Had a couple of issues with my Sym Orbit 2 50cc scoot in the last week and wonder if someone can point me in the right direction.
Last Friday it rained heavily all night and the bike got soaked (it lives outside). Went to ride it in the morning and it wouldn't start. It was turning when I pressed the starter but wouldn't fire up. At the weekend I charged up the battery and sprayed all the electrics and spark plug cap with WD-40. Also took the plug out, dried and cleaned it. The bike started right up after I'd done all this.
It ran fine yesterday which was a dry day. This morning it was damp and misty (called a haar here in Scotland) and again the bike wouldn't start.
Not had this problem before in the 6 months I've owned it and there have certainly been plenty of times it's got wet so do I have a more serious problem ??
The bike is partially sheltered by a forecourt roof. I do have a cover but it can be awkward to secure as I have a couple of heavy chains running from the bike to a concrete building support (had a bike stolen last year and do not wish to repeat the experience). It can get very windy here and I have had an instance of the cover coming loose and acting as a sail to drag the bike over so I'm a bit wary of them. It's sat outside all winter anyway and I've not had a problem until now.
Got home from work so took the spark plug out (a bit of shiny black oil near the top) cleaned it up, put it back. Sprayed more WD-40 but still not starting. The indicators are working fine so I'm assuming the battery had charge as it was turning over no problem. Took it out to top it up on the charger anyway.
Should have a new plug tomorrow so will fit that, if that does nothing I will put back in the old coil which I kept as a spare just in case the one I use now has developed a fault. If none of that works it will be squeaky bum time !! Thanks for the grease advice, if I get nowhere I'll take the front cover off and apply some to the ignition etc.
Not yet, it was still very misty and murky when I got home so will check for spark when I get the new plug which should be tomorrow. Will update on developments after that. Thanks again for the suggestions.
An update on my problem for all you kind people offering advice. The new spark plug didn't arrive today but as the weather was good I thought I'd have a tinker about anyway. I'd put the battery on charge yesterday so fitted it back in, and out of curiosity tried to start it up, hey presto it fired up right away !! Now this makes me wonder if the problem is with the battery (I've put it on my Oxford Optimate after both no-starts and charged it fully, so that's twice in 4 days). Or do scooters have an alternator like a car which might be faulty ??
The stator should charge the battery. Could be the battery itself. I know that if mine doesn't crank over pretty quickly it won't start. If it's solely the fault of poor e-start abilities, the kickstarter should fire it up.
Bike ran fine up to work this morning, and will hopefully get me home OK this afternoon. 90GTVert's videos are excellent, clear instruction for an electrical novice like me. I've borrowed a multimeter off a collegue and will carry out the tests he recommends when I get home and update with the results Thanks all
Apologies for the delay in getting back to you about this issue, the fancy multimeter I borrowed from the guy in work wouldn't take readings for a low voltage battery like mine. Bought my own simpler multimeter on eBay and took some readings when it arrived this morning.
The bike has run fine since I charged the battery on Tuesday, been used for the remaining 3 days this week. It started fine for the test this morning. The weather all week has been cold but dry.
First up a voltage test on the battery, bike not running or ignition on
Secondly a video test when I started up and twisted the throttle:
Any thoughts welcome. I still think damp conditions seems to be the route of the problem, but quite how I'm not sure.
Last Edit: Mar 21, 2015 4:47:57 GMT -5 by simon0867
I think you may have a problem with your rectifier/regulator. The voltage shouldn't be dropping like that. Looks like you've got charging power since it goes up to around 13.5V at idle, but you can still try checking the stator's output to be sure. Disconnect the charging wires from the stator and put the + probe on one. It should get higher as you rev. If that checks out you can make sure all grounds and connections are secure, but most likely it's the R/R.
Last Edit: Mar 21, 2015 8:41:23 GMT -5 by 90GTVert
