My Roketa Fiji 150 6,000 Mile Notes and Comments

[ashdump]

Apr 30, 2008 15:32:36 GMT -5 earlwb said:

I mounted my petock in line and below where the vacuum petock is. It is mounted in a hole through the left plastic side panel. it ie easy for me to reach. I posted a picture of it back a ways in these messages here. One could I suppose mount it a little lower and have in on the inside, sort of hidden on the inside too. So it depends on what you want to do there.

One could also use one of the 12v solenoid operated fuel valves. Mount it inside and hook up 12vdc to it and you are in business. Just turn the ignition switch on and you are in business.
They look like this here:
www.dan-marc.com/79-afc11112.html

Thanks for the info Earl. I may just opt for the solenoid jobby. Looks as it only draws 3/4 of an amp. The electrical system could surely handle that I would hope!

[wasabijim]

Aug 20, 2007 21:03:17 GMT -5 earlwb said:

Anyway it turned out to be a ignition coil starting to go bad. Maybe it got a little moisture in it and was shorting out to some extent. The ignition coil wound up being a low speed coil and you couldn't get any RPMs over 6,000 or so to work with it.

I'm having the same problem with my new scooter not going over 46mph. I've never tried working on an engine before so this weekend will be my maiden voyage into the engine. Could the ignition coil be bad on a new scoot? I'm grasping at straws and going to try all kinds of things this weekend to solve the problem.

-Jim

[earlwb]

When my coils started to go bad they acted sort of like a speed governer was restricting the speed. The other problem was having the rubber air intake boot between the carb and the air filter box come loose on me. It acted the same way in both cases.
You also need to check the spark plug wire and make sure it is screwed into the spark plug cap and ignition coil. The factory sometimes doesn't screw in the wire but lightly push it on. So it is possible the spark plug wire is loose. inside the sockets on the coil and spark plug cap is a small reversed sheet metal screw that you screw the wire onto.
It is possible the vacuum operated fuel shutoff valve is not getting adequate vacuum and is starving the engine for fuel. You can use brass tube splicer from the hardware store to temporarily bypass the vacuum valve to test if it is the problem or not.
Worse still is if the valves need adjusting or not, sometimes the valve gap closes up and needs to be adjusted on some engines, if not all.

[ashdump]

Earl, my instrument cluster is a little different from yours. I have the high beam indicator under the tach and then there is some sort of red light (low oil?) similar to the high beam indicator under the speedo.

[ashdump]

I checked my plug when I changed my oil last night. The stock plug is a NGK CR7HSA. It had a very light greyish brownish color, virtually no ash, and the heat signature fades away about 2-3 threads up. I would say that that is just about perfect. The scooter runs very smooth. I really like it. It is no powerhouse, but I am concerned about fuel eficiency. I am guessing it is set up for optimum MPG as it sits right now. I have no plans of adjusting, "tweaking" or modifying it. I am tracking my MPG on this tank of gas (2cnd fillup) So far I have went about 55 miles and the guage is just slightly above 1/2. I am really happy with it and glad I purchased it!

[gstraitman]

your comment on overfilling the tank may be true however, I dont overfill my tank and I had ( still have ) a very similar idleing problem that you described.
I checked vent lines, vac lines, ect. now I think it is a symptom of not getting enough gas, or air in the gas line.
On my scoot I noticed that the fuel filter is not 'full' all the time, sometimes there is little gas in it, and lots of air. I suspect the vacuum driven petcock, or sometimes pinched vacuum line, or a little dirt in the slow idle jet. I would love to correct this annoying problem.
Ferd

["Big Guy"]

The fuel filter does not fill with gas. It'll stay somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 full.


-Rich

[ashdump]

May 12, 2008 11:38:04 GMT -5 ashdump said:

Earl, my instrument cluster is a little different from yours. I have the high beam indicator under the tach and then there is some sort of red light (low oil?) similar to the high beam indicator under the speedo.

Now that I've found my patch cord, hows about a picture....

[jools]

To Earl and other extremely helpful peeps on this post....

After reading this entire post, replies, etc, I am eager to take my apart my 2008 Roketa Fiji and put it back together again! I got mine May 2nd and I cannot get enough of this scooter; 730 miles and still counting. I initially had to do some adjustments to the throttle cable and idle, but so far this bike is running like a charm with all of the original parts. The first thing I plan on doing next weekend is changing out the spark plug and wire with an NGK Iridium IX plug and a high output coil; I can't wait! The only problem I have now with the bike is getting the darn thing registered. I requested the MSO, but it has to be notarized for the Illinois DMV/Secretary of State to be able to accept it. So I sent it back to DEEAL, Inc to get this done and have yet to receive the MSO back. So no plates on my bike, but I am still riding it around regardless. I bought mine from www.powersportsmax.com

Another problem I have with the bike is living in Chicago...avoid potholes!

I am also curious to know if running a higher wattage H4 bulb will work. I am interested in getting PIAA's Intense White H4 that runs at 60/55W. Does the alternator power the bulbs? Eventually I will switch out all the side lamps and other small bulbs with LED's.

Earl,
I am from Dallas and visit the fam quite often. I'll have to visit ya so I can pick your brain one of these days; you are tremendously helpful...and you F'n rock! Maybe I will buy another Roketa for the house down in good ol' Texas for when I visit and we'll ride around town...after all, we ALL need scooter buds! ;D


Thanks again to everyone adding to this topic...keep up the good stuff!

[gordz24]

Hey there man. Im looking to buy this same scooter. I currently live in Ohio but I am moving to Florida August 1st. I was thinking about buying it here. I found this dealer who has them for 1099. I thought it was pretty reasonable. But my concern is, I have to drive it from Ohio to FL, 1200 miles. Is this scooter okay on the highway for that many miles in 2 days, or am I better off waiting and buying one there. The dealerships in FL seem to be more expensive though. Seemed like I would be saving a few hundred dollars getting it here.

Anyways, thanks in advance!
Ron

[jools]

Jun 2, 2008 17:14:02 GMT -5 gordz24 said:

Hey there man. Im looking to buy this same scooter. I currently live in Ohio but I am moving to Florida August 1st. I was thinking about buying it here. I found this dealer who has them for 1099. I thought it was pretty reasonable. But my concern is, I have to drive it from Ohio to FL, 1200 miles. Is this scooter okay on the highway for that many miles in 2 days, or am I better off waiting and buying one there. The dealerships in FL seem to be more expensive though. Seemed like I would be saving a few hundred dollars getting it here.

Anyways, thanks in advance!
Ron

Try looking at a few online dealers. You should be able to find the same model for about $850~900 and $200 to ship. I would be hesitant to drive it on the highway for that many consecutive miles; I can only imagine how much it would stress the engine.

[gordz24]

The one thing I was worried about with that scenario is the delivery. I am going to be living in a big apartment complex. Not sure how that would work with the delivery process and crate and crap.

[jools]

Shipping is not that bad; they will drop ship to your door. Most of the online companies from what I hear will drop it off from the truck to whereever you want it. I had the delivery guy take mine to the back alley of my home rather than leave it on the front yard. Made it a lot easier to dispose of the crate.

[earlwb]

jools,
My suggestion is to not run the 55w H4 bulbs on the Fiji 150's or any 150cc scooter with dual headlights. The 55w bulbs draw too much power and will overload the alternator. Sometimes the wiring is very minimal as to the copper wire inside, thus the wires could burn up on you. Sometimes the alternator coil wires burn out too. Finally the 55w bulbs generate a lot of heat, the plastic headlight lenses are at risk of melting from the excess heat.

On single headlight 150cc scooters, a H4 55w bulb might work. Some people have reported success. But on most single headlight scooters, they use the lower power alternator. So when you hook up the high power 55w headlight, the headlight only glows faintly at low speeds or RPMs, and at high RPMs it looks to glow about right. So it may or may not work, it depends on which alternator stator you have in your scooter.

[earlwb]

ashdump, yeah I have read someplace about there being a oil change indicator light on the dash panel. But I don't think the Chinese are wiring it up though.

[jackthefuzz]

55w will work on the scoot but chances are you will melt the reflector. better to go with HID at 35 watts

[jackthefuzz]

Jun 3, 2008 10:39:09 GMT -5 earlwb said:

ashdump, yeah I have read someplace about there being a oil change indicator light on the dash panel. But I don't think the Chinese are wiring it up though.

my red dash light, lights up wheneever the brake light is on

[johndeere]

I just went through the exact same thing you did with precisely the same Brand Scooter. When it arrived, I hooked up everything as instructed.

When I looked at the Gear Oil and Engine Oil stickers to show where they are. The Gear Oil sticker was right next to the oil dip. I was dumbfounded because I really thought at that moment, holy sh!t, the Chinese do really do things differently! So before going ahead to add the oils... I flipped through the lousy manual I received from allnewsports.com. I got nothing clear out of it, so I went online to forums and tips... I got the pictures and etc... It worked out perfectly and it was obvious that they put the stickers in the wrong place. *whew*

I got it started first time... It ran nicely, then i scooted a mile and the fuse just blew.. So I quickly ran over to the store to get another fuse. It blew again! I took the panels off and looked at the wiring, one was completely melted! I followed the wires and a couple of them were switched over and wired improperly. Changed the wires and rerouted them right. I can't imagine what the bill would have been if i took it to a shop.

Then I looked at the engine hoses, they were cheap rubber hoses that could have passed as a straw. A friend of mine told me once that he used VW hoses for his go kart. I remember that those things could survive a nuclear blast. So I got some and replaced 80% of the hoses with VW hoses... Mainly for fuel lines and hoses near the engine to prevent from melting.

Then I fired it up, it runs perfectly... I did another oil change at 300 miles. Right now I'm at 450 miles, I use it daily to commute 10-15 minutes to work. Love it, I get up to 45 easily on this hog... Maxed out at 60 and for some odd reason, 60 MPH on a Fiji 150 feels like 100mph in a car.

Looks like I did okay with taking a risk with this scooter knowing I'd have my tool of trade handy! Oh yeah, it's a definite gas saver! Use high octane fuel (90+), will last longer and works better!

First sticker I put on the scooter is a John Deere sticker... more to come...

[ashdump]

Jun 3, 2008 12:35:34 GMT -5 jackthefuzz said:

my red dash light, lights up wheneever the brake light is on

That don't make any sense. What would be the purpose?

[earlwb]

Sounds typical. They had a extra light that didn't do anything, so they hooked it up to the brake light.

[earlwb]

Some people had trouble visualizing how I meant for the muffler straps and angle iron to be used on my scooter.
Here is the final way I mounted the muffer on, note the straps are on the outside of the angle iron.

[keithhk]

Hi, I have been reading these posts and have gotten alot of information and I am having a problem with a new Lance GSR 150 as it is very sluggish to 1St accelerate and then at about 40-45 if you are going up a hill it seems to hesitate and will go not faster unless you are going downhill seems to surge so seems like it is starving for fuel and the RPMS will not go up over 5000 any suggestions on what to do to fix this condition? Thanks for any info on this matter Keith

[earlwb]

1.) Check your intake manifold and vacuum lines for kinks, cracks, and leaks. Look under the clamp for the carb for cracks too. Put some red RTV silicon gasket sealer on the other end of the manifold as the O-rings doesn't work very good after it has been on there a while.
2.) Check the rubber intake air tube from the air filter box to the carb and make sure it didn't come loose.
3.) the ignition coil unit can be going bad causing it to act like it has a speed governor on it.
4.) Check the ignition coil power wires to make sure they are on good and snug. the bayonet pins are cheap and tend to loosen up causing problems.
5.) the engines come from the factory set really lean, any thing you do to change its air flow in and out of the engine tends to put it over the edge and make it run too lean. usually bumping up the size of the main jet helps a lot.
6.) At WOT throttle positions, the intake vacuum isn't enough for the vacuum fuel petock to stay open so the engine runs out of fuel. You can test this by bypassing the vacuum fuel petock and see what happens. Most of us replace the vacuum fuel petock with a manually operated one. You can see where I did just that previously in this thread.
7.) Oh yeah a bad spark plug can do you in, switch to a NGK in place of the no name OEM spark plug.

[kcguy]

This is a WONDERFUL thread, however, reading it I must almost ask myself what I have gotten myself into, it seems alot of maintenence is required for this scooter, and I personally have the exact one coming at the moment. I didnt expect so much work to be put into these things, and honestly I am not so handy with working on stuff. My real question to you is this Earl......Is most of the work you did to improve your scooter, or was this something that required attention after you rode it so much? Is this scooter trustworthy and reliable, or will I find myself with more repairs then I know what to do with? Thanks for all the info on this thread, it has greatly helped me in my expectations.

[earlwb]

Actually I don't see it being as bad as it seems. Yes there is maintenance involved.
But I have had motorcycles that were a lot more hassle than anyone would want.
Around here the vintage Vespa people seem to spend all their time trying to fix their scooters instead of riding them. So actually I got in a lot more riding time than they do.

But basically if you check, you'll find that there was
1) bad tire valves, easy to rectify
2) the rear luggage rack broke and needed rewelding.
3) a ignition coil went bad, very likely because the spark plug wire was loose.
4) the cheap fuse blew out after a while
5) the muffler straps were breaking because of the muffler mounts/standoffs, of which I rectified, but not everyone has this problem. Most people don't seem to have a issue with it.
6) the rubber intake manifold cracked and need replacing fairly soon too.

I replaced the vacuum fuel valve with a manual one as I didn't want to bother with it later.

The tire replacement is standard wear. Loose nuts or bolts is common and everyone has that problem. Oil changes, spark plugs, etc is common wear items.
Headlight bulbs do burn out. So that is common on motorcycles too.
Adjusting the valves is a common procedure not just on scooters.
The CVT belt shredding and breaking, yes it happens. Sometimes sooner than later.

[earlwb]

OK, I measured the heater coils on two different enrichener's and one measured about 8.3 ohms and the other measured 13.4 ohms. So based on that, the 13.4 ohm coil would heat up a little slower than the 8.3 ohm heater coil.
These are two new enricheners that have not been plugged in and used.

If you looked at the schematic on my 250 scooter, the "liquid adding valve" which is the enrichener, is wired directly off one of the alternator coils in parallel to the voltage regulator. On my Fiji 150 the enrichener (called a accelerator) is wired in series with voltage regulator. So on the Fiji 150, if you unplug the enrichener heater coil the scooter is dead and will not start. I haven't unplugged it on the 250 to see if it does the same thing though.

So 8.3 ohms draws about 1.6 amperes (20 watts), and 13.4 ohms draws about 1 ampere (12.6 watts). Of course the voltages vary some so the actual current flow or power would vary some.

[ashdump]

Well, been a busy summer, been a while since my last visit. At any rate, here is where my experience stands with my Fiji 150. 1880 miles. Using Shell Rotella 5W40 synthetic oil. Having issues at about 35mph and 5k rpm. Seems to bog down. Feathering the throttle seems to help a little. Changed out the vacuum fuel shut-off with a 12V solenoid valve. Seemed to help with throttle issues a little bit, but not totally. Gets to speeed a little better. Adjusted valve lash to .004" at 1500 miles. Way to sloppy, IMO. Noticeable ticking at that setting, no difference in performance. Adjusted back to factory setting, .05mm (or .002"). Still running stock CVT belt although I can tell it has strecthed a bit. Overall, still very happy with the scooter. Always starts, runs good except that patch at about 5k RPM. Gets a consistant 95 mpg according to odometer (which BTW shows pretty consistant against that in my truck) SPent just over $80 in gas so far and have went almost 1900 miles! Not too shabby!

[bvillepiper]

I have a Roketa MC-04-150-Y. The manual says that the red light comes on when you get a call on your cell phone. No body has called me while I've been riding so I don't know if it works.

[earlwb]

Yeah that "call light" is fascinating. I don't know anyone state that it worked for them.
I don't think it ever worked. But maybe the phone frequencies are different in China than over here.

[earlwb]

ashdump, yeah that bogging down feeling is because the factory sets the engines to run really lean to pass emissions DOT EPA laws. Sometimes you can raise the needle in the carb slightly where it hooks into the slide.
I suggest to go for a larger main jet. usually they put in a 108 main jet, so a 112 or 115 ought to go the trick. With a K&N air filter and performance exhaust a 120 would be needed.

the other thing to get you is the vacuum operated fuel cutoff valve. At high engine loads or WOT, there isn't enough engine vacuum to keep the valve open and the engine runs out of fuel. But that might be a moot point, I looked at 5 different vacuum fuel cutoff valves and none of them worked, they were just wide open all the time. You could blow in the fitting barbs on either end and it would freely pass air through no problem.

I went with a manual fuel on/off valve myself.


I am actually riding my Fiji 150 again this week. My 250 broke down, and I don't have time to mess with it before the weekend.
Nice to have backups.