I was out for a joy ride with the hubby. He let me take the lead and followed with his motorcycle. We traveled along river road at speeds of 45 and my Buddy hiccupped and quit. It started right up again. My gas gauge was really low so I pulled in to a local marina and filled up.
We were having such a nice time we decided to travel up highway 1806 where the speed limit is 55. I was often at WOT. It was windy and the road is hilly. About 10 miles later again a hiccup and stall. Sat for a bit. Started right up. We decided not to chance it and turned around. On the way back with the wind, I let back on the throttle and kept it to 55BMH and had no problems.
I'm kinda bummed. I've read of others going long distances with their scoots without trouble. We were looking to do about a 80 mile round trip with a break in between. Am I delusional?
Oh, when we got home the hubby checked my spark plug and it looked just great.
help........
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Better ask your dealer/ fix-it type. Not an hour ago I got home from a 120mile r/t with my 2009 Italia 150. Avg speed 55, peaks 60-65 true ground speed Wx hot , terrain central MA and NH. Not now or any other 100 mi + trips have I gotten the least problem. Good luck!
I had some trouble with my Puca several months back (a couple thousand miles ago). Take it to your shop. It's what the warranty is for. Yes, you should be able to do long distances on your scoot. It took them a couple tries to figure out what was going on, but I've done several hundred miles in a single trip with no problems since they got it. The best advice I got here was take advantage of that warranty! You paid for it as part of getting a new scoot. Treat it like a doctor's visit. Pay attention to what's going on so you can give your mechanic useful information, but don't try to self-diagnose. They'll take care of the rest.
Bug 'em to death after they've checked the scoot if you want so you can understand more about your Buddy.
Kaos wrote:Search the forums for "vapor lock".
Its a common easily fixable issue that exhibits the symptoms
That you're experiencing.
My Buddy is a 2009...I thought that the vapor lock issue had been dealt with by this model? The fuel was very low the first time it quit. I am always very careful not to over fill so I don't think it was too full when it quit again after I filled it? Do I still need to do something different to my gas cap?
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Cheshire wrote:I had some trouble with my Puca several months back (a couple thousand miles ago). Take it to your shop. It's what the warranty is for. Yes, you should be able to do long distances on your scoot. It took them a couple tries to figure out what was going on, but I've done several hundred miles in a single trip with no problems since they got it. The best advice I got here was take advantage of that warranty! You paid for it as part of getting a new scoot. Treat it like a doctor's visit. Pay attention to what's going on so you can give your mechanic useful information, but don't try to self-diagnose. They'll take care of the rest.
Bug 'em to death after they've checked the scoot if you want so you can understand more about your Buddy.
Arrrgghhh! My dealer is 400 miles away!
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Though more uncommon on four strokes, what you are describing sounds like a piston siezure.
The piston siezes, stalling the motor, but after only a few minutes of not running, the parts cool and contract enough to start again.
If this is the case, your piston rings would be pretty torn up and a compression test should show it with low compression.
There aren't many problems that will suddenly cause a scooter to stall at speed, but allow it to restart and act normally.
The other could be ignition.
I only have 800 miles on my Buddy. Could I have wrecked the piston rings already?
The problem can occur 2 ways, from too much gasoline vapor pressure in the tank, or from gasoline splashing into the vapor recovery tube near the very top brim of the tank. I'm guess it's one of the two.
You're riding your bike great and riding it hard, this is one of the best ways to break it in. You're not hurting your buddy at all.
If you feel confident enough, it takes only a minute to do so if you have the right tools already, not much of a way you can mess it up, the worse that would happen would be if you slipped, you'd put a scratch on the surface of the cap from the drill bit, but that's just cosmetic. You drill one hole on the top, another on the bottom of the cap.
If this problem becomes serious, I'd consider letting the dealer investigate into looking at the stator, it's rare, but a few members have been hit with faulty stators which werent working properly.
jfrost2 wrote:If you feel confident enough, it takes only a minute to do so if you have the right tools already, not much of a way you can mess it up, the worse that would happen would be if you slipped, you'd put a scratch on the surface of the cap from the drill bit, but that's just cosmetic. You drill one hole on the top, another on the bottom of the cap.
If this problem becomes serious, I'd consider letting the dealer investigate into looking at the stator, it's rare, but a few members have been hit with faulty stators which werent working properly.
I showed the hubby the pictures I had from a previous thread and the job is done! I will never, ever bitch about all the tools he has in his garage. Love that drill press! I hope this is all it is. I will make a note about the stator.
I'm keeping everyone's suggestions in mind in case this doesn't do it. Thank you all! I'm sure that some of you more experienced Buddy riders get tired of answering the same questions over and over but I don't think you fully understand how much we newbies admire and appreciate you!!
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Don't forget to consider the simplest solution. Back when my scooter was fairly new I had a couple of times when it just suddenly died on me as I was riding down the street. I pulled off to the side and tried to restart, but it just wouldn't. After a moment or two of trying to start, I realized that the kill switch was in the off position. Somehow, without realizing it, I had managed to bump the switch. I flipped it back on, it started right up, and I was on my way.
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MarsR wrote:Don't forget to consider the simplest solution. Back when my scooter was fairly new I had a couple of times when it just suddenly died on me as I was riding down the street. I pulled off to the side and tried to restart, but it just wouldn't. After a moment or two of trying to start, I realized that the kill switch was in the off position. Somehow, without realizing it, I had managed to bump the switch. I flipped it back on, it started right up, and I was on my way.
Checked that one right away. She started right up again. But I am with you on checking the simple first!
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Went out for a ride tonight after the gas cap mod. The weather conditions are quite a bit different than yesterday. It got really chilly tonight. So I don't know if this is an addequate test.
But there were no problems. I have trouble even imagining that I had a problem. Sophia purred like a kitten. Damn, I love my scoot!
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I wouldnt count it fixed just yet since you only took one ride. It can happen at random anytime when the conditions are perfect for vapor lock to happen.
Wen my stator was going bad the first few times it died it was much what you describe. I strongly suggest that you carry a cell phone and supplies for being stuck on the side of the road for a few hours with you at all times.
Just in case.
For example: water bottle, granola bar (no cocolate or anything that melts too easily), small umbrella for weather/sun protection, emergency phone numbers. Also, make sure your phone is charged up before you leave.
Hopefully, you won't need it, but if you do, better to have it. This stuff will all fit easily into the pet carrier.
Good luck, I sincerely hope it is someting simple.
As the bike runs a magnet spins inside the stator inducing an electical current in the stator. That current is an AC (alternating current) current. From there it goes to the rectifier which is a set of diodes that convert the AC current to DC (direct current) current. Then there's the regulator which is a circuit that controls the DC voltage output of the rectifier so that you will charge, but not overcharge, the battery, and also continue to run the electricals on the bike.
jfrost2 wrote:As the bike runs a magnet spins inside the stator inducing an electical current in the stator. That current is an AC (alternating current) current. From there it goes to the rectifier which is a set of diodes that convert the AC current to DC (direct current) current. Then there's the regulator which is a circuit that controls the DC voltage output of the rectifier so that you will charge, but not overcharge, the battery, and also continue to run the electricals on the bike.
oooookay....well that looks to be a bit more than I could handle on my own. Now if it would be the stator it should act up no matter what the tempeture or humidity is....as opposed to vapor lock. My gas cap is drilled so if another incident occurs the stator is the next suspect.
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It's still possible even with a drilled cap for vapor lock to happen, but it's rare. If the bike begins to stall and die constantly, then it probably would be the stator. It's electrical, so weather and temperature doesnt affect it.
Kaos wrote:Search the forums for "vapor lock".
Its a common easily fixable issue that exhibits the symptoms
That you're experiencing.
My Buddy is a 2009...I thought that the vapor lock issue had been dealt with by this model? ... Do I still need to do something different to my gas cap?
The only way they "dealt with it" was by shipping drilled caps to dealers to swap them out. Since you mentioned that you and your husband drilled a vent into your cap, I assume you didn't see the venting from Genuine on your cap? (They hid the top hole pretty well, but the bottom hole would have been easily noticeable by you...) They probably don't ship the bikes with the caps due to some emissions laws, but it sucks that the dealers don't warn owners about this issue.
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Kaos wrote:Search the forums for "vapor lock".
Its a common easily fixable issue that exhibits the symptoms
That you're experiencing.
My Buddy is a 2009...I thought that the vapor lock issue had been dealt with by this model? ... Do I still need to do something different to my gas cap?
The only way they "dealt with it" was by shipping drilled caps to dealers to swap them out. Since you mentioned that you and your husband drilled a vent into your cap, I assume you didn't see the venting from Genuine on your cap? (They hid the top hole pretty well, but the bottom hole would have been easily noticeable by you...) They probably don't ship the bikes with the caps due to some emissions laws, but it sucks that the dealers don't warn owners about this issue.
I agree! A heads up would have been nice! I did get a warning about not over filling but no mention of vapor lock.
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