The Classic "my cart wont go"

[GCash]

First off thank you for all the help so far, ive been lurking around for awhile whenever theres been an issue with my cart but now im stumped. Drove the cart around, put it away, put the charger on it, came back a week or so later, unplugged it and jumped in to leave, pushed the pedal, and nothing! no click, no forward, no reverse.

So ive got a 05 TXT, 36v, i believe its a pds (?) controller. its got the little f/r switch on the dash.

I got out volt meter and started checking stuff, doing searches on here, etc.
the battery pack charges fine, its currently sitting at 38.2, individually all the batteries read at 6.35-6.4, one is at 6.2 which is kind of concerning but i dont think would effect the cart not to move

visually all the connections are good at tight, i check the back of the f/r switch and they had a little corrosion so i replaced the female connectors for good measure

so i started testing at the reed switch, ive got 38.2 at the little male/female connector of the little white wire

then moved to the solenoid ive got no clicking out of it. battery side of the big lug, is 38.2, 37.7 on the other side, doesn't matter if the key and is on or off with the f/r switch in f or r, reads the same, when i put the pos and neg probes of the meter on the 2 small terminals, i get noting with the key off and 0.2v with the key on. i read a couple different things about the solenoids so i wasn't exactly sure if that was enough to rule as bad or not.

so i went and tested the pedal controller, i think i have a pds, spex, xct controller? im not 100% thats where i started to get confused. i went off the cartsunlimited site, and tested voltage from b-, and the + probe went into the white wire of the 4 prong plug into the carts controller, i got 14.6 at idle, and 13.93 when the pedal as floored. which is high according to the cartsunlimited site if i followed it correctly.

ive got 38.2v at the middle wire of the f/r switch, 38.2 out of the forward and reverse side as well. ive got 38.2 at the key then the switch is in forward or reverse.

ive owned this cart for a little over a year, the back up alarm has always worked when it wants too, not sure if that ties into anything to help with diagnosis. Sorry for the book, thanks in advanced for the help

[nickdalzell1]

I hope the least you did before probing the electrics was placing the 'run/tow' switch to TOW first!

If it's not doing jack, then i'm guessing possible reed switch failure, or the microswitch under the floor mat where the pedal linkage sits.

[GCash]

the run/tow switch was a question i had, i never saw anything about it in any of the testing "how to's" so i tried it both ways, sometimes you dont get any readings when its in tow mode.

i did just pull the cover under the floor, and the little micro switch has a little silver arm off the side of it, and theres a zip tip holding it up against the plastic sheild of the connector of the green wire, ive got a feeling thats not factory...

[nickdalzell1]

Tow/Maintenance is the mode you want to be in when you're doing any kind of service work or pushing the car if it stops running. otherwise you might fry the controller (or motor as well)

[Russ/TN]

If it is a PDS it should have a "diagnostic mode", a combination of clicks from reverse to neutral. The code is on the bottom of the label of the controller.
It might tell you what is wrong.
Good luck!

[GCash]

Thanks, i didn’t know about diagnostic mode on this cart, looked into it and ezgo says 5 clicks back and forth but my beeper hasn’t been working so it’s not able to tell me any codes

[meimk]

Originally Posted by GCash

i did just pull the cover under the floor, and the little micro switch has a little silver arm off the side of it, and theres a zip tip holding it up against the plastic sheild of the connector of the green wire, ive got a feeling thats not factory...

That micro switch is supposed to work off the ITS: as the throttle gets pushed it moves that silver arm and engages the switch. If it was zip tied previously someone figured it had a problem and tried to keep it engaged all the time. I'm guessing you usually hear the solenoid click when you turn the key instead of when you step on the pedal? Check to see if you have continuity through that micro switch. That's part of the power path to the small terminals on the solenoid. Nothing else can really happen unless / until the solenoid gets switched on.

[JohnnieB]

Sounds like you have a PDS cart, but not sure if you have a stock PDS controller or a XCT aftermarket controller. The ITS voltage and test procedure depends on which of those two controllers you have. Also, the XCT has a different diagnostic mode than the stock PDS controller.

Attachment-1 is a stock PDS controller (Curtis 1206MX)
Attchment-2 is an Alltrax XCT. (With fan installed)

Which do you have?

[GCash]

mine looks like the stock one (curtis). i cut the zip tie on the microswitch, and the silver arm pretty much fell off, so went down the golf cart shop and pick up a new one, put it in, the rod/plunger is clicking it in and out, but still nothing out of the cart

[JohnnieB]

With a stock PDS controller, you have to have 36V (38.2V when charged) on all the wire highlighted in red to get the solenoid to click.