Buddy won't run. update: SOLVED AND RESOLVED

[Cheshire]

Wonderful weather today, so I thought I'd go for a ride. With finals and everything, I haven't been riding near as much as I like to this past month. I went to start the scooter, but it just wasn't going to happen. Strange, because I had just ridden yesterday to take some movies back: a little under an hour ride 'round trip.

The battery's fine, lights work, ignition button works, she just doesn't want to turn over. Kick start attempts did nothing. Is the kick lever supposed to feel pretty crisp or kinda sluggish? I noticed I was able to smell gas a little after a few minutes of trying to get her started.
Took puppy for a walk to try to cheer up a little, then poked around in the tech section here. I decided to check the spark plug and discovered the plug was wet: so gasoline is getting to it. Reinstalled spark plug and panel, tried again. She starts now, but dies immediately. Tried again and gave her some gas, but as soon as I let off the gas she dies. No sputtering then stall, just .

Figures it's a Monday: shop's closed today. I'll probably tinker a little to see if I can coax her to life until I can make an appointment tomorrow. I'd prefer to ride to the shop instead of loading up the scooter and driving her there. Taking the windshield off only to reinstall it is a PITA.

Any ideas?

[easy]

last weekend i started my wifes buddy 1st time in weeks. It did that soon as i twisted trottle itd die. 4th time just started and let it idle for 15 minutes and its fine now. Carberated motors dont like the cold and maybe thats it. That dont work maybe weak spark or stuck float causing it to get to much gas.

[easy]

anything new on this i seen you take 4 sale off it. hope its not because this

[Cheshire]

Nope, this isn't why it's NFS anymore.

The mechanic says it's the starter, stator, thingit. That, and the carb float. Waiting on warranty request to go through and parts to be shipped.

[Lostmycage]

Sounds like it's flooding. The auto choke/enricher complicates this a little bit. Open up the hatch under the seat and try re-seating the auto-choke connector. It could be a fluke. Let us know if the connection seems loose.

[Dooglas]

The mechanic says it's the starter, stator, thingit. That, and the carb float.

The starter, the stator, the carb float? In other words, he really hasn't figured it out yet.

I have had similar symptoms before with a scoot that has set for a while (starts with difficulty - dies when you twist the throttle). I have remedied the problem by cleaning the carb (though, from the description of your symptoms, you can't rule out a possible electrical problem)

[Major Redneck]

a few things come to mind for me... gas that sits draws mosture,,, use sea foam to combat this,,, there should be a small screw at the bottem of the carb. bowl to drain any mosture that gets into the bowl (if thats the case you dont know so just drain less than a 1/4 cup out to be sure...

sometimes the gas in the bowl evaporates after sitting,,, with the buddys fuel cock its vacumed drawn from the tank,,, it takes sometimes many many turns of the engine in order to create the vacume for the fuel cock to open up and let fuel go to the carb in order to refill the bowl,,, sometimes when this happens it seems like it gets an air bubble or vaper lock and will run rough untill its warmed up...

another thing your carb airmixture is more than likely set for warm weather operation and when its very cold the auto choke well stay closed a littler longer than it would in warm weather,,, creating a rich mixture once engine is at opration temp it should run ok,,, but could still need adjusting or run rough becuz the intake air is much cooler...

i recomend that you kick start your bike often,,, few reason,,, you get to feel the compression of a proper running bike,,, it should start within 3 kick 5 tops,,, even in the cold...

if a scooter has been siting for a while slowly use the kickstart to kinda prime the fuel flow after about 10 slow kicks ,,, kick it hard to try and start... if it does not start let it sit a few sec. and repeat...

[Cheshire]

Thanks for the responses, everyone! One of the reasons I like this forum. Y'all are "good folk".
Let's see if I can manage to not miss anyone. Holidays have me running around like a chicken with it's head off, as the local (to me) saying goes.

LMC: Yeah, they said the carb float was what was making it smell like gas.

Dooglas: no, the mechanic has it figured, I just have trouble remembering names for things. I definately remember "carb float"...or something related to it... Can't remember if he used the word "bowl" or not, but I definately remember "float". Aaaaand that's why I'm an artist, not a writer.
Stator, starter...the thing with the thing...yeah, that thing! No, not the doohickey, the gooberflatchy. To your left...further...that one!!
It sounded like starter, but I've seen stator written here on the forum, so it's me that's confused as to which word to use.

Major: the gas was no more than 2 weeks old. For how often I've been riding, that's ancient...don't know if that's old enough to start going bad.


In other news: Sold my RAV4 and got a truck. Hurray, I don't have to take all the accessories off to haul it to the shop anymore!! Plus, I have a little leftover from the transactions to get an upgrade or two for the scooter....

[Syd]

...ignition button works, she just doesn't want to turn over...

If she doesn't want to turn over, how do you know the button works? Does it just click? If that's the case, the battery could still be bad. It takes a lot less smoke to make the lights glow than it does to make the starter work. Which reminds me, how old is the battery, and has anyone tested it to say that it's good?

Or, does the engine crank but just not fire? That's something else entirely. Most likely the carb, given the smell of gas. Or you just might have flooded it.

Oh, and then there's the kill switch. Was it in the run position?

[Cheshire]

Just got my scooter back home in my new (to me) truck. Farewell, RAV4: we worked well together. You'll be missed. Hello, F-150. You're going to be put to work...when I'm not riding Puca. Jealousy isn't allowed in my house.

According to the write-up from Mars (my mechanic), it was the float needle and the stator. (What kind of a word is that, anyway? Strange. ) He also changed out the spark plug, adjusted the valves, and checked the compression while he was at it. Thanks, Mars...if you guys still lurk on this forum any.

It's only been a week or two, but it feels like I haven't ridden in forever. Looking forward to first light tomorrow so I can put the windshield back on and go for a "reacquaintance ride" tomorrow. I was joking around with one of the guys at the shop (I'm bad at names, sorry) while he was helping (mostly him) me load Puca.

Him: Dang, it's cold out here! (it was mid-30's)
Me: Ya know...it was about this temperature when I got this thing.
Him: That's true. *looks at me with renewed "this guy's crazy" look* Stop bringing in the cold weather, alright?

[jrsjr]

According to the write-up from Mars (my mechanic), it was the float needle and the stator. (What kind of a word is that, anyway? Strange. ) He also changed out the spark plug, adjusted the valves, and checked the compression while he was at it. Thanks, Mars...if you guys still lurk on this forum any.

It's a coined word derived from the word, "stationary. Bad stators happen occasionally. There was some controversy at one point about the rate of failure, but there's no doubt that a bunch of them have gone bad.

Really, really glad you're back on the road.

Ride safe, esp over the holidays.

[Cheshire]

Thanks. Here's hoping snow doesn't clog our (the southeast, since you're in richmond) streets for more than a few days at a time.

[Lostmycage]

I'll join in on that holiday wishing!

[Cheshire]

Addendum: After riding a while, I'm noticing that my scooter seems to have woken back up, as though it had been slowly falling asleep over the past several months, slow enough that I hadn't really noticed.

I went to the MC shop today and Mars asked me if I had noticed just that. I'm still learning all the things that go along with scooter maintenance and didn't realize I was supposed to be doing a valve check/adjustment every 4000 miles!

Another testimony to this awesome scooter: I've got 12k miles on the clock and before this, my last valve adjustment was the break-in check at 300 miles. He said they weren't off by much, either.
4000 mile checkup. Noted.