Post by erictheviking666 on Dec 27, 2009 16:42:09 GMT -5
I have in the last 2 or 3 weeks developed a hard cold starting issue. It seems if the temperature is below say 65 or 70 it gets kinda hard to start. First of all until now I have never had any issues with cold starting. Normally I could let it sit overnight (or 24 hours, but it rarely sits that long) and go out and hit the starter and it would fire right up without even twisting the throttle. Here lately it gets hard to start after sitting several hours. It will turn over and start to fire but won't quite get to a running condition. Since I get off after midnight it's a real pain in the ass.
I of course first figured it was the valves and a dirty carb. So I adjusted the valves and cleaned and set the carb last weekend. It runs great and idles good, but I still have the same issue after it sits a few hours in the cold. Since my battery is near the end of its 1 year warranty my next step was to check the battery. It showed 12.66 volts after sitting all night in the cold. Now if I bring the Scooter inside it will fire right up in the morning with 12.66 volts. If I let it sit outside it's hard to start up in the morning (keep in mind my morning is about 1 or 2 in the afternoon).
I checked my stator, with it running at idle I get 16.20 volts. If I rev it up to a higher RPM I get 17.74 volts, so it certainly doesn't sound like the stator's bad. I left it inside all week and would start right up. Last night I decided to take it to work, but I brought my battery pack to jump it off just in case. It seemed to be all right most of the day. I went out at lunch and it started right up and gave me no problems. It set for about 5 hours and when I went out at 8PM to leave it wouldn't start. I hooked up the battery pack and it didn't make a whole lot of difference.
Now it was almost impossible to get the jumper cables on the battery terminal with the battery in the box. So I may not have gotten a very good connection. So anyway after trying a few times, then letting it sit for about 15 minutes I was able to get it started. However I had to twist the throttle all the way and it was flooded after it started and I had to hold the throttle a few seconds until it finally cleared out and ran good.
I am starting to think that my compression may not be so good. I now have 7,200 miles on the Scooter, I have noticed a little smoke coming out the tailpipe at start-up, but it's only a few puffs and thats it. I'm thinking maybe it's finally time for the 72cc kit. I'm gonna go get a compression tester at Harbor Freight this week when I get paid. What exactly is good compression on these little motors? I've heard so many conflicting numbers I'm not sure what it is exactly.
So, am I on the right track here? Is it possible that when it sits in the cool weather that the metal contracts just enough to lower my compression a tad? Because once it starts up and get warm it starts just fine. So I'm thinking once it gets warm the metal expands and my compression comes back. I do have quite a few miles on it, but I have only used Castrol Syntec since the initial break-in and change it every 1,000kms religiously. Maybe this my excuse for a big-bore kit and a new head. What does everybody think?
I of course first figured it was the valves and a dirty carb. So I adjusted the valves and cleaned and set the carb last weekend. It runs great and idles good, but I still have the same issue after it sits a few hours in the cold. Since my battery is near the end of its 1 year warranty my next step was to check the battery. It showed 12.66 volts after sitting all night in the cold. Now if I bring the Scooter inside it will fire right up in the morning with 12.66 volts. If I let it sit outside it's hard to start up in the morning (keep in mind my morning is about 1 or 2 in the afternoon).
I checked my stator, with it running at idle I get 16.20 volts. If I rev it up to a higher RPM I get 17.74 volts, so it certainly doesn't sound like the stator's bad. I left it inside all week and would start right up. Last night I decided to take it to work, but I brought my battery pack to jump it off just in case. It seemed to be all right most of the day. I went out at lunch and it started right up and gave me no problems. It set for about 5 hours and when I went out at 8PM to leave it wouldn't start. I hooked up the battery pack and it didn't make a whole lot of difference.
Now it was almost impossible to get the jumper cables on the battery terminal with the battery in the box. So I may not have gotten a very good connection. So anyway after trying a few times, then letting it sit for about 15 minutes I was able to get it started. However I had to twist the throttle all the way and it was flooded after it started and I had to hold the throttle a few seconds until it finally cleared out and ran good.
So, am I on the right track here? Is it possible that when it sits in the cool weather that the metal contracts just enough to lower my compression a tad? Because once it starts up and get warm it starts just fine. So I'm thinking once it gets warm the metal expands and my compression comes back. I do have quite a few miles on it, but I have only used Castrol Syntec since the initial break-in and change it every 1,000kms religiously. Maybe this my excuse for a big-bore kit and a new head. What does everybody think?
(thats 2-1/2 months worth of gas for the Scooter!!) So I spread out a tarp and pulled it inside today, hopefully I can start pulling plastics off tonight. If not with a 3 day weekend coming up I should have plenty of time to troubleshoot the problem. I hope its just the CDI or an unplugged connector! 
. J/K, i know you meant four barrel right?