Today was a Hoot - Scooter failed in the rain

[humanshield]

Some days are just a wash.   Literally.

Had to run some errands today, car is getting fuel pump changed.....raining heavily.....no choice.

Donned the RainSuit and all was well.......

Until I filled up at WaWa, Ethanol free

Shortly after, about 10 miles from home she died.

For the next 2 hours I tried everything......draining gas from the carb to remove water, checked connections for water, flush the lines, priming the cylinder.

NOTHING   Not even a kickback.

  Checked for spark....Nice bright bluish orange spark.  AT THE lead wire....could not remove spark plug.

I ruled out the ignition system since the spark looked healthy.  That left the WaWa fuel as the only culprit I could think of. But I pulled the hose off the carb bowl, drained about a cup full of gas.   Then let some flow into the carb air filter end to prime it.

Nothing.  Stone cold dead.

Started pushing her home and was so drenched and tired at the 5 mile mark, decide to throw in the towel and call a wrecker. I currently have tachycardia (racing heart... hehe) and am taking heart meds and blood thinners and under the care of a cardiologist so this was really bad timing.  But hey....still made it 5 miles pushing it  WOOT.

after an hour wait, the wrecker arrives and we get home.   $80 lighter wallet

Roll the scooter in the garage..........

STARTS FIRST TRY.  WT     Seriously scooter???

Now I don't have the ability to isolate the problem.   THAT is what pissed me off the most of all.

Not the rain, not the pushing, but after trying everything to get her started for several hours, the damn thing

starts FIRST TRY once back home.

Was thinking about how much damage I could do with a 45......then decided to laugh it all off.

Oh well, tomorrows another day

I'm sure some of you guys have much more juicy stories.   haha

[oldgeek]

Hey man its been a while, nice to see you surface!

It sucks when our scooters do stuff like that to us. Sometimes they seem to have a mind of their own. Your story would be a good one for the walk of shame thread.
49ccscoot.proboards.com/thread/22866/walk-shame-breakdown-stories

[aeroxbud]

Perhaps it's just water in the electrics. I feel your pain.
On the Aerox I was running a street race kit with a stage 6 rep pipe. Bent the crank and had a 6 mile push home not fun.
The most entertaining was about 8 months ago. Came out of work. Got to the duel carriageway full gas, throttle stuck open.
Pushed it about two miles in the wet. Full wet gear on. Was like being in a sauna.
Thought I could just ride it. Turn key, on full throttle wheelie starts. With one hand on the bars. Get up to 40 then kill the engine. Then repeat.
Was a bit scary as had to turn it off when coming up behind traffic on small city streets.

[humanshield]

Jul 22, 2020 13:32:37 GMT -5 oldgeek said:

Hey man its been a while, nice to see you surface!

It sucks when our scooters do stuff like that to us. Sometimes they seem to have a mind of their own. Your story would be a good one for the walk of shame thread.
49ccscoot.proboards.com/thread/22866/walk-shame-breakdown-stories

Thanks guy.  Good to hear from you too.

Still riding the 150.   Got rid of the 100cc Big Bore kit one.

You're an old pro with these machines.....

but to anyone somewhat new, I would highly recommend you always carry a spare spark plug, tools to change it and some other basics like a phillips.  I was caught with my pants down today.   I almost always have all that, but not today.

[humanshield]

Jul 22, 2020 13:32:48 GMT -5 aeroxbud said:

Perhaps it's just water in the electrics. I feel your pain.
On the Aerox I was running a street race kit with a stage 6 rep pipe. Bent the crank and had a 6 mile push home not fun.
The most entertaining was about 8 months ago. Came out of work. Got to the duel carriageway full gas, throttle stuck open.
Pushed it about two miles in the wet. Full wet gear on. Was like being in a sauna.
Thought I could just ride it. Turn key, on full throttle wheelie starts. With one hand on the bars. Get up to 40 then kill the engine. Then repeat.
Was a bit scary as had to turn it off when coming up behind traffic on small city streets.

lol

Yeah, like they say....when it rains it pours.

Or.....scooters are like a box of chocolates...... :-)

That monster you have would run circles around my 150 putter

[milly]

Hi humanshield longtime no hear 😊

[humanshield]

Jul 23, 2020 0:55:56 GMT -5 milly said:

Hi humanshield longtime no hear 😊

Hello Milly,

Still scootering?

Hope all is well in your world.

[milly]

Indeed I am humanshield. down to two now put a sidecar on one. Hopefully don't go silly and buy anymore to confuse me but others might not agree on me sticking with two.
Yes all well with me just started back in a new old job I was at last yr part time 100 mile away 2 days a fortnight, cannot start in the schools cycle training till know there policies are on covid or even if gov will fund it in sept after me doing it for 10yrs so took these on and a Pot washer part time in a hotel local and my son who is the chef will be my boss. So hopefully that will keep me going till I retire in two and a half yrs time.
Hopefully you are well with all this covid going round.
Lml star 150cc 2T 2010 or known as Genuine Stella Stateside




Vespa ET4 125 2001 soon to be a 150cc

[humanshield]

I "think" I can add this as a reasonable "tip" for riding scooters.

Because they have very small gas tanks and fuel systems, it might be wise to avoid filling up on rainy days or during rainy periods.

Going forward, I will always use fresh gasoline I have stored any time I need gas before riding in wet weather.

All it took was a thimble full to kill the scooter. A bigger motor like a car would suck that small amount through quickly, but for a small scooter,

that may as well be a gallon of water in the fuel.

And unlike fuel, that water takes a lot more to dry off the spark plug than gasoline, possibly leading to a situation where the spark plug is shorted.   This would be a bigger problem on a cold motor.....which is EXACTLY what happened to me.   I had ridden to the hospital and the scooter had time to cool off and when I came out it was dead.

Every attempt to start it probably re-wetted the spark plug.

My HUGE mistake for not having a spark plug removal tool one me at the time.