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Stumped

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 12:26 pm
by 3angieyou
I'm having a very frustrating problem with my Stella. It happened last summer, and I thought I had a fix, but it just happened again last night after its spring service.

Last night I went for a ride on a warm, but not overly hot, night. Filled it up with gas. About half way thru my 25 minute ride to a friends house, the scooter just died while i was going about 50. I had just recently gone up a hill (where it seemed a bit sluggish). Before dying, it jerked. It would gain power, then lose power, then gain again before just shutting off completely. I stopped, pulled the gas cap off, let it sit for a minute and then it turned over the second kick and I was able to continue my ride.

I stopped by a store with my friend and grabbed something to take some gas out of the scoot, thinking that maybe I had just overfilled it. But on the way home, on the same 25 minute ride, it was WAY worse. I couldn't go more than 2 minutes without the scoot just shutting off. I'd stop, pull the gas cap off, sit for a minute and then go for another two minutes. So frustrating at night especially with no street lamps when your entire bike shuts off and you go dark. The ONLY thing that ended up working was me pulling off the right cowl and riding without it. No stalling then.

Recent service included valve adjustment and valve gasket cover replacement.
The EVAP system was deleted last summer.
I drilled a hole in my gas cap last summer as well.
The dealer also fix my carb (last crap mechanic put something in backwards)
New tires (should have done this earlier)
And complete service and bike gone over to ensure summer riding readiness.

I completely trust the mechanics I went to (POC Scooters) but I'm not sure what is happening. Could I not be getting enough air hence the cowl cover being removed having worked?

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 1:17 pm
by ArgonV
For me, this happens after I haven't ran the Scooter for a couple of weeks. After about 1 rest, gas cap off then on, and restart it clears up.

I did shorten the gas line from the tank so it doesn't droop, and this helped a lot.

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 1:32 pm
by 3angieyou
How hard is it to shorten the gas line for a non mechanically inclined person?

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 3:07 pm
by ArgonV
Not very hard at all. You also may want to just check how it's routed. It could be that it got moved to where there's a sump or kink in it after all of that work was done.

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 4:10 pm
by BigDaddy SnakeOiler
ArgonV wrote:You also may want to just check how it's routed. It could be that it got moved to where there's a sump or kink in it after all of that work was done.
I was just going to post about this. After a few frustrating weeks of trying to cure vapor-lock, it turns out my problem was a kink in the fuel line. I cut off an inch and re-routed it.

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 5:07 pm
by 3angieyou
I went and checked my fuel line. There are no kinks, but it does dip down. Should it not? Anyway to post a pic?