Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 19, 2014 22:29:12 GMT -6
Well, anyone following my posts knows I'm working through lots of issues.
The newest problem is as follows:
Woke up the other day and the scooter was dead. I couldn't figure out what the heck happened as I've had no battery issues since buying the scoot 2 1/2 weeks ago. Then i remembered I had installed led mirrors the day before and had my ignition switch on and off for awhile while doing the install and proceeded to go on a short night ride right after the mirros were installed, using the low and high beams to see if I had fixed my headlight issue. Figuring the battery was low from all the action the night before, I thought no biggie, I have a 1.1 amp auto/ trickle charger that i've been using for my old 50cc scooter battery for 3 years now. So I plugged it in and off to bed I went. When I woke up I noticed the charger led's indicated the battery was not yet fully charged. So I left it charging and came back a few hours later to find the scooter totally dead. No clock, no nothing. I then discovered the fuse holder on the positive lead by the battery had melted and was toast! Praying that my entire electrical system had not been toasted, I wired up a temp fuse in place of the old one and I hooked up jumper cables from my truck and only got a click or two and then dead. Then I started my truck, with my truck running my scoot came back to life! My truck battery may have very well been low, not sure why it had to be running. As I haven't been driving it much since I lost my job last week!
Anyway I also noticed the old battery plug cell cover had raised up.
Now I did not have much faith that this battery was in excellent shape because I know the previous owner had not trickled charged it over the winter or rode it much last summer. I'm perplexed as to why it fried and the fuse melted also. I have been using this charger for years now on my old scoot, and on my vehicles with no issues.
So I have 4 questions for you all.
1. Why did it fry? 2. How do I know it's not the chargers fault? 3. Why would the scoot take a jump only when the truck was running? 4. What kind of battery should I pursue?
I went out this evening and got one hell of a deal at Walmart. They had the battery priced wrong and I ended up getting a 50.00 battery for 25.00! Since I am out of work, I am very happy with this of course. The battery is identical in size. But I fear it may be smaller in AH.
My old battery reads: MFA12V9AH. GTX7A-BS. This leads me to believe it is marked both for 7AH and 9AH??? My new battery is rated at 8AH. The size of it is a ES9BS.
Should I worry about finding another battery before I fill this and charge it? I have plans to upgrade to led's , add more led lighting and add a stereo down the road to the scoot. What do you all recommend? Like I said I'm out of work, but if I should go out and find a higher MA battery I will if need be, I still consider the scoot to be a huge money saver, when I do find another job or get called back, it saves me tons of gas money instead of using my 13.8 gal fuel hog of a 5.0 liter Mountaineer!
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 16, 2014 8:05:29 GMT -6
Yeah, I know, the important stuff 1st..lol. The reason I installed the mirrors was because it didn't come with any and I've still been riding it.
It was just something else I could knock off the list in short amount of time, until I am able to tear it down again and do more research before I do.
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 15, 2014 22:00:05 GMT -6
I want to tear my hair out! I keep running into one issue after another... problems that now need attention besides the idle.. * left headlight switch, high beams shorting out- I solved this and will talk about it in a separate post. * overheating issue- possible bad electrical connection to the fan, or a bad sensor that controls the fan. * charging or battery issue * rear caliper rattling around / dragging on rotor- I found this out while engine stand was being used and the rear tire was turning I will try to make separate posts for these problems later... got my work cut out for me.. I did manage to install some new mirrors with built in blinkers
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 13, 2014 9:02:21 GMT -6
Wow, I've been reading though this post, excellent info. I've always admired the seating on these scoots, just never liked that 80"s front end...lol. Boy they do look comfy!
I've had my eye on those same exact running lights you installed, do they function well as far as shooting down the road a bit? Or are they more or less a fog light? I saw them online but then discovered the local parts store down the street has them in 2 different sizes. One is a 4 led light, the other is a 5 like you have.
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Clinician
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My Outlaw
by: xringracing - May 13, 2014 8:16:53 GMT -6
Post by xringracing on May 13, 2014 8:16:53 GMT -6
looks great! Did you clear over everything? I particularly like the red around the wheels.
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 12, 2014 10:41:16 GMT -6
The main things I picked up on here, aside from the pain, is that you were riding, at night, on unfamiliar dirt roads, in low visibility..DON'T DO THAT!! I think you just put yourself in the "perfect storm" for accident probability.. I agree, this is what I was trying to convey in my long winded post... Don't stop riding, but take this experience to heart, and realize you need to make some changes to stay safe. Even though your headlight may seem sufficient at the moment, I think if you play around with some lights you will realize it is not and you will see a HUGE difference. Night riding...unfamiliar roads, dirt roads.... a disaster waiting to happen.
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 12, 2014 10:24:11 GMT -6
Well Alley, I didn't read your post until after I put the bike back together, Not knowing what to do and running out of daylight, I cranked the screw back in for the moment, a little further out than before. It's a little harder to start now, but idles slightly better than before when it warms up. I'm going to tear it down again maybe next weekend while I have my buddies small engine knowledge on hand. Check for air leaks, and check the valves. I do hear a sort of "knock". I took a video to post so you guys can hear it and tell me if it sounds like valves are out of wack. I have to get the proper cable for my phone to post it.... I can't find it at the moment I do question how long silicone will keep that idle screw in if that's the route I have to go. I know it will work, but I've seen it degrade with heat over time. Have you tried that silicone method directly on a hot engine before Alley? I just can't help but think if everything is where it should be, I shouldn't have to crank it out so far, and should have room to back the idle off some. I'm starting to lean heavily towards the valves being really out of wack. I've seen different valve adjustment video's but i'm not sure which one pertains to my engine. i've seen one that looks to be external adjustments with 2 screws holding two sliding mechanisms in place. And I've seen one where a cover has to be removed to get to the internal parts. Can someone advise which method pertains to this engine and post the best link that explains how to do it?
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 11, 2014 21:46:13 GMT -6
Well we're proud to have you here with us on Scooter Doc XR. Low speed spills can damage the bike, and you, as much as high speed crashes. Your story illustrates the need to go get checked out if there's any question something might be broke. What 300cc did you move up to? Rich
Thanks Rich, I picked up a 2012 used DF300STG with 700 miles on it. I'm a little frustrated working through typical chinese issues right now, but I love it so far. Ironically, one of the issues is the high beams cutting out while driving, a short in the switch I hope But in the interest of not hijacking this post, I will add it to my thread about this bike over in the 250 cc section.
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 11, 2014 21:12:44 GMT -6
Let me tell ya, the potholes here in Cleveland this year WILL KILL YOU! I'm new here, but I have been riding my 50cc chinese for 4 years now. I had no issues until one evening in my 2nd season I decided to go on a quick 5 minute ride at sunset around my neighborhood. I turned down a street I had never been down before and could not see well. I could tell you could go straight or turn left, I made a decision to go straight but as i got closer and closer within my headlight range I saw a cable stretched across the road. But it was too late, right as i hit the brake the road turned from pavement to gravel and I started a sideways skid and rolled off the right hand side of the scooter. I was only going about 20 MPH. Picked up my scooter, shut the motor off, sat there for a minute while people rushed up to see if I was ok. A man could see I was hurting, holding my left arm, kinda dazed. All the way up my right arm to my shoulder was totally full of gravel and road rash. I didn't want to get a ticket so refused to let the people call for help, so I drove home with the air hitting my road rash stricken arm it felt like someone was holding a match to it. I "manned up"...lol, and had my wife clean the gravel out of my wounds... worst pain ever! Then I went to bed. My left wrist hurt but I thought it was just bruised. when I woke up the next morning I could not squeeze the toothpaste with my left hand to brush my teeth. That's when i knew I had to get it checked out. I fractured it, and had to wear a cast for 6 weeks that killed the rest of my riding season! I also had to go around telling strangers and cute women that I had an accident on my ninja . The funny part was I rolled on my right side, and never hit my head or my left side. Bt my left wrist got fractured. I believe it hit the handle bars when i flew off. The road I had decided to go down, was not actually a road, it was an elementary school property and was a bus turnaround! It was my fault, but I was pissed that they had no sign hanging from the cable. I would have seen it in time to avoid or lessen my accident had a sign been hanging from it. I meant to go back just to tell the school about my accident to save others from the same fate , but never did. I have noticed they have changed it now and is no longer a danger. As it turned out, later i discovered I had 1 of 2 working headlights. All this time I did not realize both lights were supposed to work on high and low beams. I thought one was high and one low. After i fixed my lighting it was a big difference, but still very inadequate. Bottom line, stay off dirt, gravel and night rides without upgrading lighting. I still cringe when i'm forced to go over loose dirt or gravel ,but I stay calm and all is fine! I just bought a 300 cc and the lighting is much better but still inadequate IMO. I plan on adding lots of led lighting, to make this sucker light up like a christmas tree very soon before I go on more night rides! Not only so I can see better, but so others can see me! Here's the scoot and in the close up you can see some of the scratches from the accident.
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 10, 2014 22:10:18 GMT -6
What's the grey thing with the big heat sink on it, and what's the black box to the right of it?
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 10, 2014 16:55:41 GMT -6
Alley, I did what you said, and finally had to go counterclockwise to start getting the idle to raise. To get it to idle on it's own 18-1900 seems to do the trick. But the screw is backed out so far, I'm afraid it will fall out. If I take it out enough to reach 2 grand, the screw falls out! I had hoped to take it to 2 grand to 2200 and then back off the idle screw a bit. What should I do? The last thing I want to do is have that screw come out while driving and get stranded. Pic attached is where it sits right now, idling at about 1800- 1900.... It idles good here, but as you can see there are multiple threads exposed... Should I crank it back in for now and drive it for awhile with the bad idle and work on running more clean gas through it along with seafoam? Does it make any sense at all to get a longer idle screw? Or is that just a stupid thought? Sounds stupid, yet logical, but I have to ask...
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 10, 2014 14:29:28 GMT -6
Well, thanks for all the encouragement guys. I have the thing torn apart, good news is it's running again, turned out to be nothing more that a loose plug boot HOWEVER, while I have it torn apart I want to adjust the idle, my problem is the idle screw is already cranked all the way in. The spring under the idle screw is fully compressed. there is no more adjustment to increase idle speed.. what do I do now?
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 10, 2014 14:26:13 GMT -6
Well, thanks for all the encouragement guys. I have the thing torn apart, good news is it's running again, turned out to be nothing more that a loose plug boot HOWEVER, while I have it torn apart I want to adjust the idle, my problem is the idle screw is already cranked all the way in. The spring under the idle screw is fully compressed. there is no more adjustment to increase idle speed.. what do I do now?
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 8, 2014 20:56:54 GMT -6
15w40 or 10w40 is good not a problem. Most do not buy motorcycle oil most of us just buy regular car oil same weight. Alleyoop Is there an advantage , or disadvantage? Should I return it and get car oil?
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Clinician
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Post by xringracing on May 8, 2014 20:55:26 GMT -6
The light switch on the left side for high and low beams looks like this... www.motopartsmax.com/images/ebay/273-999021/1-l.jpgOn the back of it there is a sideways lever "thingy".. can you tell me what that is for? I'm having issues with a short in the lights and can not figure out what the heck that little thing is for...
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