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imnts2, I was wondering whether I should have used synthetic or not. Guess it's a good thing I didn't. Thanks for the input.

Need to change the gear oil next!

Hey guys,

I took my scoot to work today (11 miles each way), and about 3/4 of the way home at the end of the day, I started having a problem. The scooter was making a light scraping/rattling sound, as if there were small pebbles in the exhaust. Shortly after that noise started I lost acceleration. The scoot slowed down to a stop but didn't sputter, just kept making the noise I described. I pulled over and hit the kill switch and, very strangely, the motor ran for about 5 seconds after I hit kill. This has never happened before.

I waited about five minutes by the side of the road, then tried the scoot, and it started up fine. Rode the rest of the way home with no noise and no problems. Took it out again after dinner for a few more miles and still no sign of the problems from earlier, it seems to be running great.

I'm thinking (well, guessing really) that I may have overheated something. It was just over 90 degrees F here today. When the noise and the problem started I was going wide open throttle on a slightly upward incline, and I had probably already been at wide open throttle for a good 2 miles. It was the early afternoon, the hottest part of the day.

Can anyone take a guess as to what might be the problem, or what I should check out? I don't even know where to begin on this one.

Sprocket, I don't think there's steel wool in there. It doesn't seem like a breather. I still think Alleyoop is right, it's probably an oil spigot. Like he said though, there's only one way to find out - loosen the bolt next to the tube.

I'm going to be changing the oil this weekend, I'll post about how that works out.

According to a few websites I checked it's a 4-stroke. I bought it brand new from a dealer (and paid them for assembly). So we can be sure it's set up in a stock fashion.

I'm not mixing oil with my gas. Never was I ever told to mix oil and gas for my scooter...

Here's a pic I have showing my carb... if this isn't good enough I'll take a closer one tomorrow...

Thank again for the help!

Thanks for the vids Alleyoop!

Changing the oils looks straightforward, I'm pretty sure I found the drain bolt for the engine oil and the drain and fill bolts for the gear oil on my scoot.

Checking the valves is a little scarier though... I haven't taken the valve cover off my engine before... so I'll be approaching this very gingerly and cautiously, and hopefully with the help of a friend.

Thanks for the input Alleyoop.

Can anyone link a tutorial or video on how to change the crankcase and tranny oil? I've changed the oil on my cars plenty of times, is there anything different between car and scoot?

What about a tutorial/video for checking valves?

Thanks again guys.

sine

The battery seems to have charged back up fine! The scoot is starting right up with the electric starter and running well.

As I mentioned before, when I first checked the battery, it showed about 5v on my voltmeter. I hooked up a Schumaker 10-amp charger for about for about 90 minutes. My dad (an experienced motorcycle rider) assured me that 10 amps wouldn't fry my battery as long as I set the charger on "full auto" mode, which would make it work like a trickle charger. I looked up the manual for the charger online to confirm this.

After about 90 minutes on the charger, I disconnected it, and the battery voltage tested about 12.8v! I let it sit overnight, and the next day, the batt was still showing about 12.6v! All of this was done without disconnecting the batt from the scoot, so I know nothing is draining it.

The next day it was 65 degrees out (crazy warm for New England in early March) and I had an awesome day riding my scoot

Thanks for the help guys!