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Assuming you have a GY6 150cc, it's actually a +3.5!

Further Update: Yup, Starter! I hooked it up to my neighbor's car battery and . . . nothing! I removed it and opened it up, thinking I might be able to spot the problem. After performing all of the tests (that I could find on-line), everything seemed to check out O.K., but when I hooked it up directly to my now-fully-charged battery (13.42 VDC at rest), NOTHING from the starter, and the battery charge dropped to almost nothing (it recovered as soon as I disconnected it, and seems to perform fine with all of the other electrics)!

I was eventually going to order a high torque starter for my BBK engine I'm building, so I just ordered it a little sooner than I expected . . no real loss other than kick-starting my only form of transportation for the next few more days.

Which brings me to my next question; I plan to re-install the "bad" starter to fill the "hole" in the crankcase to be able to still run the scooter, BUT I don't really want to necessarily connect it to the electrical system the way it is. Is there a way to safely protect the exposed starter connection (disconnecting . . . whatever) so I don't blow my wiring harness completely? Maybe disconnect the solenoid at the battery so that part of the system won't have any power? My plan is to try not to have to run it, but the new starter won't get here until Wed. or Thur., and if a situation comes up I need to be able to use it without doing any more damage than necessary. Any ideas would be helpful, and THANX TO ALL for the assistance in getting me this far!

Thank you Alley! Everything you suggested makes perfect sense to me . . . especially the original post about a bad battery! You see, I have a terrible habit of OVER-THINKING problems like these instead of checking the obvious solutions first. That said, I'm going to have the battery tested first thing in the morning! At least I can eliminate that particular component (if nothing else), and there's a good chance that could be the culprit! I have had batteries go "bad" before out of nowhere, and this one was "cheap" in the first place. If that's not it, I'll try your other suggestions.

I will let you know how this turns out. Maybe 2016 won't be the year electricity disappeared!

It's beginning to look like 2016 will be the year electricity fights back! O.K., I'm going through the motions of starting the scooter, when I notice the dash lights are dimmer than normal. Not drastic, since it's been over a month and a half since I've even thought about charging the battery (L.E.D.'s are definitely the way to go), so I check the charge . . . still fully charged (13.45 DCV)! To make a looong story shorter, I seem to have a short (or drain) somewhere.

The scoot kick-starts fine, and runs normally (electrical systems included), so I'm leaning towards the fact that rear-end systems (CDI, stator, coil, R/R, etc.) are functioning normal, but the only thing that DOESN'T  work is the horn (when I hit the switch, my dash goes dead . . . running or not)! It doesn't blow the fuse (which is confusing), but it doesn't work either.

So, O Mighty Gurus, what do you think? Bad switch? Bad ground (which would be strange to me if it would only affect the horn)? It's still operational, but I'm not a big fan of HAVING to kick start a scooter to get it started (doesn't make you look "cool", it makes you look dumb (er)!

2013 Taotao ATM150-A "EVO"

Yeah, jerryscript, that's kinda what I figured too, but then there is this (see pics)! This spring-loaded wheel reacts every revolution, but as far as I can tell it's not connected to anything electrical OR mechanical. It just "hangs" there!

Thanks to all for the feedback. I had a spare OEM variator so I tried the combination anyway (didn't really want to use my 115mm), three 10g and three 13g, and ran about 25 miles. On inspection, I didn't notice any adverse damage to sliders or variator. There seemed to be a slight improvement in performance, but nothing significant. I'll probably buy the correct weight sliders, but it was interesting trying out the theory!