It rained and now my cart won't move. Help.

[Victor B]

Okay. So my has been down for about three weeks now. Same problem. It rained again and it stopped working like it did before. After about a week of dry weather it still would not run. So I opened op the Throttle box and cleaned everything in there. Nope. When I press the accelerator pedal, I here a clicking in the control box, but nothing happens. I totally bypassed the control box and I still get nothing. The batteries are fully charged but nothing happens when I press the pedal except for the clicking in the control box.

It did go one time for about 50 feet after pressing the pedal five thousand times, but then stopped and has moved since. I go out every few days to see if the problem will resolve itself, but it is just dead.

I have no idea where to look next as I have never worked on these systems before.

Here is a video I just made demonstrating the problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh1JCOSjT60

[Sideways]

What brand controller do you have?
If it is an Alltrax you can download the appropriate manual and it will tell you what the number of red blinks mean and point you in the right direction of what's wrong.

[kernal]

I'm going to ask some questions that more knowledgeable people will want to know before trouble shooting. Disregard what the battery gage is saying for the time being.

What is the battery pack voltage? Using a DIGITAL multimeter measure the pack voltage by putting the probes on the main positive and main negative of the pack. If you aren't sure follow the white and black wires from the charging receptacle to where they land.

What model is the speed controller? The blue and white box is the speed controller and the colors imply it is an Alltrax. See if you can find some big red letters on it. Examples would be: AXE or DCX or NPX.

What are those things on the floor of the battery compartment in front of the blue and white controller? They shouldn't be there unless you or somebody modified the cart. The issue is this. From the video we can see the directional control is a switch on the dash. This normally indicates this is a PDS cart. Means sepex motor and controller. People will jump to this conclusion. But we need to explain what looks like 2 solenoids on the floor. Its possible someone changed the original directional control to reversing contactors and this is actually a "series" cart. It's important to clear this up because the troubleshooting is different depending on which it is.

The green light flashing 4 times indicates an ITS throttle and is normal for EZGO. The red light is an error code. See if you can determine the sequence. For example: 6 red flashes is under voltage.

Lastly make sure the go pedal is all the way up.

[JohnnieB]

Looks like a series drive with a reversing contactor setup, so it is a AXE or NPX.

Also looks like your are getting a one red blink error code, which is a "Throttle Position Sensor Over Range".

Check the voltage between the pins the black and white wires from the ITS sensor in the pedal box connect to.

When pedal is pushed just far enough to make solenoid click, you should have 10V and when pedal is on floor it should be 6V.

---------
The inline connector between the gray four wire cable coming out of the pedal box and the cart's wiring harness. You can get all sorts of ITS errors
when it gets wet or damp. Some people replace the MOLEX connector with individual butt-splices or solder joints cover with shrink tubing.

When damp, the battery pack voltage to the pedal switch can crosstalk with the ITS circuit and cause the error you have.

--------
Also, the ITS sensor might be the problem. The potting compound it is filled with shrinks with age, hairline cracks form and moisture can get inside, causing all sorts of problems with the electronic circuit inside the sensor. (Schematic attached)

[radioman]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

Looks like a series drive with a reversing contactor setup, so it is a AXE or NPX.

Also looks like your are getting a one red blink error code, which is a "Throttle Position Sensor Over Range".

Check the voltage between the pins the black and white wires from the ITS sensor in the pedal box connect to.

When pedal is pushed just far enough to make solenoid click, you should have 10V and when pedal is on floor it should be 6V.

---------
The inline connector between the gray four wire cable coming out of the pedal box and the cart's wiring harness. You can get all sorts of ITS errors
when it gets wet or damp. Some people replace the MOLEX connector with individual butt-splices or solder joints cover with shrink tubing.

When damp, the battery pack voltage to the pedal switch can crosstalk with the ITS circuit and cause the error you have.

--------
Also, the ITS sensor might be the problem. The potting compound it is filled with shrinks with age, hairline cracks form and moisture can get inside, causing all sorts of problems with the electronic circuit inside the sensor. (Schematic attached)

[Victor B]

Okay, so I got covered up and just had to leave my Trail Hog sit. Every now and then I would turn it on and see if it had magically fixed itself like before. But it had not. I mean, it would not even try to go.

During this time we went through some of the hottest (110 degrees) and driest weeks this summer, and I thought that if, moisture was the problem {because the problem occurs after it rains), then this dry weather should fix it. NOPE!

So, finally it rained again, and guess what. Yep! You guessed it. After two months of not working, it started working again. But one thing though, it only works at full throttle. It's all or nothing. There is no variable speed.

I have taken the ITS Sensor out and closely examined it for cracks and found none, but my best guess at this point is, it has to be the ITS. What do you guys thinks?

[JohnnieB]

What I'd do at this point is put the cart on jack stands, crawl under it, find the four pin in-line connector that connects the gray four wire cable from the pedal box to the cart's wiring harness, cut the connector off and either solder or butt-splice the four wires, waterproofing them with shrink tubing.

That ought to take care of the high throttle over range error, but in re-reading this thread, it sounds like the solenoid is not clicking when pedal is pushed, so you have two problems.

Your cart has a reversing contactor, so the voltage path to the main solenoid coil is probably from the reed switch (or reed switch bypass) to the keyswitch, to the pedal switch, to the solenoid coil. Trace the voltage path with your DVM to find the open.

[Dela]

This used to happen to me in my old cart - after I'd wash it, made me nutzzz

What type of controller is it - I don't see if you answered that

I had an Alltrax - and it turned out to be a small water puddle in a section of the controller which was open with two pins. The water would short out this section (it was an unused port) and the cart wouldn't run at all.

I caught it one day while searching for anything - put a paper towel in to sop up water and cart ran right off - no issue.

Do you store the cart outside? Start looking for 'puddles' that will cause a short or disconnect.

Hope it helps man - good luck

A non running cart makes us all cray cray

[Victor B]

JohnnieB. There is no 4 pin connector under this cart. It is just one straight wire from the Accelerator Micro Switches to the solenoid.

Dela: My controller looks like this.
.
.
.

[orangeman6]

Johnnieb will probably be back soon, but if the molex connector is not in play, I’d go back to his post #4 and test the voltages out of the its.