Possible To Clean A Carb While Still On Scooter? By straightbangin (Read 3,412 times)

[straightbangin]

Hello. My scooter is giving me a lil crap starting. I have to kick start it now. When I try to with the auto button it starts to turn over then stops and like hisses. It starts when I kick start it though. If its super warmed up (I have only had it off for about 30 min or less) i can start it no problem w the button. Not quite sure what the prob is. Well today it started giving me a lil crap accelerating. The scooter is 6 mo old and has 1,800 miles on it. I have kept up with oil changes and it has a new spark plug. The battery also tests normal. I am thinking maybe I need to clean my carb as its kinda over due for this. The scooter was only $1,000 new and I dont have a lot of $ to spend on it nor do I want to invest a lot of time on it so I was going to try to clean the carb myself. I saw a great carb cleaning video however it looked like u had to take the whole thing out of the scooter and apart. I'm kinda nervous I wont get it back together or that i'll mess something up. Is it at all possible to just take off the cover and spray some cleaner down into it, I mean it is possible this could help and not damage anything in the process. I'm just looking to get this thing to work for another 6 mo or so before I buy a new one . Would this not help at all, do you really have to take it all apart. I'm a chick and I'm pretty good with things like this but I am nervous about taking the entire thing out and then taking it apart and getting it back together after. Thanks.

[benellibob]

1. what kind of scoot is it?
2. where are you located? someone who lives nearby may be able to help you look at it.
3. i like your screenname

[straightbangin]

1. I dont know what kind it is, there is no name on it, they never told me when I bought it and the title doesn't say. It looks like this.

s-hphotos-snc6.fbcdn.net/167841_1411228661165_1845967276_794839_7871824_n.jpg

I think it may be a LB50QT-6 though from other pics I have seen of a similar scooter.

2. I live in South Beach and I don't know anyone here. The scooter shops want like $50 an hr just to look at it
3. Thanks.

[Cruiser]

Welcome to Scooter Doc, straightbangin. It sounds like your scoot is basically running pretty good. If it will kickstart OK, it usually means that it's in pretty good tune. How did you check the battery to say it tests normal? Your description when using the electric start sounds like a weak battery. The original batteries do not have much power or reliability and most people replace these within the first year if not right away.

Could you describe the acceleration problem in more detail? There is a strong possibility that you don't have to touch the carb. Could be something happening in the CVT. Is it skipping or just giving an uneven acceleration? Does it run OK at full speed?

Let us know and we should get you straightbangin' in no time.

[straightbangin]

Yes I had the battery checked and was told it tests normal. I just posted more details here: scooterdoc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=150cc&action=display&thread=3001 as a guy on the messageboard posted a video of what his scooter is doing and mine is doing the same exact thing. Thanks for your help crusier. It only gives me crap when I try to start it (once its VERY warmed up though it starts no problem) Today it started lagging when I try to accelerate though, it almost seemed like an air vs gas issue so i was thinking it was a carb problem. I did kinda overfill the gas a lil yesterday and wasnt sure if that could have thrown it off. If you click the link above you can see me rattle on w/ more details

[Cruiser]

Sometimes overfilling the gas will load up the emissions canister with gas which will give erratic performance until the excess gas gets burned off.

It still sounds like a weak battery. A defective battery will self discharge rapidly after sitting a while. Running the scoot will bring the charge up enough so that if you start it again within a short period of time, the battery will retain enough charge to start the engine.

Was the battery tested after sitting overnight or at least a day? The reduced output would show up then.

[straightbangin]

Ya that was what I was thinking happened w/ the gas as it was fine after only 5 min of giving me crap while driving it.

Wow, that makes sense w/ the battery, no, it was charged after i drove it 2 min to the auto parts store so it would not have shown the reduced output. Hmmmm. Ya know what, I'm going to walk it to the auto parts store to have them charge it tomorrow or Thurs and see. When I bought it, new in September I asked the kid how long the battery should last and he said 1 yr, maybe 6 months (vague answer I know) but Im thinking it was closer to the 6 months since it was a very cheap scooter ($1,000) new 2010. Great info, thanks Cruiser, I will try this first

[Cruiser]

Your welcome and good luck straightbangin. Some 50cc scoots have pretty good charging systems and can put a pretty good charge on the battery in a short time. 50cc scoots actually seem to overcharge their batteries (which will shorten the life) in many cases. The maxi scoots (250cc) tend to have weak charging systems. The regulator/rectifiers on the 50cc scoots tend to overcharge while the stators of the 250cc are too weak to keep up the charge.

[straightbangin]

interesting. thanks for the lesson

[straightbangin]

Okay I just pushed my scooter about 7 blocks to get the battery tested (cold). The guy said and I quote " Es good bot, it need to be re-charge" Gotta love Miami where nobody speaks English. So I guess in English this translates to " Well, its not dead but you are going to need a new one now or very soon" LOL. So this may be the problem. We will see once I get a replacement battery Last time I had it tested (after driving it there a month ago) they said " es good, normal" and now its worse so there must be a problem with it.

[Cruiser]

A decent battery should be able to hold enough charge for 1 to 2 weeks and still have plenty to start your scoot. Sounds like your scoot's battery is almost done.

[straightbangin]

Cool. I've been having to kickstart it for about a month now so ya def time to try a new battery. I found one new on ebay for shipping for $32 ish. The dealership wanted $65. I just emailed the seller to see if it comes w/ directions on how to put the battery acid in as I've never done this before It says it comes charged. I'm going to drive it for awhile after I install it to charge it up more. What happens if it doesn't come charged? Do people have to buy a charger or can they just kick start it and leave it running to charge it?

[Alleyoop]

Invest in a trickle charger, You will not have to worry about leaving it for months without starting it. This is what I have on mine and it comes with a Quick connect you put on the battery and then route the quick connect plug somewhere you can get to easy. Then you plug in the charger into the outlet and connect the quick connect and you can leave it on for months. It will charge the battery when it senses it is low and shuts off when full again and repeats the cycle.
Alleyoop
motors.shop.ebay.com/__?_from=R40&_trksid=p3841.m39.l1313&_nkw=battery%20tender%20junior&_sacat=&rvr_id=212906382125&MT_ID=336&crlp=3414033196_9887&tt_encode=raw&geo_id=491&keyword=battery+tender+junior&adgroup_id=754003396

[straightbangin]

thanks for the info. i have a little studio apartment and there are no plugs I could plug a charger into outside. I have to park a block from it too as scooters are not allowed on the grounds. I use the scooter about 1-3x a day to get around so it never really sits long

[305scoot]

Hi, I purchase my battery at doctor battery in (hialeah) about 20 miles away from you for around $35 new. They put in the acid and charged it for about ten minutes and works great! This was about seven months ago and still going. Good luck at the beach those guys are killer with there prices. Thank god my battery still ES good,LOL.