Fuel Line/Filter Question for 125

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runtotorun121
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Fuel Line/Filter Question for 125

Post by runtotorun121 »

Hmmm. It has been a couple of years since I have logged in here because I got sidelined from my scooter by finding out I was pregnant with triplets. They are now 19 months old, and after a few short rides last spring and summer I was set on getting my Buddy out to take me to a meeting tonight.

Ahh. So is the best of intentions. Last year she took one kick-start with a drive to charge up the battery. Not bad after sitting for a year! This time she tried to start, but it seems I have a fuel-something issue because she will kick-start, run for a few seconds, and then die. Throttle kills her immediately. After spending a lot of kick-starting time she ran for more seconds - maybe up from five to ten or fifteen.

So we added Seafoam. No go.

Then we drained the gas and put in new. No go.

Then we (I, on my hands and knees in a sundress since hubby was still in work pants) changed what my husband swears is the fuel filter. Of course, his spare mc fuel filter looked a lot different from what I removed. No go.

I finally had to take off for a meeting tonight so we gave up for the evening. However, when I returned home I needed to move her back into the garage for the night, and I thought to myself, "Let's be optimistic." :wink: So I tried one last time. This time, MUCH TO MY DISMAY, I couldn't get a start from the kick-start. Not a rumble. :( Of course I am frowning at the mc fuel filter thinking it has to have "done something". . .

The next thing seems to be ungummage of the carburetor, but before we go that far I wanted to confirm a couple of things with any mechanically inclined owners here (My husband is mc repair-inclined, but just in case there is some significant difference. . . :wink: ):

1. Is the fuel filter definitely that little white plastic thing running on the right side of the Buddy with the arrow on it and held onto the rubber tubing with clamps?

2. Is it true that the mc fuel filter (that looks WAY different) should work just the same? (BTW, husband blew through the white thing after I removed it and said there was no clog.)

3. The fuel line appears to also feed into a plastic cylinder thing that sits inside the back right quarter panel of the Buddy. It is about the size of a chubby pill bottle. I see it in the parts diagram in the forum, but it is not labeled. My husband has no idea what it is!

4. And as a note, after we removed the fuel filter (if you confirm that) when we unpinched the fuel line no gas poured out. Huh? We had just put in new fuel so there was gas in the Buddy. My husband was confused about why the fuel was not draining out, and then he seemed to think it wasn't wet. Which seems strange because somehow when I was kickstarting there was some fuel getting to the carburetor somehow. It has to go through that line, right??? So why wouldn't it or the filter seem fuel-ey???

5. And finally, any thoughts on the sudden change from turning over from kick-starting to nothing? I assumed that with the increase in the amount of time it stayed started after kick-starting that there was some loosening of gunk or unclogging or old gas being burned off so it was confusing that in the space of a couple of hours when I returned home that I couldn't get the kick-start to do a thing. . .

Thanks in advance for your time and reply.

P.S. I did do a "search" here and on via Google to check this stuff out before posting, but as I remembered from before - not too helpful! Or I am search-challenged. :D

Kristie
~Celebrate~
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PeteH
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Post by PeteH »

I'm not a mechanic, but it's sounding like the main jet (and now possibly your idle jet) in your carb is blocked. The slightest bit of gum and goo in a carb will block these little dudes up. The symptom where it would start and sort-of idle, but die when you hit the throttle, points to a blocked main jet. The SeaFoam will help, but IMHO it's time for a carb cleanup - there's good directions in the Technical section in this thread.


On point #4, don't panic yet - fuel flow is controlled by a vacuum-operated valve (instead of a traditional MC on/off/reserve lever). It only opens the valve when the carb delivers a vacuum (when kicking, cranking or running). Unfortunately I'm not with my Buddy today, so I can't look and see where the vacuum valve is in relation to the filter. You can literally pull the vacuum line off the carburetor and suck on it, and the valve will open, if you really want to see it in action.

The 'chubby pill bottle' may be the emissions-control evaporator-canister found on the newer Buddys. Again, I don't have the diagram in front of me.
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runtotorun121
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Post by runtotorun121 »

Thanks for your reply and the link, Pete! :D I COMPLETELY forgot about and missed the "Technical Library" Forum when I was blearily-eyed searching for threads last night, but this morning when I bookmarked the link you provided I saw my repair/mods folder and things began creeping back into my little brain.

I was really disappointed last night when I couldn't just jump on and go. You would think with triplets I would have better anticipation that things might not go as planned. :wink: It is just so infrequent now that I have the opportunity to scoot since I haven't figure out yet if I can strap one into each saddle bag and then one onto the luggage rack. . . :lol: Of course then the little pesky things take up all my room where I use to put groceries!

Thanks for the information on the vacuum-operated valve. That sounds like that makes sense, and as far as the omissions-control evaporator canister (aka chubby little pill bottle :wink: ), my Buddy is an '07 so I don't know if that matters or not.

Thanks again!
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ScooterTrash
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Post by ScooterTrash »

Yeah, follow my guide and it should fix the issue. I have had the stock filter since 07' with no issue so I wouldnt look there first. (yes you were correct about the filter location)

it really does take the smallest chunk of anything to plug jets
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runtotorun121
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Post by runtotorun121 »

Thanks, ScooterTrash! It was super kind of you to take the time to post a great maintenance/repair thread like that. Great technical writing skills! :D It looks like a fairly simple process. Not necessarily synonymous with "easy", but I am pretty sure that if I couldn't talk my husband into doing it while I was otherwise engaged with babies then I could probably manage it myself. I am thinking that it will go faster for someone who sort of knows what he is doing already.

So either way it looks like that is on our schedule, and your directions are a HUGE help.

Thank you too for the confirmation about the fuel filter location. If a service manager can tell by my non-technical description that I was in the fuel filter area then I feel confident that we didn't replace a fuel filter for some other bit or piece! I plan on swapping back out the mc fuel filter we tried and getting the original one back online since air seemed to poof through it. I like having my parts in the right places. :D

Kristie
~Celebrate~
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