I was giving my scoot a bath the other day and I am afraid I got something wet I shouldn't have.
It ran a bit after cleaning it until I shut it off, but now I can't get a spark at the spark plug. It turns over fine though. I took off the flywheel fan and noticed that a gray electric switch thing sitting on top of the big gear (which that flange looks a little damaged too) for the starter looks to be damaged a little. Like it welded itself (open or closed.) Does this deal with the timing of the ignition? Could this be the problem?
I have an older Haynes manual but it doesn’t have this part on it. I have a newer manual on the way. She’s my daily driver. I would like to do the work myself and have nothing but time to fix her.
My first guess would be that your kill switch has failed.
There is a connector under the horn cast (I can't remember the wire color) that if you disconnect it and the scooter starts, you know it was the kill switch.
Go to stellaspeed.com and search for the words 'kill switch' and you'll find several posts that can help you out.
I had my stella for about a week before the kill switch went out. Unfortunately it went out while I was across town and it was raining really hard (some people have said that water may be involved in a shorted kill switch). I had to get it towed and it was a big ordeal, but the shop had it going in five minutes. No joke, they took one look at it and fixed before I had finished telling them how weird the tow-truck driver was. It may take you a little longer because you have to look up which wire to cut, but that is the only reason it is harder. I just had them permanently disconnect my switch, I didn't want the problem to happen again.
She’s alive! Thank you so much. After I disconnected the switch it started great till about a block down the road. I pushed it for a bit then it started up fine. Hmmm I found my spark plug plug wasn’t sitting fully on the plug thanks to that plastic cowl thing. So I trimmed her up a little and she worked till the end of the block again… Then I found I pinched the fuel line by were it goes into the carburetor and the metal thing holding it to that cowl. Well now she runs like a charm! I love my Stella!
My wife as well as another friend had trouble after the first rainfall after each got their stellas, they disconnected the switches and both worked again. i disconnected mine after i got it home knowing that it was sure to fail.
