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I just paid $80 to find out my problem was a dirty air cleaner, so check that!

When I first got this Helix clone 4 1/2 years ago, I was getting 70mpg.  It has slowly decreased.  After the tadoo with the air cleaner last week, I guessed that makes sense, the more it got starved for air, the mileage would go down.  The shop just removed the air filter, so I've been running with none.  I assumed my mileage would increase.  I just filled up and checked it, 56mpg!  What can I do to increase my mileage?  He went through the carb, so that's good.  Why would I lose 15mpg?

Took it to the shop. $80......dirty aircleaner. Lessons are expensive.

Well, I just took the carb apart, everything looks good. Diaphragms are intact. No crud, passages and jets are clear. I'm wondering if the auto choke is working properly. I have a new one, maybe I'll put that in. You ever seen one fail? How did it behave?

I've got about 11,000 miles on my Helix clone.  Last spring I had a fuel problem.  My "diagnosis" of the fuel pump showed it was good, but I messed up, it was the fuel pump ll alone.  But since I thought the pump was good, I continued.  Frustrated, I went down to the local scooter guy and had a chat.  He said I might need to adjust the valves.  He showed me the little butterfly adjustments.  So I went home and messed things up.  It's run good, except for a few failures, but it ran good and strong.  It ran a little lean, but it ran good.  The front butterfly (intake?) was almost all the way to the back, so I put it in the middle.  Well, that didn't help.  So I finally figured out it was the fuel pump, so I replaced it.  Got it running, but it's run like crap ever since.  If I warm it up and let it idle, it runs best with the front butterfly in the middle, but it foul plugs and gets terrible mileage.  If I put it back where I found it, it lacks power and runs like crap.  The other day I cleaned up the plug and put the butterfly almost all the way back and went to the park, about a 15 mile round trip.  It was weak but ran, for a while, by the time I got home, it died right at my front step.  I think I've really messed up the valves.  So I'm going to order a new plug for it, think I'll take the carb apart and clean it.  I should take a look at the valves, but I've never done that kind of work on such a small engine.  So what do you mechanics think?  Think I f'd up the valves?

The lines are good, like new. It's the fuel pump. I made a mistake when diagnosing, I checked the wrong line for vacuum. There's good vacuum at the pump, it's just not drawing any gas. Got a new one on the way.