Should our 2021 EZGO Freedom RXV Elite (4.2 lithium) be this noisy?
 

Less than a month ago this golf cart was delivered after a five month wait. From the get go it has emitted a loud whining noise that is very unpleasant. The dealer in Ocala was notified immediately and had a (non mechanic) delivery person test drive it the next time he was in The Villages. Naturally, he had no idea what is wrong with it but said we would be charged $70 if he took it back to the dealership and if the dealer’s exam finds the noise isn’t covered by warranty. We declined and took the cart to the main local dealer who test drove and said the cart is very noisy but it is probably a “fleet” cart which is built with inferior parts that make noise and wear out quickly and would not be covered by warranty. We checked and our warranty states it is for non-fleet carts. Original dealer has not been responsive to our emailed questions or phone calls. Local dealer doesn’t seem to want to service carts not bought from them. We paid over $13k for this cart. All we know is that other test drives we have done of the same model cart have been very quiet.
Do any of you have experience with EZGO lithium models being noisy or having warranty problems? How do we prove it is not a fleet cart? And is it true fleet carts are built with inferior parts? We do not know how to proceed as we do not want to damage the cart by driving it much. We waited a long time for something we’re now afraid to use.

First off who ever told you that there's different parts for fleet carts an your cart was flat out lying. I have the parts manuals or if you want to see simply try ordering a front wheel hub or a bushing kit.

I currently own two RXVs. I've ordered tons of parts and I have completely torn down and rebuilt 3 of the carts, also my Mom has a 4.0 Elite and I'm so pretty familiar with them.

If your anywhere near Orange Blossom / Spanish Springs I'd be more than happy to have a listen and give you my opinion.

Jeff

Was it a new cart?

Fleet carts may be stripped down but are not built with different drivetrain parts.

If more noise than your test drives, likely something is wrong.

Havr you contacted EZ GO?

Do you work on other peoples carts? I have a 2004 electric Club Car.

Thanks, Jeff! We will take you up on that offer! Will send you a pm to arrange.

It’s a brand new fresh from the factory 2021 with the new 4.2 lithium battery packs. We have phoned, emailed and even snail mailed EZGO but have had zero response.

Nope, not really but I'm always up for talking about projects. I already have a project that'll take into next year and I just picked up another RXV over the weekend that I have no idea what I'll be doing with... lol
I enjoy building them for fun and will help out friends whenever the need arises, but its a hobby that I enjoy and I really dont want it to become a job.

I'm currently building a CC DS into 57 T-bird for myself. For this one I'm putting together a 200ah lithium pack at 87.6v and installing a 600 amp AC conversion. It should have 130-150 miles of range and top out over 45 mph (if desired lol) but will keep it limited to 24 mph (mostly) ������

Jeff

I have a new RXV Elite purchased from the the Villages Golf Carts (at an inflated price) that is quiet as a tomb. The "fleet car" story looks like a brush-off excuse and your cart should NOT be making all that noise - something is very wrong. Try to find out the source of the noise and send a detailed, registered letter to the boss at Textron Special Vehicles asking for help. I can recommend the "Cart Clinic" at 352-361-1019 for an honest diagnosis of the problem. Ask for Eric - he's a real pro.

Have the fluid level in the rear axel housing checked. Ezgo uses a mix of oil and another compound in their electric carts. If it gets low the axel will whine. Also have the wheel alignment and toe in checked. Make certain the tech knows how to do a thrust alignment. Even a small error will cause issues.

I also have owned an Ezgo RXV with the exact same problem. The problem is the gears in the rear end housing. EZgo has an additive that they install in the rear end housing that significantly reduces the whining noise. The auto part stores also carry the same type of additive for autos. This is a correctable problem, don’t let them tell you it is not.

If the dealer you bought it from is a certified EZGO dealer, I would contact EXGO first and explain your problem to them. In the second case if your talking about TV golf cart store, I would mention to EZGO, that the local EZGO franchise has told you they will not service EZGO golf carts not purchase from them. I don’t think EZGO will be happy about that. In either case If EZGO contacts them I think you will get some satisfaction.

Wow Jeff, that's SO NICE of you. :bigbow:

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wow! Way to go ToTVrs.

First, I feel sorry for the OP, apparently getting taken advantage on her $$$$ purchase.

Second, great responses - helpful with direct experience and feedback.

Third, (if it was me) I would give the dealer one more chance to correct the problem and warn them if they do not stand by their sale escalate issue, and name their business on ToTV and other Forums. BTW, the OPs handle is "girl" - IF that dealer is not responding properly because of being a women...even worse.
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This sounds very interesting. Please Post some picks.

Not much to show yet, she's just stripped and chopped up a little. Waiting for sheet metal fab and lithium cells on the slow boat from China...

Let me see if I understand the problem. You ordered an EZGO from other than the Villages dealer and thereby saved money. It was brand new and not operating correctly. The dealer had a person drive it and said if it is NOT covered by the warranty it would cost you $70 for transportation and presumably also the cost of service to repair. That means if it is covered by warranty the transportation and service are free. Now you are afraid to drive it because something may be wrong and worsened by use.

Why wouldn't whatever is causing the noise be covered by your warranty? It is new, the dealer was notified of the problem within days of delivery. It seems to me that you need it fixed and the selling dealer is your best option. You may spend some of that money you saved, but get it fixed. I wouldn't let a non-authorized person take anything apart as that will certainly void your warranty.

I have followed this advocacy forum for years. They have helped many people receive satisfaction when companies will not respond to problems. They have a proven method of contacting heads of companies. I suggest contacting them with your problem if you don't receive satisfaction from EZGO.

The help form - Elliott Advocacy "Elliott Advocacy is a nonprofit organization that offers free advice and advocacy for consumers. If you need help with any problem, please contact us through this form. We’re here to help. And don’t forget to sign up for our free newsletter!"

Ohiobuckeye
 

At least you left great advertisement for E-Ego! I’m sure not all of them are noisy.

Does the sound increase (Louder) if you go faster and does it decrease (Softer) if you go slower? If the sound decreases and increases with speed it is motor or wheel related. Some electric vehicles are required to make a noise to alert people they are coming.

Noisy cart
 

1. Take McJeff up on his offer to inspect your cart. It's very generous and you'll get the straight story

2. The salesman at the non-selling dealer is blowing smoke up you. Fleet carts are nothing more than carts that are sold or leased as "fleets', that is, in a large number to golf courses and country clubs. The mechanical parts are identical. The trim and options will differ.

3. Our last country club leased 90 EZGO lithiums two years ago and I have probably driven 90% of them as I played 150 rounds/year. Most were perfect. However, several had the most god-awful motor whine or gear whine imaginable. I never bothered to keep track of the ones which were the problem. If I noticed it before I teed off, I traded carts. If not, I traded before starting the back nine.

4. The problem is, most likely, in the "reduction gear". The electric motor spins at RPM's too high to directly drive the cart and must be reduced by a set of gears. The whine results from a poorly cut set of gears or ones which have not been properly adjusted during assembly.

5. If the selling dealer is non-responsive, raise hell with EZGO.

I did not "buy" the BS that the local dealer was selling about fleet parts. It would help to identify the location of the "whine". If it happens when the cart is motionless, you could buy an auto stethoscope at an auto parts store. Or an old trick is to hold a screwdriver to an area of the machine or engine and place your ear on the top of the plastic handle. You would hear the "whine or whine vibration" loudest at the noise source. Don't try that while moving! Use a real stethoscope for the "while-moving" test. When you know the general area or specific part making the noise, you can decide to do-it-yourself or look to U-Tube for help or some local retired wrench-bender type. I think that after paying $13K big dollars that your dealer should be treating you better. They won't get any repeat sales from you and you could and SHOULD bad-mouth them. And write to the local Chamber of Commerce and write to the manufacturer's headquarters! For $ 13K you should be getting "happy trails" for many years.

Something does not sound right here. A dealer that just sold a brand new cart should be jumping through hoops to get things right. They should send out a mobile mechanic at the least at now cost and charge it back through the warranty. Good luck.

I would like to get some more info on this additive. Do you have the specific name for what EzGo uses or recommends?
Thanks
Dave

Thank you all so much for trying to help. At this point we’re thinking the whining noise may be caused by the controller. The noise “pulses” or “surges” while the cart is moving and does not change much regardless of the speed except the “pulses” kind of run together at higher speed, making the whining sound more constant. Granted, this cart is limited to 19 mph, so it doesn’t take much to get to that point. But the only time it runs silently is when it’s in reverse gear — excluding the backup alarm, of course.
The manufacturer has been unresponsive to our questions and complaints. Customer service is a misnomer.
The selling dealer never returns calls or emails, either, and judging by the sloppy work they did installing a few options we ordered we don’t think their employees are capable of repairing whatever is mechanically wrong with the cart.
The local dealership will not give appointments to cart owners who did not buy from them and the service manager also lied to us several times. We could try going down there and wait to see if they could repair our cart in between “VIP” appointments, but that may take days of wasted time. Besides, would the mechanics actually do a good job on a cart the service manager doesn’t want them to work on?
To say that we’re frustrated would be an understatement. There are no easy answers for any of this. I have to say that we’ve never seen such unethical behavior by any type of vehicle dealer and I do not understand why golf carts should be any different. Having a local monopoly should not mean you can be dishonest and treat people badly.
Thanks for listening.

Dave, the rear axle additive for our cart model is listed in the owners manual. I doubt this will help your noise issue, however. The fluids there are not supposed to be replaced unless they are leaking or at the 5 year mark. And our particular cart design requires that the rear axle be removed to do so; unlike with most carts, there is no filler port that can accessed in any other way. Removing the rear axle is a job that requires specialized tools and about an hour’s time for an experienced mechanic to accomplish. If you suspect a problem with the rear axle it might be best for you to use your VIP status at the local dealer and ask them about it.
In trying to solve my new cart’s noise issue I’ve already learned a lot, thanks to the good people on this forum suggesting possible causes that I then researched in the service (not owners) manual.

If you could post an audio or audio/video recording somewhere (YouTube?) and share the link here other owners of that cart could compare to their sound experience. I have what I think is a normal light gear whine, probably rear end, that’s slowly getting better as everything wears in. It’s not loud by any means, but other than the tire noise, it’s the only sound this cart makes.

There is an art to complaining. I am not familiar with ezgo but complaining and getting results. First of all is a registered return receipt, restricted delivery to the head of the company. If, it is a corporation, I assume it is, the top executives will be listed.
Restricted delivery means the president in charge of ????? needs to sign for it, not some clerk in the mail room. The post office often does not even know they have this service.
It is fairly expensive to do. Hopefully you have kept records. I spoke to xxxxx on xxxxxx
at xxxxxxx and was told xxxxxxxx. You can bet when the person working for the dealership gets a call from the company president or his secretary or anyone on the company masthead the attitude about giving you excellent service will suddenly change. If, no reply, if no satisfaction you can forward it to better business bureau etc.

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If this is a new cart under warranty, I would have the dealer's delivery person take it back and pay the $70.

I googled EZ GO dealer in Ocala Fl - this came up>

HAWTHORNE'S EQUIPMENT COMPANY
2101 N Pine Ave
Ocala, FL 34475
352-629-9610
Home Carts Unlimited

and>


HOME | Ocala Golf Cart

We sell used and remanufactured carts from trusted brands like Club Car, EZ-GO, and Yamaha.
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According to the EZ-GO website, the only authorized dealer in Ocala is:

HAWTHORNE'S EQUIPMENT COMPANY
2101 N Pine Ave
Ocala, FL 34475
352-629-9610

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I agree. But, how can a "dealer" sell a brand new "factory fresh" golf cart, if they are not authorized to honor the manufacturer's warranty? And, if the dealer claims to be able to honor the warranty, why wouldn't the OP pay the $70 to transport it back to Ocala? Something doesn't sound right.

We used Hawthorne recently for an EZ-Go repair on our 2010 RXV. We found them very easy to deal with and were happy with the repairs and the price. They did charge for pickup/delivery.

I believe Hawthorne took over Town and Country, which sold carts in SS for years before closing. So I’d be disappointed if it turned out that Hawthorne was in fact the offending sales dealer in this thread. We planned to shop for a new cart there when we’re ready to buy a new one.

Clarification From the OP
 

Yes, it was Hawthorne. But between their non responsiveness over the past six months (5 months waiting for our promised 1 month delivery) and the very sloppy work they did on the options we paid to have them install, we have zero confidence in their ability to figure out the problem and repair it. When the cart was delivered it was very late in the day after their office hours, so we had to wait until the next morning to complain about the noise. The only response they eventually gave was to drive the cart 5-10 hours to see if the noise goes away. The noise has persisted. If they had test driven the cart when it was delivered to them they would have known there was something wrong with it.
So we turned to The Villages dealer. In addition to The Villages dealer’s service manager telling us the noise was not covered by warranty because it is a “fleet” vehicle (it’s not) that are “all made with low quality parts,” he also told us there is no other authorized dealer within 150 miles of TV. We know none of this true, so we don’t feel we can trust them, either. They won’t make appointments for any other than their “VIP” customers, anyway.
Our calls, emails and snail mail letters to EZGO about the situation have proven useless. The next thing we will try is writing a registered letter to the president or CEO of Textron.

We recently purchased a home in the Village of Bradford and a new lithium powered golf cart is on our 'short list' of next purchases. Thank you for sharing your experience with Hawthorne, this potential customer will definitely keep in mind your service issues! I'll add it's disappointing when The Villages Golf Carts service managers are part of the problem telling you the things that they did. I understand they wanted you to buy from them, but could have picked up a customer for life if they'd only been more helpful. Does anyone know of a stand up dealer nearby, seems like they all have their issues especially with service?

Before being treated so badly by the local dealer we had considered getting a second cart from them. Now we don’t trust them.

My Elite also makes what I call a high pitched whining sound. To me it's gotten louder lately. I have 1700 miles on it. It is 2021. I took it to The Villages golf cart store where I bought it and the mechanic says that is the normal sound. I don't think it was that loud when I bought it. My brother in-law takes delivery on a new one in a couple of weeks, so I'm waiting till I ride in his to compare.

If that’s normal, I guess that means the same models in their showroom that are silent must be abnormal. Please post the results after you get to do that. Thanks!