1986 Honda Elite 150 keeps dying on me... won't start By callisto9 (Read 1,279 times)

[callisto9]

I have a 1986 Honda Elite 150. Bought it off Craiglist in July 2015. 7000+ miles. Ran fine, but had a loud muffler and some other things, so I took it into the shop and they cleaned the carb, performed a once over and did some other minor adjustments.
It ran fine. 


A few weeks later, I have a dead scooter. Boyfriend suggested it might be a fuse since NOTHING was coming on when I tried to turn it on. $5 later, sure enough, it fires up after replacing the fuses under the front hood by the headlight.



A few weeks later, I have a dead scooter again. It sounds like it's going to start up, but won't. I thought I left the scoot in the ON position while I was swapping out the muffler, so I take the battery in and charge it overnight. Next day, it fires up fine and we're back in business.



A few days later, I have a dead scooter again again again again. Same symptoms: it sounds like it wants to start up, but won't turn over. I went out and bought a new battery and had a working scooter the next day. I think I'm finally getting ahead of this problem. I also replaced the MAIN fuse next to the scooter while I'm at it.



A few weeks later, you guessed it. Dead scooter. Sounds like it's going to start up, but won't. At this point, I'm not wanting to dump any more # into this thing and am resolved to let it sit until spring.



Anyone have any ideas? I'm starting to think it wasn't the battery these last few times and I'm dealing with a different issue here (which stinks, since I went out and bought a new battery). If anyone has any ideas of things I can check/try to fix myself, I'd love to hear them. I'm starting to regret this scooter purchase!

[Alleyoop]

Sounds like one or two things. You have a drain after you shut the scooter down and or your charging system is not charging your battery and or both.

So first question does the scooter have a ALARM and or REMOTE start? Those are notorious for draining the battery.
If not then I would say it is your Regulator/Rectifier which does a few things charges your battery and feeds voltage to your headlights.

I would get a cheap Multi Meter Harbor Freight sells them for like 6 bucks also a 12v Light tester would be a good thing to get as well to quickly check wires that should have voltage.

Put the Multi Meter on DC and connect it to your battery and see how much it registers.
Just sitting there it should register 12.5-12.7 volts. Then after you start the motor and throttle it up to around 4 thousand rpms it should register 13+ volts which is good that means your charging system is charging the battery as you ride it.
Alleyoop

[cyborg]

alley is on it as usual,,,either its not charging (my thought),,,from a plug plug coming undone or bad rectifier or stator ,,,or you have a mean drain somewhere,,,,charge it up again and run it,,,then pull the positive battery terminal,,,and let it sit over night,,,hook it back up in the am,,,if it lites you know it's a drain

[jct842]

Yup, get the meter and check voltage as alley says

[jerryscript]

How old is the battery? Lead Acid batteries do not last more than a couple of years unless constantly charged, regardless if it reads fully charged (resting voltage is not the same as loaded voltage, but most auto parts stores can test load capability, usually free).

[tvnacman]

are any wires hacked ? Maybe someone put bigger bulbs in there. Will it kick start?

John