Some trouble with my '09 Stella

addamoose · Post by **addamoose** » Wed May 30, 2012 9:02 pm

Howdy all,

I've got an '09 Stella that I just moved home from College, and it stopped working in a very weird way.

I got it off the moving van this past Sunday and rode it over to the gas station, put fresh gas in it and all that jazz and then rode it home with no problems. Later that night, I got it started up and started riding it over to my friend's house when it died as I was shifting between second and third gear. I thought maybe I had just left the fuel line closed on accident, but it was open and there shouldn't have been any problems, but since then, I haven't been able to start it. The best I've gotten out of her is a quick engine turn-over and then it dies again instantly.

The only other (potentially) relevant information that I can think of is that it slipped over in the van once or twice (at that point I had the gas at a very low level and it was fully padded on all sides, so not even any body or cowl damage) and I washed it in my driveway before taking it to the gas station.

I just got it last summer, so she's still under warranty, but the nearest Stella Dealer is almost two hours away so I'd like to handle it myself if possible. I don't have a lot of know-how, but I've been brushing up on some things in preparation to try to diagnose what might be wrong.

Any opinions?

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Wed May 30, 2012 10:59 pm

he best I've gotten out of her is a quick engine turn-over and then it dies again instantly.

This immediately makes me think that your killswitch has gone bad. It will die in the engaged position and then prevents you from starting it/kills it immediately if it does start.

If this is the issue you can easily fix it by disconnecting it either from inside the headset or by unscrewing the panel that the switch is mounted in from the outside.

addamoose · Post by **addamoose** » Thu May 31, 2012 12:22 am

@Lokky: Thanks! I'll take a look into it in the morning.

viney266 · Post by **viney266** » Thu May 31, 2012 4:58 am

Check that kill switch AND pull the spark plug and put a fresh one in... ALways when a 2 stroke defies logic for starting

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Thu May 31, 2012 6:00 am

viney266 wrote:Check that kill switch AND pull the spark plug and put a fresh one in... ALways when a 2 stroke defies logic for starting

Yes spark plug would definitely be the next logic step, if that fails the spark plug boot!

izark47 · Post by **izark47** » Thu May 31, 2012 1:47 pm

having commuted for a year on MzStella the clue there was you washed it. I would disconnect the kill switch. I was stopped more than once by it until i disconnected it. Spark plug and and then check the spark plug wire next as if mine had the rubber sleeve slide up in shipping and it caused the same symptoms.

addamoose · Post by **addamoose** » Thu May 31, 2012 6:37 pm

Thanks for the support, everybody but, things seem to be going from bad to worse...

So I hopped on it and tried to start her up just to see what I was still dealing with and my electric starter made this sound it had made last year when the starter gears were misaligned. (this is what the dealer told me was the cause of the noise after I had seen him to get it fixed. Again, not a lot of technical prowess to be able to diagnose that myself).

So I haven't disconnected the killswitch yet, because now I'm concerned I have a whole other beast on my hands. After lots of kicking and time spent with the choke out, I was able to get the engine to turn over and I started revving it a few times but it still just died.

On the sparkplug front, I'll replace it as soon as I can. It's been a year since I've changed it out so it's probably due.

Does anyone think I should go ahead with the killswitch and just kick start until I can get it up to the dealer? and furthermore, if I do disconnect it, how do I stop the engine when I'm done riding?

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Thu May 31, 2012 8:31 pm

Id still go ahead with the killswitch and use the kickstarter. To stop the bike just turn the key to the off position