Modern Buddy

We went for a long ride today and at some points I noticed a burning oil smell. After a bit I noticed it was my scooter! The ride consisted of about 60mi of WOT @ 50 to 55mph 2up (roughly 270lbs). When we got home and were looking around we noticed that the breather, and the air filter are covered in oil. The bottom of the air filter was especially bad, it looked saturated. You could also see splashes of oil all over the top of the crank case.

Another thing I've noticed is that the pipe for my exhaust has gone from chrome to gold to black. It stayed gold for quite some time, but just recently (over the last few rides) it has transformed. The little metal spring that held the 2 pieces of the exhaust has also rusted off.

Any idea's whats going on or what I should do?

By no means an expert but first guess is that you have a leak. How much oil is in the crankcase as measured by dipstick?

Its dark out or I'd go check. I'm thinking about throwing a 150cc kit at the problem. If the head gasket is gone, that will be fixed in the process.

Without seeing it and a visual inspection, I'd guess bad gasket or seal.

My guess is head gasket. I didn't realize it until last night but the clutch has been slipping really bad. This means at 55mph the engine is at much higher revs then it should be. All of that extra pressure, and the fact that I might have been running slightly lean seems pretty bad.

I started it this morning and rode it 1/4th of a block and you could smell the burning oil the whole way so its definitely serious.

So now fr0zens scooter is totaled, my scooter is out of commission and to make this even worse I burned up the clutch in the car this morning. I swear if one more bad thing happens my head is gonna pop. I've got half a mind to sell the scooter and the car and buy a bike and call it quits.

Try to track down the source of the leak. If it is the head I would try retorquing the head bolts to spec.

Unsure of how it's all laid out on the Vino, but if you cleaned up the underside, put it on the centerstand and revved it, you might be able to see some spray or leakage.

You definitely don't want to run it much more though. Could seize the engine!

ericalm wrote:Unsure of how it's all laid out on the Vino, but if you cleaned up the underside, put it on the centerstand and revved it, you might be able to see some spray or leakage.

You definitely don't want to run it much more though. Could seize the engine!

I'll second that. The Vino will be really similar to the Buddy. Pull the plastic cooling shroud off and watch for leaks. should be fairly simple to spot of you're able to smell it.

Use some spray on powder (Tinactin? or something like that) around where you think it's leaking. Make sure that you start with the right amount of oil on the dipstick and run it around the block. The leak will show up very clearly over the fresh white powder. Once you've got it tracked down, it should wipe right off.