Modern Buddy

I really did not want post another SYM warning.

About 2 months ago, after my SYM HD200 was totalled, I began to ride my SYMba more often. I started noticing a lot of acceleration hesitation especially on the cold mornings.

Then about 2 weeks ago, I noticed a intermittent loss of power and it was getting harder to start. I checked the oil the next day and it was overfull and watery. I smelled it, gas! I changed the oil and it ran fine. Oil was at the right level. Next day, I started it and checked the oil again. Gas again.

I took it into the dealer where I bought it. Bad fuel tap. I don't even have 1100 miles on it. Worse, they couldn't find a part. Parts availability again has bitten me. They installed a new generic fuel tap with a fuel cut-off valve.

I will let you draw your own conclusion about SYM from my story.

Just to make it clear (and I'm not just defending the new distributor), is the 'Worse, they couldn't find a part' the dealer or Alliance?

Syd wrote:Just to make it clear (and I'm not just defending the new distributor), is the 'Worse, they couldn't find a part' the dealer or Alliance?

I assume it was Alliance.

my conclusion is this doesn't sound so bad. maybe its just adding to some prior frustration?

I loved my Symba but sold it last year when I could still get a decent buck for it. Too bad the support just isn't what it should be.

this is what I did to get rid of all the fuel issues:

1) Get rid of the evap system if you have one, let the tank over flow hose just drain out at the bottom of the bike. Get rid of all that is not needed and plug up what is left. Make sure none of the hoses are pinched.

2) Put a manual petcock on.

3) Put a paper fuel filter on.

It has a vacuum petcock? Does everything have them these days?

If that's all it took to fix it then I would keep the manual and never look back. Until I got my PC, I never owned anything without a manual petcock. Think of it as added theft protection.

If the Symba is just an updated Cub, and if the QC is up to snuff, you should have very little trouble with it. After all, Honda made them way into the millions, with lots of them still chugging away.

I wonder just how close of a copy it is and if perhaps any Honda parts would fit, especially the engine parts. Might be valuable info if getting parts through the SYM pipeline is a problem. Between NOS and used, you could be up to your eyes in bits. After all, Honda used that engine it lots of stuff.