Please help, my two month old Buddy is stalling.

professorbrother · Post by **professorbrother** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 12:00 am

Please ask for more clarification if needed. I'm new at explaining these things.

Buddy 125 '09
930 miles

First happened three nights ago after I had been driving the scooter for about 30 minutes (12 miles). While half-throttle and going 40 mph, all of a sudden the scooter lost power. The engine would lurch a few times as I kept on the throttle, but it rolled to a stop and died. The automatic start would not work. You could hear the starter (or whatever it is on a scooter), but the engine would not catch. Three minutes after a few unsuccessful attempts I tried the kick start and it successfully started.

Drove it yesterday for about 10 miles into Urban Moto in Austin, TX. No issues then. The guys at the shop ran tests (though did not drive it based on the mileage) and said they could not recreate the situation. Said there might be a wiring issue, but couldn't be sure w/o testing it more. Took it home that day.

Drove it all day today (25 miles) with no issues. Took it out again after it rested for 2.5 hours to an errand and on the return home the same thing happened @ about half-throttle. I was able to safely pull of the road again and again tried the kick start for a successful start. Drove it another mile until it died again. This time the kick start did not work and I walked it the block to my house.

Please let me know if I need to clarify anything.

Thanks.

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 12:03 am

If you under warranty give the dealer a chance to work on it. electrical issues can be tough to track down. If it dies use road side assistance to have it brought there.

pdxrita · Post by **pdxrita** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 12:26 am

I haven't had this particular stalling problem (thankfully), but in researching a less drastic stalling issue that I was having, the two most common causes that I found for what you've described are vapor or vacuum lock (the mechanically inclined called it vacuum, others called it vapor), or the stator. Start searching the forum with those terms and "stalling" and you'll come up with lots of information. Good luck!

bmillner · Post by **bmillner** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:53 am

I had what sounds like a similar problem with my new Buddy 50. Turned out there is this gunk they put inside the engine and exhaust system to keep it from corroding while in transit overseas from the factory. It is supposed to just burn out, but in my case it didn't. It seems that it lodged in the catalytic converter and was creating stalling problems. They replaced the exhaust and I haven't had any problems at all.

Dooglas · Post by **Dooglas** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 4:03 pm

The "vacuum lock" problem is easy to diagnose. Open the fuel cap, the problem goes away. Stator or other electrical problems can be a "son of a gun" to track down as they are usually intermittant. At nearly a thousand miles, I would not think you are having problems with anti-corrosives in the tank or engine. I presume the scoot was previously running fine. I am a little confused about one thing though. Why would your auto clutch be 50% engaged at 40 mph and how would you know? Do you mean half throttle?

professorbrother · Post by **professorbrother** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:04 pm

Throttle, yes. Replace those with throttle at 50%.

How could a wiring issue cause this?

I let the scooter sit for about 45 minutes last night after I walked it home and wrote this post. It started just fine w/ the automatic start. I just let it run idle for a bit, turned the throttle a few times, then shut it off.

So far this has only happened after it's been on the road for awhile.

broke · Post by **broke** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:22 pm

Does your gas cap have holes to allow for air to flow into the tank? If not, ask your dealer for one of the "vented gas caps to fix vapor lock". (even though it is "vacuum" lock, vapor is the term everyone is using).

You can drill the holes yourself if you want. I did when this same exact thing happened to me over a year ago and the problem never re-occurred. I had the EXACT same problem... only after the scooter really warmed up running relatively hard (45mph road)... each time after waiting long enough to cool down it would restart and get me home. Happened, i think, 3 times with very consistent conditions until I searched this forum and found out about the metal tanks in our scooters.

Post by **ericalm** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:25 pm

Wiring issue: You still need electricity to your spark plug to fire and run the engine. A loose wiring harness or bad stator could definitely cause these kinds of symptoms.

The most common causes for this type of stalling: fuel problem (vapor lock, bad gas); air not getting to engine (blocked filter); no spark/insufficient spark.

Just out of curiosity, when did you last have this scooter serviced and the oil changed? Around 600 miles?

professorbrother · Post by **professorbrother** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:45 pm

Thanks, I did some reading on previous posts about vapor lock. The '09 Buddy's have a "do not fill about this line" in the tank and like the last person who posted about this issue, it has happened regardless of how much gas is in the tank.

I did have a oil / gear oil change at about 600 miles about 4 weeks ago.

Does anyone know if the '09 Buddy's have the "vented gas caps?"

What does the stator do?

Ray Knobs · Post by **Ray Knobs** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:56 pm

stator generates electricity to charge the battery, power the lights and gauges

Dooglas · Post by **Dooglas** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:44 pm

Ray Knobs wrote:stator generates electricity to charge the battery, power the lights and gauges

And provide the spark that fires the fuel/air mix in the cylinder and causes the engine to operate. (i.e. no spark, no go)

Post by **ericalm** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:18 am

The '09 Buddy should have the vented gas cap—the vapor (wqell, actually vacuum) lock issue was primarily in '08 Buddy 150s. It was caused by a new tank and a change in the positioning of evap vents (if that's the right word).

You can still have vapor lock, but given that temperatures are pretty mild now and that this has occurred a few times under different circumstances, I'm thinking it's less likely.

professorbrother · Post by **professorbrother** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:50 am

Thanks for all the advice.

I'm going to be traveling (scooter-less) for the month of November so I'm going to leave it in the hands of my dealer to work on. I'll update this post when I find more out. I'm feeling it's not a fuel or air issue and leaning towards electrical...

broke · Post by **broke** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:52 am

It's easy to see if you have a vented cap. It has a hole in the bottom and a hole under the lip of the cover. No hole, no vented cap.