Buddy carburator idling problems

martys · Post by **martys** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:32 pm

I have a 2007 Buddy Italia 125 with about 1000 miles on it. For the last two years it has mostly just sat in the garage as my wife was recovering from knee surgery followed by a broken leg. I know, don't get me started on her bad luck. So that was 2012, the prior year I couldn't get it to start so I had a private mechanic who used to work for the shop where I bought it get it running. but ever since it just doesn't run well. The cold idle is too high and the warm idle stalls very easily.

When you first start it, the cold idle is very high, the rear wheel spins far too fast and when you take it off the stand it will jump out of your hands if you're not on the brake. The warm idle is really low, nearly stalling. If I turn it up the cold idle goes even faster. It's common for the scooter to just stall once warmed up when you pause at stop signs and red lights.

I'm want to sell the scooter now that spring is here but I just don't feel right trying to sell it the way it is. I'm not very comfortable opening the carb up to fiddle with the inner workings and I don't want to spend $300-$400 on a service just to sell it.

Any ideas?

lovemysan · Post by **lovemysan** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:53 am

It sounds like the idle mix is set lean and the idle is too high. Just guessing though. Most likely you need a carb clean, oil, and gear oil change.

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:15 am

I had a scoot with the same problem. It turned out to be a bad choke/auto bystarter. New one made it all better.

JettaKnight · Post by **JettaKnight** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:25 pm

How did you determine the idle was too high when the choke is engaged?

Run any Seafoam through it?

martys · Post by **martys** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:43 am

it's pretty obvious the idle is too high because the wheel spins *much* faster than it used to before I had the scoot worked on and the bike literally jumps out of your hands if your not careful. I have put seafoam in it as more of a gas preservative then a cleaner, I guess it will do both.

I called the local Buddy dealer, they're going to give the carb a good cleaning, change the fluids and clean her up for the next owner. They said it should be less than 2 hours work. For me this is money well spent.

Whimscootie · Post by **Whimscootie** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:01 am

Mine idles irregularly, stalls out, and the rear wheel doesn't spin at all on the center stand.

Wonder what that means?

kmrcstintn · Post by **kmrcstintn** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:18 pm

Mine idles irregularly, stalls out, and the rear wheel doesn't spin at all on the center stand.

Wonder what that means?

mine was doing that in colder weather prior to storage, so I increased the idle speed by turning the screw 1/8 of a turn; did it make the rear wheel spin faster when the choke was engaged? yes; does the scooter stall out and die once the choke disengages? no; I just wait til the rpm's reduce and the rear wheel stops spinning before I take the scoot off the centerstand and begin riding; I suspect that winter-blend gas is the culprit (even mixed in StarBrite StarTron as an ethanol stabilizer/fuel treatment) or the factory tuning to make them run lean to meet EPA standards!

martys · Post by **martys** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:24 am

I just wanted to follow up on this. The local buddy shop removed the carb, cleaned it all up, and found the previous shade tree mechanic who worked on it had the idle totally maxed out and the a/f mix was way off. They also found the automatic fuel petcock was bad, being stuck open all the time and dumping gas into the carb until it overflowed.

It runs much better now, and once it warms up doesn't stall any more. Should be good to sell now that spring is arriving.

Dooglas · Post by **Dooglas** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 5:39 pm

martys wrote:I just wanted to follow up on this. The local buddy shop removed the carb, cleaned it all up, and found the previous shade tree mechanic who worked on it had the idle totally maxed out and the a/f mix was way off.

Sounds like lovemysan called this one exactly right.

lovemysan wrote:It sounds like the idle mix is set lean and the idle is too high.

martys · Post by **martys** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:16 pm

Dooglas wrote:
martys wrote:I just wanted to follow up on this. The local buddy shop removed the carb, cleaned it all up, and found the previous shade tree mechanic who worked on it had the idle totally maxed out and the a/f mix was way off.
Sounds like lovemysan called this one exactly right.

lovemysan wrote:It sounds like the idle mix is set lean and the idle is too high.

mostly right. the faulty petcock also contributed to the stalling from overflowing the carbs.