Golf Cart Forward/Reverse ProblemsA few days later I turned on the key and the light on the battery indicator didn't come on, even though the batteries were fully charged. I pushed the accelerator, and nothing happened. My first thought was that I had the cart in neutral, so I moved the Direction Selector Handle to "forward." The battery light didn't come on, pushing the pedal didn't do anything, so I moved it to "reverse" - still nothing. I moved it back and forth a few times, and miraculously the battery indicator suddenly showed a full charge, and put my foot on the pedal and I drove off. That happened again, and then again, and I realized there was a serious problem with the cart. Because moving the Direction Selector Handle back and force seemed to make it eventually work, I started exploring that. As it turns out, the handle rotates the Forward and Reverse Switch Direction Selector, and the contacts on that can overheat or simply wear out. Here's a video that shows the problems that can occur:
So what happens next? Well, I'm going to pull the Forward/Reverse Assembly and inspect it for the problems in the above video. Fortunately, I found another Youtube.com video that shows exactly how to do that:
A couple of comments about the above video. First of all, it's very well done. The fellow in it even gives the sizes for the wrenches that you need. Kudos to DIY Golf Carts for a great job. Having said that, the video shows the easy removal of the switch, but keep in mind that this is done on a cart without a body. The access shown in the video is very simple. If you're working on your own cart, like I was, you have to contort a little here and there to get the old part out and the new one in. I realize that they used a stripped-down cart so that the viewer could easily see the process, and good on them for that, but just be ready for a little more trouble getting yours out and then back in. One difference that I found was that in the video, the red & black wires to the reverse-buzzer simply unplug, but on my cart they are hard-wired into the buzzer, and are attached to screws on the switch. I'll have to wait until I get the new part in and see how it is wired, but that was the only difference (mine is shown below). Everything else was exactly as shown in the video.
Looking online for the part, Amazon had the heavy-duty version as cheap as anyone, and it had free, 2-day shipping with Prime:
Check back for the rest of the story, as soon as I know it!
Happy carting, |