JCL/Roketa MP250A/MC250 from powersportmax

[bigmanbeats]

Hello Scootdawg. It's been about 6 weeks since I bought my 250cc scooter from powersportsmax.

I decided to try getting a scooter online for the summer. With high gas prices I thought it might be a great way to save money.

Shipping wasn't a problem, even though I was minorly upset that Saia wouldn't ship on the weekends (had to wait all weekend with the scoot just sitting in the Portland warehouse is torture on an impulsive guy!) It showed up in a giant box that I tore into like Christmas morning. It took a few hours to get all the metal and plastic off. Anxiously I put some gas in it and turned the key. No lights, nothing.

I'm very limited in my mechanical abilities so luckily I found a mechanic that works on motorcycles to come over for a reasonable price. It turns out the fuse thats attached to the solenoid/starter is bad.

Also, the rear brake didn't work, no pressure, even after bleeding the brake. To powersportmax's credit, I called them and told them about the problem and they shipped out the entire brake assembly to me free of charge. Not to their credit however, they shipped me a dissimilar part to the original one (it was slightly different looking) and in the meantime the mechanic discovered that essentially the brake was just gunky from sitting in the warehouse for 5 years and needed to be bled profusely before it got any pressure.

Once I got the brake and starter/solenoid fuse issue working, scoot started up, but the rear tire was flat, even after pumping it up the night before. So back the mechanic came to take off the rear tire. It turns out it was a bad valve, 5 dollar fix.

Filled it up and off to take my scoot for a ride. 2 blocks down the road it dies, won't start back up. I try to turn it over and the battery is low, even after charging it. I eventually gave up on the battery and bought a nice gel battery with a 2 year warranty. I also keep it on a tender overnight. So far I haven't had any issues with the scooter electricity just giving up while trying to turn it over so I think that fixed it.

I also asked the mechanic to clean the carb and adjust the valves (some ppl on this forum recommended these be done right away). Between doing this and getting a new battery I finally got this scoot up and running!


So, to summarize, straight out of the box I had the following problems:

blown starter/solenoid fuse
bad rear tire valve
gunked up carb
valves needed adjusting
bad/cheap battery that needed replaced
gunked up rear brake
blown battery fuse


$1500 for the scooter, plus $500 in parts and labor to get it up and running, I figure for a similar Korean/Japanese/American brand I'm still well within a good price for this scoot. It runs decent now. Fingers crossed.

A few things that seem to be an ongoing issue still, and I'm hoping you guys could help me with:

1. It still is a cold start first thing in the morning. It takes about 5-6 times of starting it to turn over. Could this be a fuel pump issue?

2. It's minor, but the windshield squeaks when the bike is idling. Those rubber grommets aren't holding the windshield in place and are loose, but I don't know how or where to find that part and order it.

Any help is appreciated. I look forward to being a part of this forum!

[jimbo1710]

i just bought one from them in March. I decided to pay the little extra for a 2011 model because i just didn't want one that had been setting in a warehouse with junk fluid sitting in it all those years. Everything so far has been great. I did do the pdi when i got it, changed all fluids and fuses, tightened everything. I must say that all the bolts i checked were actually tight. you might be having some of those issues your having just because it's been sitting for so long. I had the same problem with my windsheild on my 250b making the same noise when i got it. I went to our autoparts store and bought a little bigger speed nuts to put in there. i also got rid of the rubber things and made my own from cork gasket material. put one under and on top of the hole, no more squeak.

[trigger]

Welcome aboard. I would say you caught most of the stuff that a dealer might perform on a scoot just coming off the ship from anywhere. Except most Jap bikes probably didn't sit in a warehouse for 5+ years.

I have the same model. Starting will improve with breakin, about 1000 miles, and warmer weather. You can open the slow speed mixture screw up 1/4 turn to make is a little easier to start, It is usually located on the bottom of the carb near the float bowl.

Make sure your lights are all working, I didn't have many problems with mine, but I did swap out the head light bulbs and sockets with 35W H4 (partsforscooters) bulbs and Autozone H4 sockets. Great improvement if riding at night.

I too found the rear brake problematic and have replaced the caliper once, but I also have 20,000 miles on my JCL now.

Change your engine oil immediately, and the tranny oil soon. Then do the engine oil again at 500 miles and thereafter every 1000 to 1500.

Good luck.

[bigmanbeats]

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention, but I did change the gear oil, coolant and motor oil first thing when I got it to good quality Honda stuff.

[bigmanbeats]

UPDATE:

I installed a Mr. Gasket electric fuel pump and that seemed to solve the cold start issue.

[greg]

ya all things wrong you mentioned are expected instead of 1/4 turn id turn it counterclockwise (enriching it) 1 turn. you cannot get these too rich by that screw. fuel delivery is allways an issue with these scoots. soon you may notice it stalls out after a mile or so and wont start right away if that happens open the gas cap if you hear a whoosh that means your tank isnt breathing. tat can be fixed easy just ask. i took off the factory breather and stuck a gas filter at the end. problem solved. dont overfill the tank. make sure you swap out the gas lines with real ones from an auto parts store and swap the gas filter! ones on there are junk. another common issue will be the petcock. i took mine off and just added a fuel shut off valve.

[chaz12]

I am not sure, but I have had no issues with the fuel pump or fuel lines. It is suppose to be gravity flow. Mine was made in 2007 bought new February 2008.. My major issue is with the starters keep going out. 3 have been replaced.