading volts I had 12v at rest but when I pushed pedel and clunked solenoid that the volts dropped to 9v then when I let off volts went back to 12v. Normal?

Nope, not normal, I would have it load tested to be sure but it sounds like internal plates shorted.

[wally01]

You nailed it right off. Took bat in and had it load tested, bad cell. Stupid battery tester didn't show shorted cell, showed 100% charge. Anyway I learned a little something about DC battery current and have pretty much memorized the wiring diagram for my cart. Why is it that sometimes the most oblious problem is the hardest to accept. Oh well many thanks for your help and patience. If you ever get an HVAC prob feel free to contact me, I think my email is in my profile.

[crash12888]

Big differences when reading volts and measuring amps,
your meter will show 12volts when you have two of the square lantern batteries wired together but try to start a car with them, It's also about amps, storing them and then moving them.
Glad you got it worked out and yes, the simple things will cause just as much hair loss!

[shadowman]

sure did sound like the battery......funny how they read good with a meter and arn,t good.........just yesterday i fellow at camp said cart won,t start and he decribed what was going on......i told him the battery he said no battery is fine its the starter and he pulled the starter and spent 2 hours messing with it...........in the end guess what it was the battery.........happens all the time..................