Modern Buddy

Yesterday morning it took a few kicks to get the Buddy going before going to work. Started up, 8 hours later then i drove to a friend's house about 10 miles away. Went to start the scooter later that night, and it wouldn't start. It just chugs, sounds like it will almost start.

We added sea foam and oil because the oil was low, but still can't get it to turn over. Battery is absolutely fine. horn,lights etc is working. It sounds like its just about to start, but just can't get there. We tried kick starting it several times, opened the fuel cap (in case of fuel vapor).

Any ideas? last time this happened sea foam did the trick but that was over a year ago.

Thanks !

Needle value might be clogged.

If all else fails-
Stator? Possibly the pick-up part. Hard to know for sure without changing it.

scootERIK wrote:Needle value might be clogged.

If all else fails-
Stator? Possibly the pick-up part. Hard to know for sure without changing it.

Thanks! not sure what that is? Any idea how to clean it?

[email protected] wrote:

scootERIK wrote:Needle value might be clogged.

If all else fails-
Stator? Possibly the pick-up part. Hard to know for sure without changing it.

Thanks! not sure what that is? Any idea how to clean it?

Wait I see, looks like its related to the carburetor?

Just because lights come on doesn't mean the battery is good. You don't know of a known-good spare you could borrow? You can also try jumping off of a non-running car (I think - wait for verification!)

Syd wrote:Just because lights come on doesn't mean the battery is good. You don't know of a known-good spare you could borrow? You can also try jumping off of a non-running car (I think - wait for verification!)

Even with a bad battery the kick start should still work, so he could try kicking it and see what happens.



OP- when you try and start it does it start to smell like gas after a lot of attempts?

...and, no offense, but I have to throw this in there...make sure the run switch is in the "on" position...

[email protected] wrote:

scootERIK wrote:Needle value might be clogged.

If all else fails-
Stator? Possibly the pick-up part. Hard to know for sure without changing it.

Thanks! not sure what that is?

Excellent question. It's like a muffler bearing; NO Such Thing.
Avoid advice from people who don't even know the proper names for things.

Beamster wrote:

[email protected] wrote:

scootERIK wrote:Needle value might be clogged.

If all else fails-
Stator? Possibly the pick-up part. Hard to know for sure without changing it.

Thanks! not sure what that is?

Excellent question. It's like a muffler bearing; NO Such Thing.
Avoid advice from people who don't even know the proper names for things.

YES, such a thing does exist, just not in a Buddy carb. I meant the needle jet. Sorry I screwed up.

But I do stand by the stator possibly being the problem.

Thanks guys! been very busy with work and family havent had time to troubleshoot further. I had someone suggest changing the spark plugs first? You guys know how to get to the spark plugs on these things ?

Behind your calves when you are sitting on it there is a cover, open that and you will see where the spark plug is.

Pictures in this thread-
topic20718.html

How about some more troubleshooting info? Like why you had to kick start it the other day, or how long it say before you rode it? Stuff like that.

I have a 150 Buddy St Tropez. It sat for 6 months. I charged the battery and have checked everything with a multimeter. The spark plug is clean too. I cleaned the carb with carb cleaner but not sure about cleaning the jets correctly I cranked it with fuel lines off to make sure it's pumping gas through the filter. I previously blew out some lines with nitrogen from a gallo gun. It does have all new gas in the tank. NOW, with all gas lines attached, spark plug wires, key on and switch on it tries to start but will not turn over. It must be these jets because the scooter has sat so long with bad gas gumming things up. Are these jets under that black cap ontop of my carb? The doosh at the scooter shop on
CENTRAL AVENUE IN CHARLOTTE NORTH CAROLINA stripped one of the screws on it and I can't get that off. They actually tried to sell me a new carb, saying mine was rusted, I said, arn't they aluminum? He said, yes, but it's the brass. I was in the Navy and I never seen brass rust so I got my bike outta there as fast as I could. They tried to keep my carb, I noticed it was missing when I was loading the bike. ANYWAYS, Any Ideas on cleaning these jets and anything else?? I was thinking a bit of sea foam in the tank too.

The jets are at the bottom of the carb - they stick down into the lower bowl. DON'T open the top unless the jet cleanup doesn't work - the diaphragm is under there and is fragile and easy to misalign.

You pull the carb, turn it upside down, and remove the brass screws holding the bowl on. You'll see a couple of floats (which control the admit of fuel into the bowl) and the two jets. The jets unscrew (GENTLY), and can be cleaned with carb cleaner / SeaFoam and a thin wire.

Found carb diagram on the service manuals, parts section of this site. I'll clean some more and may replace the spark plug for fun.

I'll keep that good advice in mind and report back.

The scooter shop said they cleaned the carb, but look at this nasty float valve! It didn't even move! When I first got access to it, I pushed the BB looking top to it in with the head of a screwdriver and it stuck in. This baby is going on tonight.

Without a working float valve, you're not going anywhere. That valve completely admits/closes-off fuel to the bowl and hence to the jets and the topside / manifold. You might be able to clean it up some with some SeaFoam (which I see you have handy) or spray carb cleaner. If you have a piece of plastic hose to attach to the fuel inlet, you can test the valve by gently blowing into the fuel inlet and pushing the float with your finger. As you push it up, it should cut off, but when you let go and drop the float (carb right-side-up), it should open and let the air through.

This was Not A Thing Of Joy on my old Honda 550F with 4 carbs. I was repeatedly stupid year after year about winterization, and it seems the float valves were the first thing to get gummed.

rg3 wrote:I'll keep that good advice in mind and report back.

Better yet . . instead of hijacking threads, start your own if needed after using the forum search feature (or Google advanced search) to review previous discussions?

tortoise wrote:

rg3 wrote:I'll keep that good advice in mind and report back.

Better yet . . instead of hijacking threads, start your own if needed after using the forum search feature (or Google advanced search) to review previous discussions?

Good point tortoise. Gawd knows there is plenty of thread space here.

What do you say cman? What's the status of your non-starting Buddy?

Syd wrote:

tortoise wrote:

rg3 wrote:I'll keep that good advice in mind and report back.

Better yet . . instead of hijacking threads, start your own if needed after using the forum search feature (or Google advanced search) to review previous discussions?

Good point tortoise. Gawd knows there is plenty of thread space here.

What do you say cman? What's the status of your non-starting Buddy?

Wow, just have had no time to work on this. Dryer stopped working etc had to fix that and overall family life! Finally July 4th, I'll be attempting to clean the carb jets with some carb cleaner and WD40, will see what happens. Battery is good, new spark plug, i guess carb cleaning is the next step.

thanks guys.