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Golf Cart Help
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:03 pm
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:03 pm
My mom has a non-running 2000 year model Club Car DS 36V golf cart in my dad's shop that she would like to be able to use. It has been shop kept since at least 2005 when they bought it, so it is still in very nice cosmetic condition. She has a 5 acre yard with a garden, chicken coop, flower beds EVERYWHERE, lol, and it definitely would come in handy for her at her age. She told me it quit working 5-6 years ago and my dad put new batteries in it, but it still wouldn't work. Those batteries are still in it, but are corroded and useless at this point. My dad died suddenly 2 years ago, so I can't ask him what else he may have tried.
I would like to try to get it running for her, but electrical stuff is definitely not my wheelhouse. If I decide to tackle it, I think I would like to convert it to a lithium battery. Obviously, there is something else wrong other than just dead batteries. Does anybody have any advice on other stuff that could be wrong with it? In watching youtube videos, it seems like the major components are the batteries, solenoid, controller, charger, and motor. If I understand correctly, you bypass the controller and original charger with a lithium upgrade, so that basically just leaves the solenoid, motor, and maybe a fuse?
I really want to try to fix it myself instead of taking it to a shop. I would appreciate any advice on actually doing the work as well as recommendations for a lithium battery kit. Probably not the $2,000-$3,000 ones though. She doesn't need excessive speed or super long battery life. She is just going to be hauling chicken feed and bags of soil and fertilizer since she refuses to wait until I am off work to do it for her.
I would like to try to get it running for her, but electrical stuff is definitely not my wheelhouse. If I decide to tackle it, I think I would like to convert it to a lithium battery. Obviously, there is something else wrong other than just dead batteries. Does anybody have any advice on other stuff that could be wrong with it? In watching youtube videos, it seems like the major components are the batteries, solenoid, controller, charger, and motor. If I understand correctly, you bypass the controller and original charger with a lithium upgrade, so that basically just leaves the solenoid, motor, and maybe a fuse?
I really want to try to fix it myself instead of taking it to a shop. I would appreciate any advice on actually doing the work as well as recommendations for a lithium battery kit. Probably not the $2,000-$3,000 ones though. She doesn't need excessive speed or super long battery life. She is just going to be hauling chicken feed and bags of soil and fertilizer since she refuses to wait until I am off work to do it for her.
9
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:11 pm to alduckhunter
Call the local country club and tell them everything you wrote above, they will probably offer some credible (and free) advice.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:36 pm to alduckhunter
You can't bypass the controller, by just replacing the batteries with lithium if it doesn't work now it won't work with the new batteries (unless it's a battery problem). You can probably count on $200-350 for a 12v 100ah lith battery and you'll need 3 for 36v. By the time you pay someone for diagnosis and then buy the part you very well could have $2-3K in it.
This post was edited on 5/28/25 at 7:42 pm
Posted on 5/28/25 at 11:16 pm to alduckhunter
We bought a similar age 36-volt EZGO cart years ago and gave it to my wife’s parents to get around their rural property. Just got it back two years ago when they sold and moved into town. It was dead and my father in law was not really able to help with the “recent” history. Fortunately, a new set of batteries and cleaning the forward-reverse switch got ours running. I did find two decent online forums with some helpful older posts and active experienced people.
Cartoholics Golf Cart Forum
and
Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum
Both of these have sub-forums for Club Car Electric with a bunch of posts to look through and if those don’t help you can tap into the regular posters. But, where you are today it may not be possible to get past trouble shooting step one which is to verify 36 volts from the battery pack. There seems to be a lot of lithium conversions going on, so maybe you could find an older but still functional set of batteries somewhere to start the process.
Cartoholics Golf Cart Forum
and
Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum
Both of these have sub-forums for Club Car Electric with a bunch of posts to look through and if those don’t help you can tap into the regular posters. But, where you are today it may not be possible to get past trouble shooting step one which is to verify 36 volts from the battery pack. There seems to be a lot of lithium conversions going on, so maybe you could find an older but still functional set of batteries somewhere to start the process.
Posted on 5/29/25 at 6:57 am to alduckhunter
battery, 700 after tax: Amazon
definitely look at some videos of people troubleshooting carts, just to get familiar.
Club Car DS
definitely look at some videos of people troubleshooting carts, just to get familiar.
Club Car DS
This post was edited on 5/29/25 at 6:58 am
Posted on 5/29/25 at 8:04 am to alduckhunter
quote:
If I understand correctly, you bypass the controller and original charger with a lithium upgrade, so that basically just leaves the solenoid, motor, and maybe a fuse?
Not trying to be rude, but by this comment alone you should bring it to a local shop and have them fix it.
It could be a lot of things. I've had a little microswitch go out and cause me to almost rip the entire cart apart trying to find the issue. Lithium is a nice upgrade, but keep in mind those packs are A LOT lighter than traditional batteries which will change the center of gravity of the cart. It makes them a lot easier to flip over.
If it were me I would put regular batteries in it, get a voltmeter, and start tracking where you lose the voltage. It's going to be a super headache or super easy fix. As said earlier buggies gone wild is a phenomenal forum for cart repair.
Posted on 5/29/25 at 8:26 am to jdavid1
quote:
It's going to be a super headache or super easy fix.
This.
Good advice is already given. I’ll add to check the fwd/rev switch and test the solenoid. Good chance the solenoid is out from it sitting.
You can get lead acid US1800 batteries for ballpark $600 if you don’t want to spend a lot. Should be all she needs for around the house.
Posted on 5/29/25 at 10:32 am to Cypressknee
Just go to Sams and get 3 Duracell 12 volt golf cart batteries.
If the existing batteries are fairly new, the charger won’t recognize if under 10 volts or so. You can find a good battery and hook to the charger, then run jumper cables from good battery to a bad one. Let charge for a while to see if it starts charging. Sometimes I can get older batteries to charge up by doing this, could save you some money.
If the existing batteries are fairly new, the charger won’t recognize if under 10 volts or so. You can find a good battery and hook to the charger, then run jumper cables from good battery to a bad one. Let charge for a while to see if it starts charging. Sometimes I can get older batteries to charge up by doing this, could save you some money.
Posted on 5/29/25 at 11:39 am to Cypressknee
quote:
This.
Good advice is already given. I’ll add to check the fwd/rev switch and test the solenoid. Good chance the solenoid is out from it sitting.
You can get lead acid US1800 batteries for ballpark $600 if you don’t want to spend a lot. Should be all she needs for around the house.
I had an ignition switch that corroded out at the connectors once. Like mentioned above the solenoid is a good place to start also. Good Luck!
Posted on 5/29/25 at 3:52 pm to alduckhunter
I appreciate all the input and advice. Had a busy day at work, so hadn't had a chance to check back in until now.
Since I will have to get new batteries regardless, I think I will do that first and just start testing and tinkering. If I get in too far over my head, I will load it on a trailer and take it to a repair shop.
Since I will have to get new batteries regardless, I think I will do that first and just start testing and tinkering. If I get in too far over my head, I will load it on a trailer and take it to a repair shop.
Posted on 5/29/25 at 9:08 pm to alduckhunter
Try solenoid first. Most likely reason it stopped. Charge the batteries one at time with regular car charger to see if they will get a little juice to see if it will try to move if so buy new batteries and should be good to go
Posted on 5/29/25 at 10:01 pm to alduckhunter
Golf carts modified Facebook group has may more activity than the BGW forum these days. Batteries are probably toast sitting that long. Go on the FB group and search and make a post to see what things to test. Might find someone around you to help.
Posted on 5/30/25 at 4:42 pm to alduckhunter
I wanted to do an update with the resolution... I got the cart running this afternoon. I found a broken wire that went to the forward/reverse switch, along with several other wires with corroded connections. Fixed all that.
I had to use 4 different sockets to take off the nuts holding the battery cables to the batteries. I can 100% tell you that the previous owner did that. My dad wouldn't have used different size nuts in a million years! I put new battery cables on it and now it also has identical nuts on every cable.
We will see if the tires are still holding air tomorrow morning. Other than that, my mom is a happy woman. The shop "quoted" me a price of at least $1,250 and maybe $2,500 or more. For $780 and a few hours of quality time spent with my 20 year old son, I think it was well worth the trouble.
Thanks again for all the input and advice!
I had to use 4 different sockets to take off the nuts holding the battery cables to the batteries. I can 100% tell you that the previous owner did that. My dad wouldn't have used different size nuts in a million years! I put new battery cables on it and now it also has identical nuts on every cable.
We will see if the tires are still holding air tomorrow morning. Other than that, my mom is a happy woman. The shop "quoted" me a price of at least $1,250 and maybe $2,500 or more. For $780 and a few hours of quality time spent with my 20 year old son, I think it was well worth the trouble.
Thanks again for all the input and advice!
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