Buddy 125 sputtering inconsistently

Drew · Post by **Drew** » Sun May 27, 2012 5:25 pm

I took a 110 mile round trip ride yesterday and about half way through my Buddy got me a little worried. It started to sputter periodically. Like it was missing. I thought maybe I had some bad gas or dirt in the tank. I filled the tank and it still was happening once in a while. As I got near home it was happening more. It previously had only happened under load but was now running rough while idling at traffic lights. I have a drilled gas cap so I know it isn't the gas tank vacuum problem.

I'm not much of a mechanic but today I reseated the spark plug wire on the plug. It didn't seem loose but I thought it was worth a try. I also put some gas stabilizer in the tank. When I took it for a ride it ran fine but since it was acting inconsistently yesterday I'm not sure if it is really ok now or not.

What else can cause those symptoms? It was really hot yesterday, but could it have something to do with engine temp since I was on a long ride? I have about 10800 miles on it and have been keeping up with all the maintenance.

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Sun May 27, 2012 5:43 pm

How many miles does the scooter have on it?

Drew · Post by **Drew** » Sun May 27, 2012 5:46 pm

I have about 10800 miles on it.

tortoise · Post by **tortoise** » Sun May 27, 2012 5:48 pm

Ignition troubleshooting guidelines. The trigger pickup coil is among the usual suspects.

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Sun May 27, 2012 5:52 pm

When was the last service?

When was the last time you changed or gapped the spark plug?

Did you just start riding it again after letting it sit all winter? If so, run a few tanks with Seafoam in it. Because beside the ignition problems tortoise linked, it could be a fuel feed problem too.

Though not related to sputtering:

When was the last time you adjusted your valves?

When was the last time you changed your belt/rollers?

Drew · Post by **Drew** » Mon May 28, 2012 9:06 pm

Thanks guys. Maybe it was the spark plug wire or something in the gas because those are the only things I messed with and now it seems to be running fine. I took it for a fairly long ride today and I couldn't make it do it even once.

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Mon May 28, 2012 9:48 pm

Make sure you never fill up the tank all the way. ALWAYS leave a couple inches between the fuel and the cap on every fill-up. You may have had fuel spill into the overflow tube and into the charcoal filter clogging it up.

Drew · Post by **Drew** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:16 pm

k1dude, I know what you're talking about because I've done that before. I know that wasn't the cause this time because when it started happening the tank was over half empty. And when I filled the tank on my return trip I know it wasn't over-filled.

JettaKnight · Post by **JettaKnight** » Tue May 29, 2012 5:05 pm

I know I'm biased, but I had the same problem on my 2007 and the culprit was the ground wire from the coil.

Does your problem happen at a specific throttle or speed?

Does it start OK?

tortoise · Post by **tortoise** » Tue May 29, 2012 5:26 pm

JettaKnight wrote:had the same problem on my 2007 and the culprit was the ground wire from the coil.

Thread link.

Drew · Post by **Drew** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:51 am

Thanks JettaKnight and tortoise. It doesn't quite seem like the same symptoms and it hasn't done it since Saturday. It never had a problem starting. When it began it only happened under load but at the last traffic light when I was nearly home it was sputtering at idle. Since I reseated the spark plug wire and put some gas stabilizer in the tank on Sunday it has been running fine. But the longest ride I've taken since Saturday is only about ten miles. I only live 3 1/2 miles from work. I'm going to hope it was just the spark plug wire or the gas unless it starts happening again.

Drew · Post by **Drew** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:45 pm

Well, it started acting up again this week so I took it to my dealer this morning. Although it sputtered a little while on the way to my dealer, when I got there it ran fine. He took it for a ride and couldn't make it happen again. He looked at the spark plug and it looked fine. I replaced it anyway. He said it could be any number of things and that it is easier to diagnose a scooter that isn't running at all than one that is acting up intermittently.

Then I went for a ride for about two hours. I thought I noticed it sputtering a little a few times but it was so subtle that I wasn't sure. Then I stopped briefly along the road to take a pic of my speedo when it turned over 11111.1 and for some reason I turned it off with the key instead of using the kill switch. There was a pop from the exhaust and when I restarted it the sputtering started again and continued intermittently for several miles until it got very steady. Thinking it had something to do with the way I had turned it off, I turned the ignition off and then back on again while I was still moving. After doing that about three times the sputtering stopped and it was fine for the next few miles until I got home.

Does this new info give any of you knowlegable scooter gurus any ideas as to what would cause this?

Post by **ericalm** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:41 pm

CDI/stator.

Drew · Post by **Drew** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 1:49 am

Well, after replacing the CDI, spark plug, and thoroughly cleaning the carburetor, I am embarrassed to report that the problem was the spark plug wire. There is a little cross bar inside the spark plug wire that is supposed to catch on the threads on the top of the spark plug to hold it in place. That cross bar piece was no longer holding the spark plug wire on the spark plug and it would come loose. It's obvious now that I know what that cause was. I have a new spark plug wire ordered. In the mean time I have the old spark plug wire wedged in place so I can ride. I just wanted to post a follow up so that anyone else with a similar problem would know to check this.

Tocsik · Post by **Tocsik** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:02 am

Did you order the Bando coil or a stock replacement from Scooterworks?

The Bando is the orange one shown in this tutorial.

Drew · Post by **Drew** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:06 am

I ordered the stock one. Is the Bando one better?

easy · Post by **easy** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:36 am

I had the orange aftermarket coil and the sparkplug cap went bad got the stock coil back on for now. I got a ngk cap on order thru buggypartsnw $10 inc shipping

Modern Buddy

Buddy 125 sputtering inconsistently

Buddy 125 sputtering inconsistently

Re: Buddy 125 sputtering inconsistently