Golf Cart Guru
• I love hearing from you guys. It’s fun to hear
about your interests, concerns, and problems.
I’m glad to offer advice and help where I can.
In this issue, I’m going to address another
question. Here it is, “My electric golf cart lost its
reverse can I fix it myself or do I have to take it
to a service center? It’s a 1996 TXT”
A big problem with diagnosing malfunctions is
gleaning all pertinent information. By the way,
I don’t mean this to sound like a critique of the
question it’s just to be informative.
Most of the info we need is here. Primarily what
we need is make, model, year, and drive type
for start. In the question, there are a few holes
that we can figure out from the things we’ve
been told but there is one we can’t.
Here’s what we have and don’t have. Make, He
doesn’t tell us the make but based on the model
we know it’s an E-Z-Go. Model, TXT, Year, 1996.
The important part we’re missing is drive type.
He tells us it’s an “electric” which is helpful but
in 1996 the E-Z-Go TXT electric was available
with two different drive systems, Series and
DCS.
The Series system or what E-Z-Go calls “Non-
DCS” is most easily identified by the mechanical
Forward & Reverse lever next to the driver’s
right calf. If you flip up the seat on the backside
of that lever you’ll see a bell crank and linkage
going towards the passenger’s side of the
vehicle on a slightly downward slope.
This linkage connects to a mechanical Forward
& Reverse switch that has four large gauge or
power circuit cables attached to stationary
contacts and a rotor that creates a connection
between those contacts.
In addition, there are micro switches that are
opened and closed depending on the position of
the rotor. These make and break the connection
in the small gauge wire logic circuit.
Poking around in this area with thirty-six
volts present can be dangerous. If you are
comfortable with previous articles talking
about discharging the controller and
powering down the car then you can look for
a loose connection, broken wire, misaligned
microswitch, etc. If you’re not comfortable
The
Is your golf car making a funny
sound? Do you have a repair
question? Need to know
how to install something?
Ask the Golf Car Guru.
DON’T DO IT!!! It can spoil your day or worse.
The second electric drive system that E-Z-Go
produced in the golf cart that year was the DCS.
This is a separately-excited or shunt system.
Sometimes referred to as “regen”
This system also has a mechanical Forward &
Reverse lever next to the driver’s right calf. The
difference is under the seat on the back-side
of the lever there is an aluminum disc that
activates and deactivates two micro switches as
it’s moved from forward to neutral and reverse.
As with all microswitches, these are in the logic
circuit. They send a signal to the controller and
it controls the change of direction in the motor
rotation.
Another thing to look at is the four connections
on the motor. Many times they become loose
and overheat or break.
The same thing applies, be cautious. Don’t poke
around and cause a bigger problem or worse
cause a short and injure yourself. IF YOU’RE
NOT CONFIDENT IN WHAT YOU’RE DOING TAKE
IT TO A PROFESSIONAL!
Good luck, take care, be safe. •
Have a question? Send it to Tim at: [email protected]
JUNE 2018
19