2008 Buddy 125, what do I need to fix?

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mursedanny
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2008 Buddy 125, what do I need to fix?

Post by mursedanny »

I just recieved my brothers 2008 Buddy 125. It has not been ran for over 3 years. It was running great prior to when he stopped using it. He did empty the gas prior to not using it. The bike has less than 2K miles.
I just bought a new battery. My plan is as follows but I'm also struggling with where to buy some of these things (store or online?):
- New tires: I have read to wheels off by myself and have a tire
company place it on for me (where to buy tire? 100/90-10)
- change air filter
- check spark plugs
- change oil and filter (has been changed previously, have read people say
they use different kinds. (15W-40 or 5W-40???), synthetic
- check and clean carburetor???
Im hoping to do this all myself with help with the tires. Currently living in Lincoln Nebraska with no scooter shops around that I have found, plus I would like to fix it all myself. Love this site and have been going to it daily to learn all I can from previous posts. Thanks everyone!!!
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Dooglas
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Post by Dooglas »

Do you have the owners manual and shop manual for the Buddy 125? If not, that is a place to start. There are some scooter on-line parts and accessory sites such as Scooterwest which are good sources for maintenance parts. There are some on-line sources for scooter tires such as Revzilla that can save you some money but you still have to mount them or pay a local shop to do the mounting for you.
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tenders
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Post by tenders »

I’ve found great Buddy support from ScooterPartsCo, ScooterWest, and this oddball shop in Prescott, AZ, which offers a wide range of parts at very good prices in an easy-to-navigate way (they’re simply all listed at this link):
http://www.epfguzzi.com/scooterpunks/parts/buddy.html

ScooterWorks is the parts side of Genuine (akin to Mopar for Chrysler) and is also good...interestingly, I’ve found stuff on Amazon being sold by other companies at better prices than ScooterWorks - that is drop-shopped from ScooterWorks. It definitely pays to shop around a little.

PS: Also change the brake fluid and the transmission oil, and check the front brake pads because the plates the friction surface is attached to can rust over time and the friction pads will separate. All of this is very doable by a rank amateur with minimal tools. I would do the tires LAST. Get everything else running first. If the carb was drained you might not need to take it apart. Put a little gas in the tank and see what happens.
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jd
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Post by jd »

A Buddy with 2,000 miles that has received proper care (and it wouldn't have needed much of it in that period) is essentially new. Good catch!

You can find most of what you need on Amazon.com.

The consensus favorite tire is probably the Continental Zippy but unless you're going to be riding aggressively you'll probably be just as happy with one of the cheaper ones: Prima, Michelin, et al. I have Zippies on one Buddy and Prima white walls on the other. While the Zippy is better, the Prima is just fine, and I ride aggressively.

Oil filters also available on Amazon. Just type in "buddy oil filter" and you'll have a choice. BTW, if the filter currently on there doesn't have the "hex nut" shape at the end, you'd need a special tool to get it off. Don't bother. After you've drained the oil, use a hammer to knock a sharp screw driver into the side of the filter and twist it off that way. Makes a bit of a mess, but you can use the tools you have already.

People love to argue about motor oil. Don't get caught up in it. The Buddy is durable and tolerant. Manufacturer recommends 15W-40, which is what I use. Shell Rotella is a solid brand. You can use synthetic if you want, but good ol' dino oil is fine. Watching the level and changing it every 1800 miles or so is more important than obsessing about synthetic versus dino.

I'd throw some Seafoam into the first couple of tanks of gas just to clean out old crud. Not bad stuff to have around. You can use it in your car a couple of times a year, too.

Speaking of gas, just use plain regular unleaded. High octane is a waste of money and can, theoretically, cause problems over the long haul on a low compression engine like the Buddy's. Some people will say that Genuine recommends 92 octane, but that is the octane rating they use in Taiwan, which converts to 87 octane on the scale that we use in the U.S.

Spark plug is NGK C7HSA or equivalent, 0.6-0.7 mm gap, 7.2 ft-lb torque. Easy to find on Amazon or in any auto parts shop.

You don't need to replace the air filter, but it could probably use some cleaning. Easy to take off and clean. No big deal.

Carb should be fine unless it's not running right. Don't worry about it for now.

Good luck!
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ucandoit
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Post by ucandoit »

I bought a used 2008 125 Buddy with 3,000 miles and assumed it needed new brake pads, air filter, brake fluid change, etc. and I bought the parts. I was wrong; didn't need any of them. The brake pads are still good at 9,000 miles. The air filter was clean, though I replaced it since I had purchased a new one, and I changed the brake fluid at 8000 miles and it actually looked good too, though looks may not be everything. The one thing you may have trouble with, as I did, is the carb. Esp. if the scooter has been sitting. I 2nd putting some Sea Foam in the tank. I ordered Zippy tires and tried ever so hard to mount them myself, and some guys on this site can do that, but I failed and took it to a motorcycle shop. Like others I order the oil filters off amazon. Mitch on youtube has clear videos for changing oil and gear oil in a Buddy 125. I'd do that right away. Congrats. on your new scooter. It's so much fun.
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Dooglas
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Post by Dooglas »

ucandoit wrote:I bought a used 2008 125 Buddy with 3,000 miles and assumed it needed new brake pads, air filter, brake fluid change, etc. and I bought the parts. I was wrong; didn't need any of them. The brake pads are still good at 9,000 miles. The air filter was clean, though I replaced it since I had purchased a new one, and I changed the brake fluid at 8000 miles and it actually looked good too, though looks may not be everything.
Looks are not the test with brake fluid. The problem is that brake fluid is extremely hydroscopic and absorbs water through time. You can buy a test kit and test the fluid or you can just change it on the regular schedule, but do one or the other.
mursedanny
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Post by mursedanny »

tenders wrote:oddball shop in Prescott, AZ, which offers a wide range of parts at very good prices in an easy-to-navigate way (they’re simply all listed at this link):
http://www.epfguzzi.com/scooterpunks/parts/buddy.html

Almost all the main things I was looking for was on this site. Thanks!!!
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jd
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Post by jd »

This is the first I've seen of Powersports Outlet. Thanks for sharing.

Great variety of parts, and prices look pretty good until you add shipping. The Buddy oil filter is only $7.99 but the shipping adds another $9.99. Not such a good deal. However, if you add more things to the order, maybe the shipping becomes more reasonable on a per item basis, but I didn't check.

Either way, there are a lot of parts there they're not going to find on Amazon.com, in any case. I'll check it out if I need anything unusual.
Some people are like slinkies. They're not very interesting, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
ucandoit
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Post by ucandoit »

Dooglas: About changing the brake fluid: I read that is was hydroscopic and that going 8,000 miles and 10yrs. was too long to go before changing it. I don't regret changing it, but I just got the impression that few do change it. One Buddy owner told me not to mess with it at all.
Also, my brake pads and disk seem quite good at 9,000 miles, but I've kept the scooter sheltered and not left outside, so Tenders makes a good point in examing the brakes.
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tenders
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Post by tenders »

Not to defend or criticize Powersports Outlet either way, but practically all online direct shops have minimum shipping amounts. My last order from them included a Buddy vacuum petcock priced at half the second-lowest rate I could find, a replacement carb needle valve and some extra carb gaskets that I couldn't find anywhere else. It was $30 in parts plus $8 shipping and I felt way ahead of the game both in price and time, for not having had to page through hundreds of options the way you do on other sites (which admittedly is part of the fun much of the time).

Brake fluid: why WOULDN'T you change this every few years? It costs $5 and takes 15 minutes. Count your blessings if you haven't had another reason to take the headset apart over that timeframe. Your brakes will probably benefit from a bleeding too.
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Post by k1dude »

Many vehicle manufacturers now claim brake fluid is lifetime fluid. Many experts say don't mess with it unless there's a problem. And you can easily tell if a problem is developing - it's usually gradual and obvious. More brake problems arise from people attempting to bleed their own brakes (when it's unnecessary) rather than just leaving them alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

In the past 20 years I haven't messed with brake fluid on any vehicle I own. That even includes my mountain bikes. It isn't even part of the scheduled maintenance in the vehicle manuals. I probably have over a million miles in that time without a problem.
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tenders
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Post by tenders »

I would say that people with scooters five or more years old and who would find a brake fluid change challenging (whether or not they actually do it), either are going to have a generally run-down scooter or will need access to a solid and available mechanic.

My scoots were owned by people like the former, and they have required quite a bit of puttering to get into good shape. Unchanged transmission oil, old tires, mis-set carbs, rusty brake pads, degenerate speedometer cable, loosely-set rear brake cable, loose mirror joints, etc. Nothing major but a whole lot of minor. The brake fluid had never been changed on my Vespa, and the front brake was decidedly spongy. When I tried to take the cover off the master cylinder to flush and bleed, the screw head sheared off the screw, which had corroded into the body of the reservoir. No need for that to have happened!
mursedanny
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Post by mursedanny »

jd wrote: Manufacturer recommends 15W-40

Carb should be fine unless it's not running right. Don't worry about it for now.
I bought Mobil 1 10W-40 synthetic oil. Would that be okay?
I keep going back and forth if I should mess with the carb. I’m worried about it sitting for so long that I should try and clean it out. I would rather work on everything right now instead of later in the summer but also don’t want to do more than needed too. Thoughts?
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tenders
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Post by tenders »

Don't give the oil you have a second thought, it'll be fine. The difference between 10W and 15W-40 oil is negligible, especially if it isn't cold where you live or when you scoot. The "W" stands for "Winter" and is the viscosity of the oil when quite cold (either 0F or 32F, I forget). Lower numbers mean less viscous/runnier oil. The warmer it is, the more similar the two weights of oils are.

Put a couple of cups of high quality, fresh fuel in the tank and see what happens. If the carb was run dry before it was put away, it may well be fine. But don't be surprised if it takes a lot of kickstarting to get the fuel fully into the carb before it'll catch. You can help it along by taking the vacuum hose from the petcock off the carb (that's the one that DOESN'T have the fuel filter spliced into it), and sucking on it for half a minute or so once you've put fuel in the tank. That'll let fuel gravity feed from the tank into the carb - and it won't go into your mouth.
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Post by JettaKnight »

k1dude wrote:Many vehicle manufacturers now claim brake fluid is lifetime fluid. Many experts say don't mess with it unless there's a problem. And you can easily tell if a problem is developing - it's usually gradual and obvious. More brake problems arise from people attempting to bleed their own brakes (when it's unnecessary) rather than just leaving them alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

In the past 20 years I haven't messed with brake fluid on any vehicle I own. That even includes my mountain bikes. It isn't even part of the scheduled maintenance in the vehicle manuals. I probably have over a million miles in that time without a problem.
THIS.
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Syd
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Post by Syd »

Just a note about Powersports Outlet. This dealer is located in Prescott, AZ, a city of less than 40,000 people. It sells Genuine, SYM Kymco and Moto Guzzi. It's probably the best dealer, in Arizona. I'm glad you found it. Oh, I don't work there, either.
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