EZGO Marathon & Medalist Guide: Parts, Fixes, Upgrades
Covers the EZGO Marathon (through 1994) and Medalist (1994–1996). Dating a vintage EZGO is a manufacturer's-code job — the serial lookup guide shows where to find it and how to read it.
Before the TXT conquered the world, EZGO built the boxy, indestructible Marathon — and then, for about two model years, the transitional Medalist, the cart that quietly became the TXT. These carts are thirty-plus years old, still working, still cheap to buy, and their owners face two questions: what still fits, and what's the honest plan for keeping one alive. This page answers both.
Which one do you have?
| Marathon | Medalist | |
|---|---|---|
| Years | Through 1994 | 1994–1996 |
| Look | The classic box: flat panels, squared body | The rounded body that became the TXT silhouette |
| Electrical (electric models) | 36V series systems — resistor-coil speed control on most, with later solid-state variants | 36V, the bridge era — running gear closely related to the early TXT Series cart |
| The parts headline | Its own catalog — vintage-specific | Substantial overlap with early TXT parts |
The Medalist secret that saves its owners money: a Medalist is, for many mechanical and electrical purposes, an early TXT — body lineage, chassis thinking, and the Series drive family carry straight through. When a "Medalist part" is scarce, checking the early TXT catalog is the move, and it works far more often than not. Send the manufacturer's code when in doubt and we'll confirm the crossover.
Keeping a Marathon alive
What actually fails
The same list as every vintage cart, in the same order: the battery circuit (thirty-year-old cables and grounds cause most "dead Marathon" complaints), the solenoid, resistor coils and speed-switch contacts on resistor carts (burned contacts announce themselves as missing speed steps — a cart with only top speed or only creep), the F&R switch, and eventually motor brushes. Every one of these is a serviceable, affordable part — the Marathon predates disposable electronics, which is exactly why so many survive.
The diagnostic approach
The TXT won't-move guide's battery-first, solenoid-click sequence applies to a Marathon nearly unchanged — simpler, actually, since there's no controller-era logic to navigate. Missing speed steps point at the resistor bank and speed switch; everything else follows the meter.
The honest upgrade conversation
Keep it vintage: fresh batteries, a new cable set, solenoid, and cleaned-up contacts restore what a Marathon was — a charming, reliable 12 mph cart. Tires still add their 2 mph. For a course cruiser or a piece of rolling nostalgia, this is the right answer and the cheap one.
Modernize it: the transformative path is the same one the TXT speed guide describes for 36V carts — a 48V system conversion (controller, solenoid, charger, motor, batteries as a package) that turns a $1,000 barn find into a modern driver wearing the classic box. On a Marathon this is a committed project with some fabrication judgment involved, and it's a serial-number-first, complete-package conversation with us rather than a cart full of piecemeal orders. Lithium rides the same fork as every 36V EZGO — the TXT lithium guide's 36V section applies: a 36V drop-in for the keep-it-vintage cart, or lithium as part of the 48V package for the modernized one.
Parts for the old guard
- EZGO Marathon parts
- EZGO Medalist parts
- EZGO TXT parts (the Medalist crossover catalog)
- Battery cables for EZGO
Vintage EZGO questions are our favorite kind — send the manufacturer's code and photos of the motor and switch area, and we'll identify the cart, the system, and the parts path in one reply.
