My new Icebear 150. And it doesn't seem to want to run.

[bluegoatwoods]

That's not all bad. I'll figure out what's wrong. It'll be good experience for me.


I'll start with a photo of it before I started the PDI.




Then I found a couple of small surprises. This is the type of scooter where the gas tank is under the deck. And the battery gets mounted almost where the gas tank ought to be.




I got her all buttoned back up this morning. I put a pint of gasoline into it from the gas can that I use for my lawnmower. I'm beginning to have some doubts about that since this fuel is from last fall. But I did treat it with Sta-Bil and I used the same fuel to start up my red Taotao with no trouble. 

I cranked her for a good long time with no results. So I opened the fuel line right at the fuel filter and squeezed some gasoline into the line that leads right into the carburetor. And then she started up nicely.

By the way, I'm guessing that there's no fuel pump of any kind on these scoots with the low gas tank. I certainly couldn't find one. Is the fuel drawn to the carb by intake vacuum?

So then I went up to the gas station and filled my can with fresh gasoline and put a gallon into this bike. She started up really well several times. Idled nice and revved nice.

So I spent a little time tightening down a few more loose ends and tried to take her out for a test ride in the neighborhood. The bike was idling nicely while I was turning it around. I goosed her a couple of times while turning around. These were the first times she'd pushed herself under her own power. Gently, it's true. But she did it without seeming to have any trouble.

When I gave the throttle a real twist, to start off down the driveway, she sputtered and stalled. For a while I could coax a bit of idling out of her. But any throttle at all would kill it immediately. And the idling wasn't too good either. It would last four or five seconds, and sometimes a good deal long. But sooner or later she'd sputter and die.

I was able to verify fuel to the carburetor. So that made me suspect the carb. So I swapped that out for another brand new carburetor. But the symptoms with the new carb are identical. And trying to get it started up this time was enough to run the battery down. So I shelved this project for today and put the batter on the battery tender.

The fact that the new carb behaved exactly as the stock card did makes me think, of course, that fuel is not my trouble. 

I'm going to have to pull the body panels back off and have a look at that spark plug. It's the stock plug and boot, by the way. I figured I could get away using those for just a little while anyway. That might have been a bad bet. I did manage to undo the wire from the boot, trim it back 1/4 inch and re-install. But that didn't make any difference.

When I can work on it again this weekend I guess I'll pull the spark plug wire and boot from the red Taotao and try that in the icebear. Maybe the coil, too. If they're interchangeable. Not all parts will swap between these two bikes. I can see that already.

In the meantime suggestions, and even mere guesses, are welcome. Thanks.

Here's a pic of my 'stable'. Just for fun.

[tortoise2]

Feb 20, 2017 22:40:47 GMT -5 bluegoatwoods said:

guessing that there's no fuel pump of any kind on these scoots with the low gas tank

The vacuum-operated pulse-pump is #10 FUEL LOW-TENSIONSWITCH.

Supplemental check-valve installation . . .

[maker1to2]

Did you check the spark plug....(could be a running Rich situation)

Which raises the question:

did you by it locally?

Who did the pdi for your area?

Do you know what to look for in a plug chop check?

Do you know where to get jets?

Or do you want to bypass jets...try to use the open airfilter variable....

[bluegoatwoods]

"We're gonna need another Timmy...."

But, anyway.......back to business.....

I muddled on through this without ever being 100% sure of just what was wrong. Poking around in there after my first post, it seemed to me as though the fuel line did not hold very well to the carburetor intake. So I replaced that section of line with something tighter and the bike ran quite well. So I had the notion that that carb had been gulping air. The bike did just fine for a week or so.

Then came a day when I went to the gas station and got some gasoline in a can. For lawnmower and for topping off scooters. I had the brilliant notion to buy 'premium'. Why not? (In hindsight, the fact that it might be very old gasoline comes to mind.)

I topped one scooter off and I put most of that gas in this bike. Filled her right up.

I got less than a quarter mile from home before she sputtered just a couple of times, then went into a 'no start' mode. So I pushed it on home and put it on my service stand.

Bad gasoline was first and foremost in my mind. So I took a half gallon gas tank I've got lying around and I put on a petcock, a fuel filter and about a yard of fuel line. I mixed in a capfull of carburetor cleaner with new,
regular, gas and plugged the dangling fuel line into my carb intake and hung the gas tank over the bike. I C-clamped the fuel line from the bike that goes into the carb.

For a couple of days I ran that engine. Goosing her and then letting her idle. At times she'd run quite good and at other times she'd stumble a bit. But then she'd get it back together. When I was confident that she'd start and run properly I unhooked my 'diagnostic' fuel tank and hooked the bike's fuel system back up. She started up,
ran for about ten seconds and then started sputtering and went right back to no start/no run.

So......I hooked up the hanging gas tank once more and I fed the bike's fuel system into an empty gas can.
I ran the bike and pumped the bad gas out of the bike's gas tank. It was cloudy. But I don't really know if that means anything.

Put the bike back together and filled with fresh, regular gasoline. For a couple of days my idle was funky.
But things have smoothed out and I've put quite a few smooth and carefree miles on this bike. She really is sweet.

So.....to make a long story short.......I never definitively showed just what was wrong. Though bad gasoline is the most likely culprit. But not identifying the trouble isn't really a problem for me. It's all part of the learning curve.

But I did learn one lesson. I'm not buying anything but regular gas as long as I'm not absolutely sure that gas station sells a lot of the higher octane stuff. The stuff I bought might have been five years old for all I know.