Has your motor ever gone out spontaneously while riding?

333 · Post by **333** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:07 am

I have a buddy 125 with 2300 miles. I was going up a hill, not very steep but prolonged, and my motor all of the sudden quit while I was accelerating. I pulled over to the side of the road, reignited the engine and continued home without a problem. Anyone have any idea what happened? thx. 333

Post by **ericalm** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 2:48 am

There are several reasons this can happen. Had you recently filled the tank?

The most common reason is vapor (or vacuum) lock—fuel splashing into the air system or an evap hose and causing a stall.

It can also be bad or old gas, an electrical problem, spark plug, a clog in the jets, and so on.

It's usually nothing to worry about if it happens once. If it happens again, it may be.

Skootz Kabootz · Post by **Skootz Kabootz** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:48 am

Had you recently filled up?

BootScootin'FireFighter · Sat Jan 22, 2011 2:35 pm

the wife's first Buddy did that, at nearly 50mph. She pulled over and it fired right up. This happened a few more times... The verdict? Vapor lock

Coffeejunkie · Post by **Coffeejunkie** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:37 pm

Victoria had a bad habit of doing that when I first got her. At the end of the day it was just a vapor lock issue.

pdxrita · Post by **pdxrita** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:42 pm

If you had a full tank of gas when it happened, then I'd say vapor lock*. The first time it happened to me, I was also going up a long moderate hill. I suspect it was a combo of an overfull tank and the slant of the hill that allowed the gas to flow into the vapor tube.

(*Vapor lock being an inaccurate term used to describe the condition where gas has flowed into the carbon canister via the vapor tube, thus suffocating the carburator - correct?)

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:14 pm

Yep, vapour lock. It comes up maybe once a day on this board, minimum. I find the gas tank/evap hose design on the Buddy to be prone to getting gas into the emissions canister. Advice to not fill the tank to the bottom of the filler neck--"leave an inch"--doesn't really work. An inch less of fuel means a good ten miles less per tankful. The fix is to have the gas cap vented if it hasn't been already by having a couple of holes drilled to let fuel vapor to escape through the cap body.

That said, other conditions might cause the Buddy to stall out. Extreme cold can short-circuit the four-stroke cycle because the engine is idling below limits. Heavy humidity can also suppress the spark plug for a critical moment. All of these are part and parcel of a caburated single cylinder engine. I imagine the more modern fuel-injected scoots coming onto the market are less prone.

trackpete · Post by **trackpete** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:28 pm

As Eric said, if it's not vapor lock, check your plugs as well. Almost every time mine died like that while on the move it was the first sign my plug was shot (if I didn't change it, it would get more and more frequent and harder and harder to start).