Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Golf Cart Question

Has anyone ever worked on golf carts? I have a 1996 Club Car 48 volt electric golf cart and it Has an intermittent "cut out/jerk" when you push the pedal. You can be driving along then it's just like you let up on the gas pedal then floored it again. I checked the batteries and they test out good on the volt meter so that's not the problem. I pulled the speed sensor and cleaned it which didn't help either. I suspect it could be the mcor but thats a LOT of money just to replace it and hope it fixes it. Is there any way I can test it to see if its working or anyone have any other ideas ?

Sounds like you have a short or worn brush in the motor. The armature and main windings are series though the brushes. If a brush loses contact it is like disconnecting the power cable. It does this while bouncing around as you drive. Disconnect batteries, remove band around brushes look at brush holder to see if brushes are below brush holder. Probably have to remove motor to replace the brushes. No big deal, just mark all four wires before you remove them. Word of advice, jack up cart, at least one rear wheel and block it up before working on it. Bad when they take off when hooking wires back up. Brushes are cheap, can't go wrong replacing them if you are not sure about them. If armature has a nice chocolate color to copper bars leave it alone. If it has signs of pitting from arcing because of short brush, polish lightly with emery cloth. Don't polish copper bars below insulator segments between bars, this will cause brush jump and more arcing. Than you will have to cut insulator down with modified hacksaw blade to about 3/32" below copper. Most cart motors have four brushes. Replace all four if you replace any. Usually four bolts to remove motor. Good luck, you got this.

Google is your friend, probably just a solenoid, or key switch. My brother is our Club Car mechanic, we call him short circuit, he can fix anything when it comes to wiring. The good news is, we have 5 Club Cars and haven't had a motor go out on any of them, and the three 48 volt models have never needed a computer. This is good stuff for golf carts.

Speed controllers are a common issue.
Anything from a loose wire to a bad speed controller or related solenoid would be first thing I'd check.

Probably some good youtube videos on speed controller issues

Not a whole lot out there on it as the info is all over the place with the basic approach of replacing parts and hope it fixes it.

The speed controller is part of the mcor which runs almost $400 not to mention it's built through the frame so obviously I want to be sure thats it before I go down that road. I haven't found a bad wire and the selinoid is clicking like it should, not saying it still couldn't be bad.......

Wife's 48v Club Car was doing the same thing.

Put a $1000 worth of Trojan batteries in it, and it stopped. Runs fine now.

You could load test each battery seperately to make sure it is not a battery loosing connection

Need to load test, if you do not pull a load they could test just fine on a voltmeter

Did that and they tested good

Is this the proper wiring schematic for your car

https://ww2-secure.justanswer.com/u..._95_95-5_club_car_48v_wiring_diagram.jpg

Mcor's can be fussy and hard to diagnose. When we had a club car fleet we had a spare mcor to install for such situations.

I like to find cheap things wrong, I'm looking at those three micro switches in the circuit.

Being there with a meter would be a lot easier.

Thank you! That sure looks like it so I shouldn't have an issue with figuring out which wire is which.

I'd look closely at the three limit switches that appear to be mounted on the back of your forward/reverse switch for a loose mounting screw or loose wire.

Not really sure of their function, I don't work on carts, but everytime you move that switch they are involved. Something on that switch trips them mechanically and anything that moves often can get loose pretty easily.

Chasing the wire shows they are involved with both your controller and solenoid.

They are calling them limit switches because of their function in this application. They are more commonly referred to as micro switches and they are easy to find and cheap to replace.
They can be fragile and become damaged, they're also susceptible to moisture.

Intermittent problems can be a bitch to locate.
Best of luck.

Yep, all of the micro switches are a timing thing. IE they have to be either on or off in a sequence for the whole thing to work right. Could be loose, worn out or bad wire. If I had to Guess it is the MCOR. Batteries have to be tested under load to see if they are any good. Volt meter at at least 13.8v with a charge, but no guaranty they would handle a load.

Idunno squat about golf carts. I'm just guessin'.

I do know it often takes a 99 cent part to make a 500 dollar fix work.

Do yourself a favor and check for a short or sticking motor brush before you spend much time chasing wires, micro switches and such. Easy to do. Especially if many hours on unit. Brush technology hasn't changed for 100 years. They just wear out and sometimes the carbon dust makes the spring adjuster stick and not allow proper brush to armature contact. I've changed dozens for just this reason. Again good luck with your endeavor and keep us posted what you find.