EZ Go Solinoid \"rattle\"

[Rmvr53]

A question for the electrical geru's please..,

I was selling my 77 (we think) EZ Go Sport Coupe to a woman this morning. She drove it up and down the drive to make sure everything was ok etc...
Did the deal, then went to drive it up on her trailer. Got halfway up the ramps and it just quit...like a circuit breaker popped or something. Pushed it back up to the garage and began the search...no breaker, nothing loose, but solinoid rattles. Called local EZ GO dealer and they said to check all my connections, etc. Still no go and solinoid rattles. Went and bought a new solinoid...new solinoid rattles.

batteries have 36.1 volts total, checked the charger and there's 43 volts charging so I'm pretty sure its not a battery problem, especially since it was driving right up to the second an excessive load (ramps) was put on it.

what else should I be checking/looking for?

thanks

Bill F

[George A. Gianni]

Hello Rmvr53,

Put a voltmeter on the incoming switching terminal on the solenoid and the other lead on the battery return. You should get a good solid steady voltage as the start switch in picked up. Or the start switch and or wiring is bad or near bad (as in to much resistance). This test is to be done with the solenoid connected so as to draw current thus lowering the current thus the voltage in this circuit causing a chatter or hum.


Good luck and let us know the results,

George Gianni

[Rmvr53]

guess I should have posted a reply...

checked all connections, then started checking each battery one by one for charge/voltage drop and found one that when put under load dropped to 4 volts. Pulled it out and found a dead short in a cell. Replaced that battery and all was fine and dandy....

yeah I know you should replace all batteries as a set but since they weren't but a year old I figured I was good on replacing a dud

thanks for the direction and encouragement

Bill