Best Seasonal Golf Cart and EV Maintenance Tips

28 Nov Best Seasonal Golf Cart and EV Maintenance Tips

Getting the maximum use and enjoyment from your golf cart is a lot like maintaining a passenger car – proper maintenance throughout the year can add years to your cart’s life and reduce the risk of a breakdown or malfunction.

At Coastal Carts, we can service your cart at recommended time intervals either in our state-of-the-art service facility or at your home.

Let’s take a closer look at the types of service and maintenance work that you should schedule throughout the year.

Batteries – If your cart has traditional, lead acid batteries, you should always make sure the water is kept at the correct levels. You should use distilled water and avoid over-filling the battery cells. You should not need to add any acid to your batteries. Always look for any signs of corrosion around the battery terminals and clean with a little baking soda and a toothbrush. Check that your cables are tight, as lose cables can cause electrical arcing that damages the battery cables and terminals. Carts with lithium ion batteries need no battery maintenance.

Brakes – Safely stopping your golf cart is a critical safety component, so checking and maintaining your cart’s braking system is especially important. We recommend a semiannual brake system inspection, checking and cleaning all brake components with necessary adjustments or parts replacement as warranted.

Gas Engines – If your cart is equipped with a gas engine, it will require the same types of regular maintenance as a passenger vehicle. Depending on how often you use your cart, we recommend an engine oil change at least once per year, new spark plugs and careful inspection of all belts and filters. Be sure to notify our service experts immediately if you ever see any kind of fluid leak on your floor or hear any type of unusual sound coming from your cart’s engine during operation. We also complete a full inspection of your cart’s fuel system and filters, engine compression, valve adjustment and timing on gas engines, and address many more maintenance issues.

Long Term Storage – Although Florida does not require that you winterize your cart or EV, many residents store their carts while they are up north during the summer months, and there are certain things you should do to ensure your cart is ready to roll when you come back to Southwest Florida. If you have lead acid batteries, make sure your water levels are correctly filled and the batteries are fully charged, and disconnect the battery terminals before storage. You should also check all other fluid levels and ensure that your cart’s tires are inflated to the recommended pressure. Your battery charger should not be connected while you’re gone, and it is always a good idea to store your charger off the ground on a sturdy shelf or other surface that can support its weight.

You should remove the key from your cart and leave it in neutral and placed in “Tow” mode, adding some sort of tire blocks or heavy bricks to prevent the cart from moving. We recommend you do not engage your cart’s parking brake when stored for long periods. Some choose to use jack stands on all four corners to avoid any flat spots on your tires during the warm summer months. Make sure your cart is fully cleaned inside and out before you head north.

Since 1992, Coastal Cart’s team of dedicated golf cart and EV experts have been helping our customers in choosing the ideal cart for their needs. We carry carts from Yamaha®, Tomberlin®, ICON®, and EPIC Carts®, each offering extensive lines of different models and configurations designed to meet any requirements from a casual round of golf to transporting multiple passengers in style and comfort or commercial and industrial use.