Scooter bogging problem

[thewizard13]

So to give you the quickest I can on this scooter. I have a 150cc GY6 meling scooter. Got it in October and it only had 500 miles when I got it. I recently hit the 1400 mile mark and started having bogging issues. There is no particular time when it does it, although I have noticed it more lately after its been running for a little bit. I only ride it to and from work, 16 miles back and forth with an 7-8 hour rest in between.

I took it recently to the scooter shop and had them do a diagnostic and carb clean. Got it a couple of days later and made it 5 minutes down the road and it bogged out again. They got it back and the next day called to say that they remounted the CDI, put a new fuel line in (because the hose for the existing one was too long?) re-connected the choke start, and replaced the fuel filter. It was running fine until I got home tonight, thankfully it was in the parking lot in front of my building, and started bogging again. That time, though, I was barely doing 10 mph. I have put seafoam in the gas tank, about 2 capfuls, and had the carb cleaned. Now I am at a crossroad. I don't want to take it back and pay more $ to have the same thing happen. Any suggestions to what it could be. It starts to jump a little before it happens and then just goes WAAAAAA in a low tone and eventually cuts off if I am giving it gas. I don't know what to do, please help!!!!

[snugglebunny]

take it back to the shop
tell 'em
;YOU DIDNT FIX THE PROBLEM, PLEASE TRY AGAIN

if they are a 1/2 decent shop
they should do it for free.

[rockynv]

Have the valves been adjusted since you bought it? Overdue valve adjustments will cause low intake vacuume and can lead to hung or burnt valves along with bogging from fuel starvation. The ignition trigger when it starts to fail can also cause these kinds of issues.

[qwertydude]

1400 miles, time for a valve adjustment. That would have been the first thing I would have checked. If the scooter shop didn't do that first, then I wouldn't trust they even did the repairs they said they did.

[richardthescooter1]

Here are some thoughts, 1. check all vacuum line, make sure they are tight, check both intake manifold and air box clamps to see if they are tight, then start scoot use spray bottle of soaping water, spray those areas, if it boggs, you found you leak, if all is well there, 2. take a ride and when it boggs, back off the throttle 1/4 and see if it surges ahead, (your lean) if it recovers your (too Rich) adjust aie/fuel ratio screw on carb.

[thewizard13]

I m very new to this so I need to know where the adjustment screw for that would be. Unless you are talking about the idle screw, which I just adjusted. I agree with the valve adjustment scenario and honestly don't think they did too much in that regard. I got it to go about 20 the other night when it started bogging down again. If I back off the throttle and give just a little it does jump a little and it usually followed by the same WAAAAA sound. At that point if I give it a lot of gas it just cuts off. I don't honestly think that the shop has done what they said, other than maybe pulling the air filter off and spraying it with some carb cleaner (which was the 1st thing I did). They also charged me for only 1/2 an hour of work for it to do the same. I think that I will just stay away from that shop honestly. They already have $150 total from me so far for nothing.

[richardthescooter1]

Not sure what carb you have, but here is one. Let me know if this is your carb.

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[richardthescooter1]

You said they cleaned your carb, try this first. open the top of the carb where the diaphragm sets, if the diaphragm wasn't put in correct it will bogg, there is a little notch on the carb and the rubber to go into.

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[richardthescooter1]

see the notch, open and re-do, see if that works, that happened to me, took top off re-set my diaphragm and it work good.

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[thewizard13]

To Richard: It was having the bogging issues before they "cleaned" the carb. You think that it might still be the diaphragm? I called and talked to a guy that works on motorcycles and small engines and he is gonna get it tomorrow morning and take a look at it. I will keep posted on what happens. He agrees that its probably the valves and the jets needing re-adjusting, but he's taking the entire carb apart to inspect it anyway. At least that's where he is starting. It's a buddy's uncle and at least I won't be paying too much for it. Thanks for the info to everyone in such a short time. I am sure that I'll be on with more questions as this goes along.

[Deleted]

Yeah I wouldn't be for fooling with carburetor adjustments but that's up to you, myself I'd check for vacuum leaks.

[thewizard13]

I had it picked up today and talked with the guy. He said they'll start with blowing out the fuel lines and taking the car out and apart. I feel pretty good about this guy. He wasn't a service manager at a scooter store....(just won't mention who). He was really straight up, which I like. So they'll call me today or tomorrow to let me know what they found so far.

[richardthescooter1]

Another thing it could be is the air filter, I had the same result when I cleaned my air filter with soap & water (a no, no) should of use gas or carb clean and then sprayed with oil, or if you changed out the air filter with something new, that would effect the a/f ratio settings. Let us know how you make out.

[rockynv]

Jan 20, 2013 8:29:02 GMT -5 richardthescooter1 said:

Another thing it could be is the air filter, I had the same result when I cleaned my air filter with soap & water (a no, no) should of use gas or carb clean and then sprayed with oil, or if you changed out the air filter with something new, that would effect the a/f ratio settings. Let us know how you make out.

That is actually backwards. Carb cleaner or gasoline are not for use on foam filters and neither are detergents. Plain soap and water followed by a clear water rinse until soap free, lightly towel dry and then leave until completly air dried before oiling or use a commercialy available air filter cleaner following the directions. Carb cleaner or gasoline can leave the filter brittle causing it to eventually fail and get injested by the engine leading to a full rebuild. The older oil bath woven catridge filters can be cleaned with kerosene but gasoline should be avoided to prevent a flashback fire.

[qwertydude]

Where are you located perhaps we can point you to a place that knows how to actually work on the scooters or possibly if there's a board member nearby who might be able to help. Likely this is a very simple problem that, if you're knowledgeable about it, can be fixed in 15 minutes or less.

[thewizard13]

So the guy called me and left me a message. When I called the other guy that works with him picked up and said that he had taken the entire carb apart and cleaned it, including the jets and blowing the fuel lines out. He said that he had it doing almost 60 down his road and had no problems getting it to go from a dead stop. I asked him if it had been taken apart and he said from what he cleaned out, no. Since I read some reviews on the place that I was taking it to and found some similar situations posted, I just decided to just not go back. Qwertydude I am in NC. I am doing an oil change, air filter cleaning and spark plug replacement very soon as well. I got to have this thing for another 2 years, roughly, and would love to keep it as tip top as possible.

[richardthescooter1]

Thanks for the advice rockynv, I did use soap and water to clean my foam filter and was told that it was a no, no? but it seem to have oil on it so I did put any on it and it bogged, maybe it wasn't totally dry.

[qwertydude]

You see my very first guess was that even though they said they cleaned out the carb they didn't, as evidenced by the mechanic who actually opened it saying there was stuff there. If it's working now, I suggest getting good fuel line from an auto parts store and installing an inline fuel filter.

There's definitely North Carolina board members around here. But if you want to prevent a repeat of these kind of headache inducing problems, I suggest you learn how to work on these scooters. For one thing it's a pretty much accepted fact that these scooters only save you money IF you do all your own work as labor simply costs too much to justify buying a scooter and paying more for getting it repaired than the scooter's worth. Not only that but they require more maintenance in general too so you're gonna pay more again if you're not doing the labor yourself.

On top of that you said money's tight which is why you bought the scooter in the first place. If you want to keep it two years or more. A full PDI is mandatory.

This means replacing all the fuel lines, installing a fuel filter, changing the gear oil in the transmission, cleaning out the carb, replacing the CVT belt, and just about everyone on this board also removes the smog equipment. And depending on what kind of scooter you have it's also a good idea to replace the vacuum operated fuel pump. If your scooter has a floorboard mounted gas tank it has a fuel pump and replacing the fuel pump with a quality Mikuni fuel pump will prevent a lot of difficult to trace fuel flow issues later on down the line.

[thewizard13]

So got the scooter back today and it was running great. WAS being the operative word here. Got down the road from my moms, where they brought it, and it...once again....bogged out. I called the guy that worked on it and they are going to arrange to pick it up tomorrow. He said something about the possibility of it being a heat coil? He wasn't making any bets, but said that he would take it back apart and look again to see if there is anything that is wrong. It is doing this after I have run it a couple of times and it gets heated up.....I don't know what a floor mounted gas tank is. All I know is that it's under the seat, well under and in the back of the scooter. I am starting to wonder if it's something as simple as there is a little something in the gas tank that's causing this to happen. At this point I honestly don't care as long as it's fixed....and stays fixed! It's getting picked up tomorrow and we'll see from there.

Qwerty, what is a good way to learn about these scooters? I guess a Haynes or Chilton manual would work, but they are very broad and not particular to a certain brand. Probably because there are SO many different styles and brands. I would LOVE to learn how to work on one, but honestly don't have any way to do it since it hasn't been here. Crossing my fingers, eyes, toes and legs in hope that this is the last thing that I will have to do for a while, so I can start to learn about it.

[thewizard13]

Also if anyone is in Raleigh, NC and wants to lend a fellow scooter brother out then please let me know. I am more than willing to learn about these scooters and will gladly help anyone out that needs help also.

[scootercapecod]

It's obvious that your new mechanic didn't drive it around long enough to see that the trouble wasn't fixed. Whatever the case, if you can allow him to take it for a few days after the repairs are supposedly done, he might be able to get to the bottom of it. Have him drive it like it were his car for a day or so to see if the trouble happens when he has it. I'm guessing that it will so if you can be patient, it might pay off. Just because he drove down his street once doesn't mean the problem is solved!

[thewizard13]

Sorry that I haven't updated anyone on anything recently. I had the scooter back and it started on its bogging again. Replaced the fuel filter and checked the lines to make sure that they were feeding gas to the scooter, fine there. I went out the other morning and cranked it and turned the idle up a hair and behold no problems thus far. My only guess can be the weather right now, because its pretty cold. I am wondering if because its so cold that not enough gas was getting through the system. I let the bike warm up for about 10 minutes, giving a little throttle here and there, and haven't gotten it to do anything yet. Lets just hope that this is the case and that it's fixed now. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

[Origjoker]

Wizard - Have them do a valve adjustment before you try anything else. ALL 150cc Chinese scooters will need one within the first 2000 miles and it has a very good chance of fixing your problem. Also, You can remove the carbon canister and replace all the vacuum lines when you do it.

Could be coil or CDI but get the basic free stuff out of the way first. Look on here and youtube and you will find detailed instructions on how to service pretty much everything on the scooter and most of it is pretty easy to do. You may even get lucky and find someone with knowledge on this board that lives close enough to you to help.

scootdawg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=talk&thread=52155&page=1

That is my original post from when I purchased my 150cc scoot showing what I did to it to improve reliability.

Again though, Valve adjustment first...ditch canister and vac lines 2nd then move on to CDI, Coil or other problems.