Post by ellpee on Jul 30, 2013 6:46:40 GMT -6
:-/As I wrote in a previous thread, I had a local scooter guy adjust the way-too-rich mixture setting on my Magnum, and it now runs somewhat better but the plug still gets black after 50 miles or so. In addition, although it starts easily and the idle is smooth enough, the power is not what it should be, or what it was BEFORE he adjusted the carb. I was going up a pretty steep grade yesterday and could barely hold 30 mph; when it first arrived it was good for about 45 in the same situation.
SO, now that I've learned how to get access to that mixture screw I'm going to tweak the fuel/air again in any case, and I'm wondering if there's anything other than that I should do to try to restore the engine power to where it should be.
(BTW, I'm also now using premium gas on the advice of the scooter guy, if that has any bearing on any of the above.)
LATE MORNING UPDATE: loosened clamps at both ends of carb and rotated it to where I had access to that mixture screw, turned it all the way clockwise, which I presume is fully closed/no gas, then backed it out a few turns, but couldn't get the scoot to start so I could continue the process. Closed it again and backed it out 2.5 full turns, put everything back together and it did start, idle was very low. Boosted the idle a bit, then decided not to push my luck; will take it back to the scooter dude. Not sure why it wouldn't start in that "rotated" position, but unless I can do all this with the engine actually running, it's going to be pure guesswork on my part.
Found one interesting thing in the process, though: the air filter box was just hanging from the hose, bolts had come completely loose. Two bolts, one toward the front attaches to a steel bracket, the one toward the back was attached to a steel bracket that had broken off, and I could see no place where it had been before it broke. So at the moment the air box is secured to one bracket via one bolt and nut, plus my old friend Loctite. Relatively large rubber hose goes to airbox from the variator housing, smaller rubber hose goes to airbox from the clutch/gear housing. I assume those feed vapors back through the engine rather than just releasing them into the atmosphere. The smaller hose was not connected, and still isn't; once I reattached the air box I couldn't get at the hose to connect it properly. Since it wasn't connected in the first place, I'm going to assume that's not critical, and can wait until I have a reason to remove the rear plastic again.
SO, now that I've learned how to get access to that mixture screw I'm going to tweak the fuel/air again in any case, and I'm wondering if there's anything other than that I should do to try to restore the engine power to where it should be.
(BTW, I'm also now using premium gas on the advice of the scooter guy, if that has any bearing on any of the above.)
LATE MORNING UPDATE: loosened clamps at both ends of carb and rotated it to where I had access to that mixture screw, turned it all the way clockwise, which I presume is fully closed/no gas, then backed it out a few turns, but couldn't get the scoot to start so I could continue the process. Closed it again and backed it out 2.5 full turns, put everything back together and it did start, idle was very low. Boosted the idle a bit, then decided not to push my luck; will take it back to the scooter dude. Not sure why it wouldn't start in that "rotated" position, but unless I can do all this with the engine actually running, it's going to be pure guesswork on my part.
Found one interesting thing in the process, though: the air filter box was just hanging from the hose, bolts had come completely loose. Two bolts, one toward the front attaches to a steel bracket, the one toward the back was attached to a steel bracket that had broken off, and I could see no place where it had been before it broke. So at the moment the air box is secured to one bracket via one bolt and nut, plus my old friend Loctite. Relatively large rubber hose goes to airbox from the variator housing, smaller rubber hose goes to airbox from the clutch/gear housing. I assume those feed vapors back through the engine rather than just releasing them into the atmosphere. The smaller hose was not connected, and still isn't; once I reattached the air box I couldn't get at the hose to connect it properly. Since it wasn't connected in the first place, I'm going to assume that's not critical, and can wait until I have a reason to remove the rear plastic again.