Modern Buddy

Hey all,

How does one check the electric choke to see if it’s working properly? I let my scooter sit over the course of the year, and thought it was possibly a gummy carb. I ended up completely rebuilding it and it acts exactly the same (and I found no gummy deposits anywhere in the carb)… the gas was nice and clean and did not smell stale when I took the carb apart. I cleaned the jet out with a spray can of compressed air due to not having any carb medic on hand. I can keep the throttle in at a quarter but anything lower than that and it automatically dies. If I drive it its perfectly fine until I let out of the throttle to idle. No hesitation at speed, but if I let out of the throttle and the engine goes to idle it dies every time. I would assume it’s the choke… How does one check it? I already disconnected and reconnected the connector and ensured it was connected properly. Thanks! Any other suggestions would be great. (btw flushed the tank, lines, and gas filter when I took carb apart)

1) Disconnect the choke and remove from carb.

2) Check resistance at connector. New, they should be about 4 - 5 Ohms. 10 Ohms and higher - replace.

3) Measure how far the spring-loaded plunger is extended. Connect leads to a 12V battery or power supply. Plunger should extend another 1/8" or so. If not, it's defective.

If you can run the engine for several minutes at 1/4 throttle, the scooter should be warmed up and the auto-choke no longer engaged. If the scooter is still not idling after warm up, this does not sound to me like a choke proplem. Are you sure you do not have a bit of junk in the idle jet? Sounds to me more like a fouled jet or incorrect idle adjustment.

i will pull the idle jet again and clean it with carb cleaner. I was using compressed air from a can, It probally didnt clean it well enough. Thanks for the advice!

After mine set for quite a while I had to drain everything, put in new gas and a fair amount of sea foam only to get the same result you have. So, I turned up the idle to keep it running and the more I ran it the better it got. After about 60 or 70 miles I dropped the idle back down and haven't had a problem since. So, in short, check the idle jet.

Replacement idle jets are not very expensive (a few bucks). If you are not sure whether you are getting the gunk out of it, you can always just change it out.

Dooglas wrote:If you can run the engine for several minutes at 1/4 throttle, the scooter should be warmed up and the auto-choke no longer engaged. If the scooter is still not idling after warm up, this does not sound to me like a choke proplem. Are you sure you do not have a bit of junk in the idle jet? Sounds to me more like a fouled jet or incorrect idle adjustment.

+1. Not the choke.

Did you actually drain and replace all of the gas? Good to do this anyways; really easy to drain if you're disconnecting the carb again.

Totally cleaned out the tank, lines, and filter and boiled the jets in lime juice! Good as new, and purs like a kitten! Thanks for the advise!

Hello Buddyland:

Anyone know where one can buy a replacement electric choke on line, or
from anywhere for the stock carb on a Buddy 125?

Richard

I had to use a magnifier (I'm an old guy) on the low speed jet on a Yamaha 50 Vino to see the plug-up and use a very small wire to remove it since carb cleaner would not touch it. The Vino had been sitting for two months for no good reason and would start but only with a lot of throttle.

Karl