TaoTao 50 HELP

[ator]

I bought this new about Sept. last year, ran perfectly fine then I started having this problem.  It will start and idle just fine.  But when you give it gas it dies.  Then, out of nowhere, it ran fine again.  Then the same problem came back.  I put it away for the winter.  Now, here we are, same problem.  I changed the plug and the vacuum petcock, still same thing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks


PS Only has 12 miles on it

EDIT:  on the advice of some others, I changed out the Chinese carb with the equivalent Keihan model, also, I never ran it with any of the Chinese oil, I changed that out immediately

[2TDave]

Check your fuel filter and lines.

[ator]

Apr 3, 2014 11:01:02 GMT -5 2TDave said:

Check your fuel filter and lines.

I did, made no difference

[Sitticuss]

Have you cleaned out the carb recently?

[Upgrayedd]

Did you remove any restriction caps from your airbox that could cause you to be lean in your throttle?
All intake connections from airbox to intake port tight/not sucking air? All vacuum lines in good condition (not cracked) on intake tight/intact/not sucking air?

If you have a stock vacuum operated fuel shutoff, you could bypass it and see if its malfunctioning.

[ator]

Apr 3, 2014 11:44:37 GMT -5 Sitticuss said:

Have you cleaned out the carb recently?

Carb is new, as I said it ran perfect then all of a sudden this problem starts.  Then, it ran perfect again for a bit, then this problem again

[ator]

Apr 3, 2014 11:54:17 GMT -5 Upgrayedd said:

Did you remove any restriction caps from your airbox that could cause you to be lean in your throttle?
All intake connections from airbox to intake port tight/not sucking air? All vacuum lines in good condition (not cracked) on intake tight/intact/not sucking air?

If you have a stock vacuum operated fuel shutoff, you could bypass it and see if its malfunctioning.

I didn't remove any of the restriction caps from the airbox, all vacuum lines are in good condition, I changed out the vacuum fuel shutoff, didn't make a difference, I also tried bypassing it, didn't make a difference.

I am really stumped here

[usmcdoc]

Apr 3, 2014 12:24:58 GMT -5 ator said:

Apr 3, 2014 11:54:17 GMT -5 Upgrayedd said:

Did you remove any restriction caps from your airbox that could cause you to be lean in your throttle?
All intake connections from airbox to intake port tight/not sucking air? All vacuum lines in good condition (not cracked) on intake tight/intact/not sucking air?

If you have a stock vacuum operated fuel shutoff, you could bypass it and see if its malfunctioning.

I didn't remove any of the restriction caps from the airbox, all vacuum lines are in good condition, I changed out the vacuum fuel shutoff, didn't make a difference, I also tried bypassing it, didn't make a difference.

I am really stumped here

adjust your valves..they are too tight..

[ator]

I'll have to try the valve adjustment,

on a side note, if its idling on the centerstand, and I rock the throttle, it will eventually throttle up without dying.

Also, now I have another problem.  No light, horn, starter when the key is turned on, it will still start with the kick starter, then the lights, signals will work.  Do I need a new battery already?  Tried charging it with my battery tender, says its charged but noting.

[ator]

Battery situation figured out, there is a little fuse down near the battery, had to replace it

[dan50]

Make sure you carry a couple of extra fuses with you - just in case. Most scooters call for 15amp fuse. I bought a scooter and the electronics were driving me crazy, I checked the fuse which was blown. The previous owner had a 3 amp fuse instead of the recommended 15 amp.

[Upgrayedd]

Apr 3, 2014 17:33:36 GMT -5 dan50 said:

Make sure you carry a couple of extra fuses with you - just in case. Most scooters call for 15amp fuse. I bought a scooter and the electronics were driving me crazy, I checked the fuse which was blown. The previous owner had a 3 amp fuse instead of the recommended 15 amp.

Good advice 

Mine came with a 10A inline.. not sure how long that would have lasted, I replaced it with a 15A before I ever rode, and keep a couple spare fuses in my battery compartment.

[ator]

Thanks for the advice So do we all agree that the valve adjustment will fix the other problem?

[Upgrayedd]

Apr 3, 2014 18:44:39 GMT -5 ator said:

Thanks for the advice So do we all agree that the valve adjustment will fix the other problem?

dunno. 12 miles on it you say? idles fine but dies when you run it? changed the stock carb for a keihin? i am inclined to think your jetting may be off in the new carb, but im not sure. lot of others here are way more experienced with these little motors, my thinking just works that way -- 12 miles on engine, only thing changed from stock is the carb, i'd start there. perhaps the new keihin came with a larger main jet than needed, and while idle is ok, its giving too much fuel on throttle.

sorry i cant be of more help than that. hard to tell without bike in front of me to see.

*edit* as example: ive seen in some threads where some of the keihins come with 85 main jets, and say hypothetically, your engine is otherwise stock 49cc and your OEM carb had a 79 main jet, that 85 may be causing a rich mixture off of idle.

[ator]

if jetting is the issue then I need to adjust the air/fuel mixture as the main jet typically won't come into play till about 3/4 throttle

That would mean the pilot jet is off, however, it ran perfectly fine for about the first 10 miles, then had the problem,  then it was fine again (about 2 miles) now back to this problem, so that would make me lead away from the carb as the issue.