Modern Buddy

UPDATE: See my last post on this thread, issue is fixed.

Hi guys - stumbled upon this forum while researching by problem so this is my first post...

Some time this fall my parked buddy 170i got knocked over by a vehicle causing the left break handle to break off the assembly. I ordered and completely replaced the left break handle assembly and while I was at it put in a new battery as well.

Prior to the repair I could jiggle the broken break lever a bit and get the scooter to "chug" / engine would respond (though I couldn't ever hold the broken lever in place long enough to get a full start).

After the repair and battery swap when I try to start the scooter absolutely nothing happens when pushing the ignition button .

Here are some other notable things:

1) When inserting the key and turning on the power I hear the fuel injector pump do its thing and I also see the self-check engine light do its normal thing.

2) I've tried flipping the kill switch just to see if that would be the culprit but no luck.

3)I can turn on the flashers, blow the horn, and the brake lights come on when pulling the new left brake lever

I'm a bit at a loss - my thoughts are maybe I blew a fuse thats preventing the ignition key from being responsive? Not sure where the fuse box is though or if that's even possible. Any help on the matter is greatly appreciated!

fannet wrote:Prior to the repair I could jiggle the broken break lever a bit and get the scooter to "chug" / engine would respond (though I couldn't ever hold the broken lever in place long enough to get a full start).

Have you tried holding the other (right side) brake and trying to start it that way? That should work even if the left hand switch were completely broken. Give that a try before we get into a lot of troubleshooting.

I think JRS nailed it. Just start it all right hand and you'll probably get life! the rear lever may not be sitting right to engage the sensor. I've gone through a few rear brake levers, and didn't quite get it to sit right the first time.

Also, be aware that if the left brake lever won't start the scoot then it probably isn't lighting the brake light either.

I agree with the three gentlemen above. Give us an update if the right lever doesn't work.

Make sure side stand is up too and switch is functioning properly. Maybe side stand switch was injured in the fall.

What side stand switch?

The Buddy does not have a side stand safety switch?

Make sure the kill switch isn't flipped either.

Thanks everyone for the replies - I tried everyone's suggestions but had no luck:

1) Holding right break lever while starting
2) Trying the kill switch again just for good measure
3) Making sure the side kickstand was up (though I'm fairly sure I've started it in the past with the kickstand down)

To someone else's comment regarding the brake light - it does come on when the brake lever is applied.

fannet wrote:Thanks everyone for the replies - I tried everyone's suggestions but had no luck:

1) Holding right break lever while starting
2) Trying the kill switch again just for good measure
3) Making sure the side kickstand was up (though I'm fairly sure I've started it in the past with the kickstand down)

To someone else's comment regarding the brake light - it does come on when the brake lever is applied.

EDIT: I forgot, this is an FI bike. Not kickstarter, right? Durn.

jrsjr wrote: Have you ever kick started it before?

unless I'm mistaken I don't believe the 170i has a kickstart mechanism

jrsjr wrote:P.S. Have you got a voltmeter?

unfortunately not

Sorry about that. I did the facepalm thing as soon as I posted and tried to kill it before you saw it. Of course, no kick on a FI bike. Okay, so next I want to know if your battery really has some life to it. It's actually probably better that you don't have a voltmeter because they can be misleading. Do you have a battery shop, like a Batteries Plus, near you? The best thing to do is to haul the battery in to them and let them check it out. THey have a gizmo that really wrings the battery out and prints a little report to let you know whether the battery is actually right.

Again, I apologize for my brain fart on the post.

jrsjr wrote:Sorry about that. I did the facepalm thing as soon as I posted and tried to kill it before you saw it. Of course, no kick on a FI bike. Okay, so next I want to know if your battery really has some life to it. It's actually probably better that you don't have a voltmeter because they can be misleading. Do you have a battery shop, like a Batteries Plus, near you? The best thing to do is to haul the battery in to them and let them check it out. THey have a gizmo that really wrings the battery out and prints a little report to let you know whether the battery is actually right.

Again, I apologize for my brain fart on the post.

lol no worries. I'm in NYC so I'll need to google around to see where I can get this done. The battery is brand new and the old one had charge as well and was only replaced as a "sanity" check....though I realize that's a bit brute-force

Ah, so it's a brand new battery? I agree with your idea to dbl check to make sure that it is good. I've had personal experience with a brand new battery being bad and it's happened to others here on this forum before. Get that checked out so you know for sure where you are. The secret to troubleshooting is to start with something that you know for certain is good, in this case, the power source which is the battery and work from there.

I apologize again for my hasty posts. I was trying to hurry while you were still logged on and my laptop went all blue screen of death on me. So now I'm doing a bad job of posting from my backup Chromebook.

fannet wrote:lol no worries. I'm in NYC so I'll need to google around to see where I can get this done.

If you're calling around, what you are looking for is a shop that had a "load tester that can test the cold cranking ability of your battery." If the guy on the other end of the phone has no clue what you're talking about when you say that, try another place.

Any place that sells car batteries can test it.

Sometimes you have to be careful with "new" batteries. Ever wonder why there is a core charge for those things? You return the old one for the 5 or so dollars and its shipped off to a recycle facility. Now the core has one of two things done to it. Its either stripped out and sent to hazardous waste or with testing, and if deemed salvageable, some or all of it is reclaimed and reused in a "new" battery after reconditioning it. So your "new" battery may not be so new.

So it took me a while to get enough time and really dig into what was wrong but after having the battery tested (all tests were fine) it turned out my problem was not the battery.

The 170i has quite a few fuses. One fuse located int he battery compartment and several more (5 or 6) behind the front cowl. I decided to remove/re-seed all the fuses just incase they got knocked loose when the scooter fell. Sure enough after I did that the scooter fired right up!

Glad it was a simple fix and thanks for everyone's suggestions.