What Can Cause Motor Burnout on a Golf Cart?

Technology is great… when it works. That statement is never truer than when you’re driving down the path in your golf cart on the way to pick your kids up from the pool and all of a sudden – nothing. Your golf cart just stops and you can’t get it to start back up again.

When this happens all sorts of things can be running through your mind. Why won’t my golf cart move? How am I supposed to pick up my kids? How am I going to get this cart back home? When things don’t work the way they’re supposed to it can be really stressful.

 Today we’re going to look into why your electric golf cart could just stop working unexpectedly and how you can avoid that hassle altogether.

motor burnt-out

One of the big reasons your golf cart could quit on you is that your motor burnt out. Motor burnout happens when your engine gets too hot and overheats, frying the wiring and other components inside.

One common cause of golf cart motor burnout is continually pressing the pedal to the metal like you’re trying to drive a race car. While this can be a lot of fun in the short term, constantly taxing your cart’s engine can lead to long term costly damage down the road.

Another cause of motor burnout is that you’re hauling too much weight, the traction where you’re trying to drive is poor and causes your engine to work too hard, or you’re forcing your golf cart up too many steep hills.

How to tell if your motor is burnt out

Best case scenario: your battery is simply dead and needs a recharge or even replacement. But if you’re concerned that your cart is facing a burnt out motor there are a couple of things you can do to find out.

First, you’ll want to reset your motor. Get out your handy screw driver and work to uncover the motor itself. It should have a small reset button (Usually it will be red) located near the main battery supply.

Hit the reset button and then put the cover back on the motor. The next step would be to recharge your cart and try turning it on again. If it starts up then you’re in luck! Repairs avoided! However, if your cart doesn’t start up after resetting the motor, you are most likely dealing with burnout.

If this seems to be the case, remove the motor from your cart and inspect it to see if there are individual parts like bearings, coils, or brushes that are just broken. You can purchase these parts for a pretty low cost and if you have some mechanical skills you can even replace them yourself.

However, if there is damage to armature or motor housing itself, you are most likely going to need to have your motor replaced, which involves a trip to our Service & Parts department. 

{{cta(‘a1abe1d7-918c-457b-b088-596e931c54e5’)}}