Roketa MC-08-50 won't start

[idonahue]

Hi, I have a Roketa Maui MC-08-50 that I can't get to start. I'm hoping someone here can offer me some advice or at least point me in the right direction.

A little history of the scooter: it was bought used last spring and ran just fine. Unfortunately, it was stolen in the summer but retrieved by the police and returned to me. At this point it was not in ridable condition. The ignition had been ripped out and the gas cap removed. It sat in the garage all fall and winter.

I've been working on it the past few weeks. Replaced the ignition and all other locks. Figured out the battery was bad and replaced it. All power works now except the headlights. Also replaced a fuse in the same compartment as the battery. Still cannot get the thing to start! Electric start at least tries but won't turn over. Kickstart -- nothing. If anyone can give me some more troubleshooting tips or offer any sort of advice that would be great.

Also is there any sort of clymer or maintenance manual for this scooters? All I've found online is a crappy owners manual.

[idonahue]

Clarification: after it was recovered from the police I was able to get it started with a screwdriver but I didn't ride it. It just stayed in the garage. Also I checked the spark plug today and it looked fine to me

[edfr]

Have you cleaned out the Carb, checked if fuel is flowing to the Carb from the tank. Open the drain at the bottom of the Carb bowl and see if fuel comes out. Have you checked if the Spark PLug is getting Voltage. Take the Cap off and use the old Spark Plug and put it in the Coil Cap and hold the Spark plug against the Engine to ground it and crank it. See if it is Sparking if not check the wires plugged in on the coil make sure they are on good and not touching each other. Is the Kill Switch OFF.

If you are getting spark to the Spark Plug and if it started before then it is FUEL DELIVERY problem. Squirt just a little gas in the Intake about a BEER BOTTLE CAP FULL and crank it. If the Spark Plug is Fireing it will attempt to Fire, it may start and then die but then for sure you will know it is just Fuel Problem. Then you can work on the carb and hoses and fuel filter and air filter.
Lefty

[idonahue]

Thank you so much. I will try all these out the next time I have a day off and let you know if it works!

[idonahue]

Well I never got around to cleaning the carb, but I did discover that fuel is somehow getting into the air filter chamber. When I cleaned it out, the scooter started up and rode it around the block (though it died). Any idea how fuel might be getting into the air filter chamber? Also someone told me that it could just need a valve adjustment, that possibly the thieves rode it hard and it caused the valve adjustment to close up. Right now I'm interested in figuring out why fuel might be leaking into the air filter chamber.

[Bluefront]

Sounds like the float needle in the carb is not seating properly.....allowing the gas to overflow and get back into the air cleaner. That certainly would make starting almost impossible.

There just may be some crap build-up around the needle, which simple cleaning might fix. You can buy a carb repair kit for these scoots many places......you usually get a new float and needle, some jets, and a float bowl gasket. Maybe even a new slide/diaphragm/carb needle.......usually around $20.