Hot Starting Issue with a Club Car Precedent

Bigal11

Member
I have a 2008 Club Car Precedent Gas. It has a problem that has been coming and going since early last summer. It starts and runs great most of the time but after it is driven for a longer distance ( say around a mile or so) it will not start back when you stop. No click, no turn over, nothing. Just like the entire system is dead. After a couple minutes it starts and runs great again. It has never stopped while running just will not start back. It happens in warmer weather it seems but it gets driven very little if any between November and March. My wife had it happen last week when temp was in the low 60's but last year it happened mainly at 80 and above. In the fall last year when temps were lower it never happened.

I've put a new battery and 2 solenoids on it thinking this may help but didn't. This is the 3rd summer for the starter also.

Could it be an electronic part over heating? (starter, switch, etc.)
 

whiteGIANT510

Active Member
Make sure the battery is connected tight this happened to my gfs truck it was running fine but I forgot something in the house so I killed the engine cuz I needed my key came back and tried to start it . No power šŸ˜• touched the battery cable and power came back the bolt in the side post battery wasn't long enough and whoever installed the battery stripped the first thread which was the only one the bolt reached. Replaced it with a longer one and haven't had a problem. My gf didn't mention that she was stuck twice because of the same problem and suddenly started after about 10 minutes. So when it happened to me I thought it was the first time
 

Bigal11

Member
Thanks for the response whiteGIANT510. I've had the battery off a couple times since this all started and just replaced it in early March. I wish it was this simple of a fix, and it still may be. Thing is we don't touch anything. We wait a couple minutes and it takes off again. If it was a loose connection I would think we would have to move something for it to reconnect.
 

whiteGIANT510

Active Member
Well that's what happened to my gf that she didn't tell me about until it happened yo me. She just waited a few minutes and tried again.
 

Rstaley

Cartaholic
It sounds like the solenoid is not energizing when you have the problem. You should be able to hear it go ā€œclunkā€ when you try to start it. It takes 3 things to energize the solenoid. First, the key switch provides B+ to one side of the solenoid, but the other side has to be grounded, and that takes a combination of the accelerator switch being activated (in the pedal box) and the shifter microswitch being activated (attached to the back of the shifter linkage). Here is a schematic that I use that might shed some light on it.
club-car-gas-wiring-diagram-png.9484
 

Bigal11

Member
Thanks for the info. The duration of the problem causes an issue when trying to test for the issue at each point. I've also changed out the switches on the shifter to see if that was my problem. Didn't help. I'm leaning toward the pedal box switches, that is about the only thing that hasn't been changed since this started.

Do I have to change out the entire box or can I just replace the switches? Can someone give me the ordering information?
 

Bigal11

Member
OK thanks. Just curious though. How could these be affected by heat if this is the issue? At least it seems this whole problem is heat related.
 

Rstaley

Cartaholic
I think where I would start, is just by putting a meter from B- (negative post of the battery and looking at the solenoidā€™s coil side. While it is working, you will see B+ on one side. It is provided, per the schematic, from the key switch. On the other side of the coil (weā€™re talking the smaller terminals on the solenoid here) you will see B- (same as the negative post of the battery, 0 volts). Then when it acts up, see what changed. If the B+ is gone, both terminals will read 0 volts. That would indicate an intermittent key switch, which can be a very common problem. If both terminals read B+, then you have lost the ground path through the accelerator switch and the F/R microswitch. Sometimes it isnā€™t even the switch that is bad, but the connection to it, so move the wires around a bit and see if anything changes. Temperature affects EVERYTHING. With expansion and contraction due to heat and cooling, switches can become intermittent also. Good Luck, Ron.
 

Bigal11

Member
I read some posts in other forums where people had a similar issue with their GCOR in warmer weather. They also had a hesitation when pedal was pressed even when it did work. I really didn't think about the hesitation until I read these posts but I also had this. So I bit the bullet and bought a new GCOR, this is actually the only electronic component that hasn't been replaced since I bought this golf cart 5 years ago. So far I have not had this issue since I replaced it. My wife has driven it 3 times so far. Recently it was starting to have this issue even in cooler weather also (down to around 70 degrees). Yesterday was 85 degrees and she rode it probably 7-10 miles almost nonstop with no problems. So knock on wood this may have been the problem all along. Time will tell.
 

Bigal11

Member
Well I'm still having the same issue. The Gcor did help a hesitation issue that I've had since day one but I'm still having the possible heat related issue.

I put a voltmeter on the starter side of the solenoid and actually found something after a couple of weeks. The voltage at this point starts out at battery voltage but after about 10 minutes of riding the voltage starts dropping gradually. It got down to just above 8volts when we stopped. At this point it would not start back up and the meter was reading about 4.5+/- when pedal was pressed. After sitting about 5 minutes the voltage got back up to above 10 when pedal was pressed and it started up with the same thing happening again as we were driving. When it did this I checked the battery voltage and it was still 11.7 This has never caused the cart to stop while driving just restarting after stopping.

I've replaced the solenoid since this issue started 3 years ago but could this still be the issue? What else can I check to narrow it down further? Could it be the voltage regulator? Thoughts please.
 

cartmaster

Cartaholic - V.I.P.
It might be worth putting your meter on the battery side of the solenoid and doing the same test. If the voltage still drops, i would suspect either the battery or the cable from it to the solenoid. If the voltage does not drop, i would be looking at the solenoid again. It could also be the charge circuit not charging the battery properly. you could put your voltmeter on the battery and start the cart. If the voltage drops by a couple of volts when starting, and then rises to around 14.5 volts then the charger is doing its thing. If it does not rise above initial battery voltage it may not be getting a charge at all. Do you have to put a battery charger on it occasionally?
 

Bigal11

Member
The battery voltage was 11.7 when the starter side was showing 4.5+/- so I'm pretty much ruling the battery out. It could be possible that the battery cable could be heating up causing resistance I guess. I have an extra cable that I can change out just to see what happens.

Could it be anything from the key switch to the solenoid? How would I check that if that is a possibility?
 

cartmaster

Cartaholic - V.I.P.
I doubt with the voltage loss it would be the key switch unless it is actually the cable or battery causing the issue. either way, the solenoid will either not activate ( click ) or the starter would not turn.

11.7 volts does seem a bit low. A good battery would be around 13.5 volts or so at rest.
 

Bigal11

Member
This is the 3rd battery on this cart and even after a full charge I have never had any of the 3 over 12.3 This battery is less than 3 months old. I replaced the previous battery thinking it wasn't holding a charge causing the issue. I have always kept a maintenance charger on this cart when it sits for any length of time since I've had this issue.

Cart starts and runs great when battery checks cold at 11.5-12v
 

cartmaster

Cartaholic - V.I.P.
But have you checked that the generator is actually charging the cart. If you have a maintainer on it the majority of the time you may not notice until it wont start that the battery is not taking a charge from the cart.
 

Bigal11

Member
If it wasn't charging wouldn't the battery be close to the voltage it is showing when the pedal is pushed? Why would it show 11.7 at the battery when it's 4.5 at the solenoid? If it wasn't charging the battery would continue to drop and not recharge by itself when it cools off I wouldn't think. Also I only put the trickle charger on when it's going to sit more than 2 or 3 weeks. When driving around the property there is never an issue because it is mostly start and stop before it gets very hot. The issue happens when it's driven for a long stretch.

There again if it wasn't charging wouldn't I have trouble around the property also?
 
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