2002 E-Z-GO PDS Sparked During Cable Upgrade

gornoman

gornoman

Well-Known Member
I was helping a friend re-cable his 2002 E-Z-GO PDS golf cart and it sparked during the cable upgrade. I warned him about sparks. We had the cart in "TOW" and a mid-pack battery cable removed. I was making the new cables, one at a time while he cleaned the terminals. He would install the new one and hand me the next old one to copy. He finished all the battery-top cables and was disconnecting a cable from the stock Curtis controller when the cable slipped and fell back at the controller. He had inadvertantly installed ALL of the new battery cables, and this allowed full pack voltage to throw a 1.5" spark at the controller. I was worried when I saw it.

We finished the rest of the cables, and the cart is dead in the water. Lights work, reverse buzzer sounds, no forward or reverse. Cannot read any voltage on the small posts of the solenoid under any conditions. Solenoid does not engage at all. We tried jumping the Reed switch, no luck (I expected this). I was gonna tear up the floormat and check the ITS micro, but he ran out of time and had to leave for a wedding.

Under these circumstances, if it's not the ITS micro, I suspect a blown controller. Any other ideas? BTW, cart is 100 miles away at the campground.
 
gornoman

gornoman

Well-Known Member
Because I have a good reverse buzzer and no voltage on the solenoid primary, I will order an ITS Microswitch. If that's not it, I will hold the micro in my parts box and order him an Alltrax.

Thanx HRC. I will update this in a week when I know more.
 
gornoman

gornoman

Well-Known Member
Well, the patient is well and out of the clinic. Total cost: $13, and the microswitch was NOT the problem. However, the problem turned out to be IN the ITS micro circuit:

The cart owner reinstalled the controller dust cover. He got the top bolts in, no problem. Got the bottom right bolt in also. The bottom left bolt was difficult to thread up, so he put some pressure on it. The problem stemmed from the fact that the J-4 control cable was BEHIND the bolt hole in the cover. Yes, he ended up running the 4th bolt right through the J-4 control cable. It severed the green wire and tore up 2 other wires.

The green wire comes from the ITS micro. Cutting that wire will disable the cart just like a bad micro will. I cut those 3 control wires and spliced them back together and the cart is fine.

I couldn't do this if I tried a thousand times. He worked on his own cart ONCE, and did it!
 
HotRodCarts

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
You know how the PDS carts are with sparks, shorts, etc, lucky that was all it needed.. Thanks for the follow up.
 
gornoman

gornoman

Well-Known Member
No kidding, HRC! I was sure he toasted it, but I like (and Gary likes!) this discovery and solution.
 
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