Modern Buddy

OK, everyone, with a new starter and a good battery, sometimes the scooter will not start. I have learned to open up the battery area and wriggle the wires. Then the machine starts. They are attached very tightly to the battery. It is more like there is a short in the lines? I also think that there is a "clunk" sound when either I turn the key OR when I push the "on" button. The sound is, interestingly, in the motor area. I have yet to confirm this, but it happened twice today.

Any bright thoughts?

If your battery is bad or the connection not good the clunk could be the starter engaging enough to clunk, but not enough to move the flywheel.

How do you know the battery is good? How old is it? Does your scooter spend a lot of time just sitting and not being used? Is it stored inside or outside?
And what Syd says is true.

Use a 5/16" nut driver to tighten down the terminal bolts. You'll get much greater torque on them than using a screwdriver.

I took the battery into a motorcycle shop and they put it on the charger. I registers full power.

I use the scooter daily. Note the I had said that twice in one day it had not started. Also note that the other times on that day I started it, there was no problem.

The screwdriver/ driver option is something I will follow up on, but I can't make the terminals move at all right now.

When it does start, there is no strain... it starts just fine. I'll keep trying!

Take the wires from the battery and lightly sand the wires and terminals with fine grit sandpaper then put some dielectric grease on them to ensure that you have a solid connection with no corrosion. Also, if you took the bike/battery into a repair shop, what did they say about your issue?

The shop replaced the starter, which did need replacing. Before they did that, I could sometimes make it start by turning off the switch, wriggling the switch and then turning it back on. Now the "solution" is a little more complex, causing me to open up the battery area and wriggle those wires. I have, in the past, sanded the terminals.

I'll go back and do them as well. I had never tried the conducting "grease"!

The clunk you are hearing might be the starter relay. It is pretty easy to test the starter relay. If you lay a screwdriver across the positive and negative terminals and it starts then your relay might be bad.

Here's a video that shows the location-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdcPSEXYPqQ

Did the motorcycle shop test the battery under load? If not take it into an auto parts store and have them test the cold cranking amps. It can be fully charged showing 12+ amps, and not have enough amps to start the scooter.

but if it doesn't start the scooter, would it sometimes start it, but other times not start it?? That is what is happening... sometimes it starts up just fine. Other times, nothing.

Did the motorcycle shop load test the battery?

I had a similar problem with my Buddy 125. It progressed and the controls, gas gauge, electric start etc.. eventually stopped working. My dealer replaced the fuse and the fuse "box" with a better one. The main fuse box on the Buddy 125 is an old, inefficient piece that uses outdated and shoddy fuses.

The issue was resolved with the repair. Maybe this will help you.

Wow! Thanks. I've today sanded and put back the battery connections very tightly. Your suggestion, long with stress testing the battery, are the next items...

I 2nd cummingsjc's suggestion about sanding the battery terminals and connecting wires until they shine up. Then, reconnecting the wires tightly and then using the dielectic grease. My scooter would suddenly not start and "oxidized" (I guess that is the process) battery terminals were the issue. This kept occurring until finally I used the diectric grease. I've not had the problem for some time. This, of course, may not be your problem, but it is cheap and easy to take this step. It's amazing how important a good connection is between the battery terminals and the wires.