Please help! My Buddy 50 won't start with kick starter!

[luckyprincess]

Hi! My battery died when I used my scooter to charge my cell after a hurricane. So then I started using my kick starter alone. It's been that way for a few months. Tonight I had to kick it five times to start and then after I was ready to go home I couldn't get it to kick start! Plus the horn barely blows and the lights are really dim. Could my battery be too dead to kick start?? If I try to change the battery will my scooter work again? Please help!!

[TVB]

I don't know if it's possible for the battery be "too dead" to kickstart; mine's pretty dead right now (waiting until Spring to replace it), and I've been able to kickstart it for several short trips. Sometimes it's been harder to do than others, probably depending on temperature/humidity.

One thing that I've discovered is that mine needs me to have the throttle open a bit for it to kickstart. It's a little more awkward to kick it that way, but it helps a lot.

What do you mean by "the lights"? The turn signals (and the horn, I think) run off the battery, so those won't work if the battery is discharged, even if the engine is running. It can take a while riding (recharging it) before they'll work properly. The headlight, however, runs directly off the engine, and as long as it's running strong (not just idling) it should be at full brightness. If it isn't... I'd suspect an electrical problem other than the battery, that's preventing the engine from producing enough electricity. But start with the battery.

Definitely try charging the battery overnight if you can, but at this point it does sound like your battery has had it, if you've been riding and it's not getting recharged. If you don't have a charger, you can jumpstart it from the battery of car that isn't running. Then go for a long ride... to the battery store.

[VinylDoctor]

yeah, plus if your battery is dead or dieing the auto-choke is not going to work right.
I think the stella has a manual choke.

[spr0k3t]

If you go to replace your battery, throw a Gel based battery in there. You'll thank me later for doing so. The deep cycle batteries are much more forgiving for getting to a point where there's no charge. I would say there's a life span of more than seven to ten times better.

While you're at it... get yourself a battery tender. That will keep the life up quite a bit. You will also need to apply a little gas when kickstarting it if the battery is dead. Do a couple pumps at WOT, release the gas and then try to kickstart as normal. If it does not fire up right away, let it sit for a few and try again.

[DanielPerrin]

What do you mean by "the lights"? The turn signals (and the horn, I think) run off the battery, so those won't work if the battery is discharged, even if the engine is running. It can take a while riding (recharging it) before they'll work properly. The headlight, however, runs directly off the engine, and as long as it's running strong (not just idling) it should be at full brightness.

Turn signals and horns are handy, but I suppose that you can go without those, if you must. How about the brake light? Any idea if the brake light is run directly off the engine? I like having the brake light give a hint to cagers behind me to stop.

[PeteH]

I don't know about the Bud50, but on the 150, the brake light runs off the battery. Ignition on / engine off should light the brake light when you squeeze before starting.

[leighjam]

I'm a new Buddy owner and have had the same problem. Two things I learned after working with a mechanic - 1) If you are in cold weather, you have to charge your battery regularly (there should be other forums on battery charging) 2) To kick start you have to turn the throttle and then slowly feed it gas to keep the motor running. Good luck!