Post by calypso on Dec 28, 2009 14:36:58 GMT -5
Greetings Scoot Gurus (and I write that with ALL respect for the wealth of knowledge here):
I live in Xico, Veracruz Mexico. I ride a Zanetti 150 CC Chinese scooter. Here in Xico we have cobblestone roads that rattle screws loose with impunity.
My scooter has 2700 km or about 1700 miles. I have done the basic recommendations (before you ride your new scooter) and changed fluids a lot etc. I LOVE my scooter. I have a Ford F350 and a VW Jetta that are quite lonely since getting 'scoot azul' a year ago.
I check for loose screws regularly and find them often. However I missed the two at the VERY bottom that secure the exhaust pipe to the exhaust port of the engine.
I heard an exhaust leak and found one nut missing and the other very loose. I had a leatherman pliers with me at the time - I did what I thought was a tightening of the remaining nut and headed to the hardware store (less than a mile).
Upon arrival I discovered the other nut was gone - grrrrr. So I bought some very cheap made in Mexico nuts that held for a few minutes. Later I found a nice set of four nuts with the nylon locking feature and put a set and then backed them with another plus washers. The exhaust still leaked around the protruding bots and nuts securing the pipe.
I applied some gasket making silicon around the bolt areas and used washers etc. It still leaks. Some exhaust is happening at the end of the stock muffler and some escapes at the bottom around the joint connection of the pipe to engine.
The noise is not objectionable, albeit different - louder and the occasional minor popping.
My question is other than noise is there a problem that I need to immediately address? Will I damage anything riding in its current state or is this mostly a noise thing - which is not a problem here in Mexico.
I believe I read here there have been some scoots that didn't even have a gasket and obviously whatever is there is not sealing around the two bolt protrusions. I might have to wait until a return to the states (late summer) to try and get a gasket and new proper bolts.
Any sage advice would be greatly appreciated.
I live in Xico, Veracruz Mexico. I ride a Zanetti 150 CC Chinese scooter. Here in Xico we have cobblestone roads that rattle screws loose with impunity.
My scooter has 2700 km or about 1700 miles. I have done the basic recommendations (before you ride your new scooter) and changed fluids a lot etc. I LOVE my scooter. I have a Ford F350 and a VW Jetta that are quite lonely since getting 'scoot azul' a year ago.
I check for loose screws regularly and find them often. However I missed the two at the VERY bottom that secure the exhaust pipe to the exhaust port of the engine.
I heard an exhaust leak and found one nut missing and the other very loose. I had a leatherman pliers with me at the time - I did what I thought was a tightening of the remaining nut and headed to the hardware store (less than a mile).
Upon arrival I discovered the other nut was gone - grrrrr. So I bought some very cheap made in Mexico nuts that held for a few minutes. Later I found a nice set of four nuts with the nylon locking feature and put a set and then backed them with another plus washers. The exhaust still leaked around the protruding bots and nuts securing the pipe.
I applied some gasket making silicon around the bolt areas and used washers etc. It still leaks. Some exhaust is happening at the end of the stock muffler and some escapes at the bottom around the joint connection of the pipe to engine.
The noise is not objectionable, albeit different - louder and the occasional minor popping.
My question is other than noise is there a problem that I need to immediately address? Will I damage anything riding in its current state or is this mostly a noise thing - which is not a problem here in Mexico.
I believe I read here there have been some scoots that didn't even have a gasket and obviously whatever is there is not sealing around the two bolt protrusions. I might have to wait until a return to the states (late summer) to try and get a gasket and new proper bolts.
Any sage advice would be greatly appreciated.