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Hello everyone,

I have a TaoTao ATM50-A1 and when I ride it every day, it starts like a champion. However, when I leave it not running for a few days, mostly over the weekend, it has major troubles starting. It would crank a few times, almost start, but then the electric starter stops cranking the engine - it still rotates, but with a different sound. I also notice a smell of gasoline while I'm trying to crank it. I usually have recharge the battery manually, then trying starting the scooter again, and eventually it will start. Needless to say, the kickstart doesn't help either.

I thought that maybe the vacuum petcock leaks, so the carb gets flooded with gas over time. I changed the petcock to a manually operated one. Last Friday, I shut off the petcock before leaving the scooter for the weekend, and this Monday the battery died before the scooter would start.

The electric starter sounds very strange when I crank after the scooter sits idle for a while. First, it cranks normally - I can feel the engine turn over and the scooter almost starts. Then I try cranking again but now it feels like the starter is "skipping" - it rotates quickly, but I don't feel the engine turning over. I try cranking anyways, the battery eventually dies, I take it inside, charge it, reconnect it, crank it again and the scooter starts like a champion. It's almost like I need to crank it, then let it sit for a bit, and crank it again for it to start. Any idea what could be causing this?

So I replaced the carb, and the scooter started, but slowly, as always. I noticed that the spark plug coil (or shroud, whatever you call it) was shaking quite a bit when the engine was running. I gently touched it and the scooter died instantly. I think maybe the coil isn't sitting well on the spark plug, or maybe the spark plug itself got loose - that would certainly ruin the compression! Unfortunately, while I was ducking around, the battery died from all the cranking, so now I have to wait for it to recharge a bit. I'll post an update once this problem is solved!

OK good to know! Once again, thanks for all your help!

As always, thanks for your advice, Alleyoop! I know how to do all those things except the last one. How do I check if the motor is losing compression?

Hey everyone,
I recently changed the motor oil and gear oil on my TaoTao ATM50-A1 (3000 km). I've changed the motor oil enough times to not doubt myself, but with gear oil, I had to buy a new bottle of oil. For the first gear oil change, soon after the purchase, I used Mobil 1 75W-90, which has a clear side where you can see how much oil you've dispensed. I misplaced that bottle (from 3 years ago), so I went to buy a new one (still 75W-90 of course) which didn't have the clear side, so I eyeballed the amount, since the fill hole is vertical, and I couldn't get the funnel in to fill it. I eyeballed it by filling it and then letting it leak out in a vertical position - from what I've read, that seems to do the trick. This might not be the issue at hand, but I thought I'd mention it.

Anyways, here's the real problem. The scooter would have a TERRIBLE time starting, but once it starts, it has no problem idling, even after the choke stops enriching the mixture. I've recorded a video of me starting it:



I can get it started if I turn the throttle about 15% - any more or any less, and the engine just turns over without starting. However, once, the engine starts, I can let go of the throttle and it idles just fine. I've searched this forum and checked all the usual suspects: the vacuum line to the petcock produces suction, the petcock itself dispenses gas when suction is applied, the vacuum line is dry, and the carb is not leaking gas from the drain hose.

In addition to this problem, my scooter has been making a little more noise than usual while running, though it seems to not affect the performance at all. I've recorded another video where that sound can be identified, though it might be too subtle:



The noise in question is the higher pitch rattle that matches the engine RPMs. Before, the noise the scooter was making was of lower-pitch, the standard engine rumble.

Hi everyone,
In the last few days, I noticed that my scooter has a lot more pickup when it's around 70F as compared to 85F. When it's 80F+, I top out around 40 mph on the speedometer (around 35mph GPS verified). However, when it's around 70F, it reaches 50mph on the speedometer (over 40mph GPS). Acceleration is also noticeably better. I understand that engines heat up, so having cooler air around it makes a difference, but we're only talking about 15 degrees difference.

I was wondering what's the reason behind such drastic performance difference and what I could try to have that performance in a wider range of weathers? I use Shell Rotella T 15W-40, I have a performance CDI (Newmotoz Gy6 CDI from Amazon), and I've unsealed the stock carb since it was running too lean.