2011 Roketa Fan Switchout By ellpee (Read 2,023 times)

[ellpee]

The moment of truth approaches. Recent test rides convince me my charging problems are never going to be resolved with the current fan; every time it turns on the voltmeter drops below 12. So, since tomorrow's forecast is for rain, I plan to take the leap and try to change the OEM 8-amp van for the 3-amp fan Alley steered me to. Could use advice from anybody who has done this on the 2011 Roketa. I can look under/behind the front wheel and see the radiator, with a plastic shroud in front of it held by several screws. I assume the fan is mounted to the back side of the radiator. If there's anybody out there who has had occasion to remove the radiator on this particular scoot, can I do it working from the front, or an I going to need to pull plastic to get at what I need to get at? Any pictures, YouTube videos, diagrams, whatever, would be a big help, I'm sure. Even just a picture of that section of the Roketa with the plastics off, so I can get an idea of the "lay of the land," would be better than nothing. Thanks to anyone who can help.

[scot]

hear IS  WHEAR I HAD MINE APART COULD TRY TAKEING OUT THE FRONT SHIELD 4 SCREWS,YOU MAY HAVE TO ,TAKE THE SIDE PEACES OFF BUT COULD TRY THAT ,THEN ITS 4 BOLTS ON THE RADIATOR ITSELF  THE FAN WAS 2 I THINK  BOLTS TO0. MABEY THIS HELPS I WAS THINKING HAD A LEAK WAS MY OVERFLOW ,LOOKS LIKE WHEN YOU GET THE FRONT BLACK SHEILD OFF THEN YOU COULD DESIDE IF YOU CAN GET THEN ,ON MY 2013 I COULD REACH ALL 4 BOLTS TO THE ,RADIATOR ,YOU MAY HAVE TO DRAIN RADIATOR ,BUT MAY SAVE SOME TIME IF YOU JUST  TRY TAKEING RADIATOR OUT ,THE 2 HOSES ON BOTTOM I THINK AN THE 4 BOLTS ARE ALL THAT HOLDS IT IN THERE  AN ONE CONNECTORTHE FAN IS ON THE BACK SIDE .HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT USEING A MORE POWERFUL BATTERY SCOTT 

[ellpee]

Looks very similar to my 2011, Scot; thanks. Hoping I can get away with removing the plastic shield, four radiator bolts, tip it forward and get at the fan that way, but will see. Anybody else with pix, love to see 'em.

Was planning, if all the other modifications didn't do the job, to invest in a 14Ah battery to replace the 9Ah, But earlier this week the latter crapped out in front of an auto parts store, so I wound up buying a second, identical 9Ah. Until I feel good about the charging system that one will be a constant companion in my trunk, fully charged and ready to go if I get stranded again.

[scot]

yes its to bad I wonder why they don't put kick starts on these anymore ,I guess the 2008 had them ,I would have liked to have the back up ,an at first thought I did have it as the add said it ,they had to take that off,i would imagine the 14a is costly ,I was thinking about the 12a about 45,00 ,have you hear about others having charging problems with these 250s ,I guess I am thinking I may have issues too ,though mabey not ,I am pretty sure we have couple of the newer ones could try with radiator in front ,could try youtube ::X04::

[ellpee]

Batteries Plus wants $80 to $140 for the 14Ah best I can recall, depending on warranty (best is two years), so yeah, pricey.

First after-action report: got the fan installed this morning. Good news is the mounting holes were exactly like the OEM fan, no creativity required. In fact, the two fans looked virtually identical, sure hope after all this I didn't already have a low amperage fan!

Bad news is that, while I could just barely get at the fan from the front, enough to remove the two bolts and be able to pull it out from the bottom, the darn CONNECTOR was way the bejeezus up under the black center plastic that covers fuel tank, etc. So I wound up removing a bunch more screws and bolts so I could pull that plastic up enough to do what needed doing. Never did get it completely off, something underneath still holding it. But a minor side benefit was, I discovered some loose and missing bolts and screws and was able to tighten them again with plenty of LocTite where appropriate. Haven't run the scoot yet with the new fan, waiting for my new left switch assembly to arrive in the mail while I still have things pretty well opened up. I can see the nine-wire connector up underneath there, so I'm thinking that'll be an easy swap-out. Also still need the four LED bulbs for the turn signals, after which time to see if the charging system looks any better. If not, only thing left is an on/off switch for headlights, or that expensive gorilla battery, or both. This darn $2K scooter will be up to $3K pretty soon at this rate!

Oh, while messing around I also discovered that overflow hose from the radiator system that you posted about, and at the loose end it actually had a clamp on it, as if it was supposed to attach somewhere, but I saw no possibilities for that, so just left it dangling.

[alleyoop]

Have you checked your OVERFLOW tank there should be a hose going to it from near the top of the radiator MAYBE that is it. But I would think if the hose had come off there would not be any antifreeze in the overflow tank it would be empty.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Will look at that, Alley, while I have at least a little visibility of all that stuff under the plastic. I do know that there is little or nothing in that overflow tank right now, and I would imagine it is supposed to have at least 2-3" of juice in it, no?

[alleyoop]

Great!! now if that hose is coming from the top of the radiator then that hose connects to the OVERFLOW TANK. And yes some antifreeze should be in there it works just like the cars overflow tanks.
Alleyoop

[scot]

Dec 20, 2013 13:48:54 GMT -6 ellpee said:

Batteries Plus wants $80 to $140 for the 14Ah best I can recall, depending on warranty (best is two years), so yeah, pricey.

First after-action report: got the fan installed this morning. Good news is the mounting holes were exactly like the OEM fan, no creativity required. In fact, the two fans looked virtually identical, sure hope after all this I didn't already have a low amperage fan!

Bad news is that, while I could just barely get at the fan from the front, enough to remove the two bolts and be able to pull it out from the bottom, the darn CONNECTOR was way the bejeezus up under the black center plastic that covers fuel tank, etc. So I wound up removing a bunch more screws and bolts so I could pull that plastic up enough to do what needed doing. Never did get it completely off, something underneath still holding it. But a minor side benefit was, I discovered some loose and missing bolts and screws and was able to tighten them again with plenty of LocTite where appropriate. Haven't run the scoot yet with the new fan, waiting for my new left switch assembly to arrive in the mail while I still have things pretty well opened up. I can see the nine-wire connector up underneath there, so I'm thinking that'll be an easy swap-out. Also still need the four LED bulbs for the turn signals, after which time to see if the charging system looks any better. If not, only thing left is an on/off switch for headlights, or that expensive gorilla battery, or both. This darn $2K scooter will be up to $3K pretty soon at this rate!

Oh, while messing around I also discovered that overflow hose from the radiator system that you posted about, and at the loose end it actually had a clamp on it, as if it was supposed to attach somewhere, but I saw no possibilities for that, so just left it dangling.

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[scot]

YES ABOVE SHOWS WHEAR IT CONNECTS TO RIGHT BELOW THE CAP ON THE BOTTLE ,ITS LOOKS LIKE YOU WERE BUSY ,TODAY HOPE IT ALL WORKS OUT I FOUND SOME SCREWS LOOSE AN BOLTS NEEDING TIGHTING ,AN WILL GO THROUGH IT MORE EACH TIME I GET A CHANCE TO ,LET ME KNOW DOES THE 3AMP FAN WORK BETTER ,OR WAS IT WHAT YOU MAY HAVE BEEN THINKING .I WILL TAKE SHORT TRIPS.I WONDER HOW MANY ARE HAVEING CHARGEING PROBLEMS ,I DID HEAR BYE PUTING THE RADIATOR IN THE FRONT ,IT IS SUPOSED TO HELP THE COOLING ISSUES I GUESS SOME HAVE HAD IT ONLY MAKES SENCE AS ALL MACHINES I HAVE HAD HAVE THE RADIATOR IN THE FRONT,SOME DONT WE KNOW I COULD HAVE GOT A 2008 LEFT OVER FOR 100.00 LESS IWAS THINKING ABOUT TIRES SITING SO LONG AN NOT THING LIKE THE COOLING SYSTEM BEING IN THE BACK,THEY DID SAY 2013 WERE BETTER AN GETTING BETTER EACH YEAR ,THERE ARE OTHER FANS ON THESE I SEEN THE OLD THREAD WITH FAN FOR THE RR ON THE SIDE .,I MAY BE WRONG AN OFFTEN  THOUGH. THANK YOU IT HELPFUL INFO FOR MINE 8-|MY TANK IS NEAR FULL AS YOU CAN SEE IN THE PIC ,WHEN I ROAD THE 10 MILES THE FAN RAN ONCE AN NO MORE OVER FLOW GAGE WAS ABOUT HALF WAY HEAT RANGE ,AN COMEING FROM THAT OTHER THREAD WHEAR I THOUGHT I HAD A LEAK IT WAS THE OVERFLOW LEAKING ,I PLAN ON TAKEING OUT FEW OUNCES IN THE SPRING IF IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THAT FULL ,IF YOU LOOK CLOSE YOU CAN SEE MINE IS NEAR FULL TO THE TOP

[scot]

OH YES SIR I WAS THINKING WHILE YOU GOT IN APART TAKE SOME PICTURES BOB HAD TOLD ME I SHOULD DO THAT SEEMS TO HELP THANKS ELLPEE

[ellpee]

I went out and investigated the overflow bottle. The tube that brings coolant INTO the bottle when necessary comes from back in the engine area, which makes sense; I;m sure it probably connects at the radiator pressure cap, similar to cars, and on my scoot that is located under the seat, visible when I remove the cover to the battery compartment. The tube connects to the overflow bottle at the bottom, which also makes sense. The dangling tube I'm talking about connects to the TOP of the overflow bottle, is about 18" or so long, and just hangs down, going nowhere, even though it has one of those chintzy Chinese "bent paperclip" clamps at the loose end. So I'm forced to conclude that it is for overflow, pure and simple. As to the overflow bottle itself, I determined that mine does have maybe an inch of coolant in the bottom; believe I'll probably add just a bit more to be safe, but I've had no cooling issues or coolant leaks even in the Arizona heat. Gauge goes up to about the halfway mark, fan comes on, never goes higher. Of course when the fan comes on is when my charging system issues begin, but that's another story.

[scot]

hello ellpee if you look close at the pic of mine that clamp cheap one you talk about I have seen hold gas line on my generator,did you look close to see  if there is one at the other end  at the top like you see on mine click on the pic it gets bigger to see,I did not have one dangleing from the end a clamp that is . that goes no where,so like you see what I did was drill hole to allow it to hang out  ,just mabey its not attached at the top the clamp ,I may be wrong an probley am ,would love to see pics of it apart,yes like I said you can see mine is full an it was so full when I first ran it was leaking now no leaks,i was told to keep the bottle hallway full to 3/4ths now that my hose it haning out an most will run on the ground   ,an going to take few ounces out

[ellpee]

Would love to post pix but have the plastic loosened just enough to slip a hand up underneath, or peek up between all the wires, so the pix wouldn't be worth much. I have confirmed, though, that coolant overflow system starts at the radiator cap, under the seat; rubber tubing fastened with cheap Chinese clamp, but hey, it hasn't come loose -- yet. That rubber tube runs up to the front of the scoot and attaches to the BOTTOM of the overflow bottle, again cheap Chinese clamp. Then, a second rubber tube attaches to the TOP of the overflow bottle, with a third cheap Chinese clamp. And the other end of that second tube attaches to nothing, just hangs down, nicely decorated with a fourth cheap Chinese clamp. So my whole overflow system is as it should be, and I added enough coolant to the bottle so I can just barely see it when I remove the cap. Presumably if it gets hot some of that may run off through the dangling tube, but that's what it's for.

BTW, just got an EMail from RoketaPartsOnLine telling me they're "trying to find one {the left switch assembly} somewhere in the US," which doesn't give me much hope. I ordered it last spring and the same thing happened, so I cancelled the order. So for the present I'll just live with the hinky turn signal switch and give Roketa awhile to find the part. (I took it apart one more time and examined everything, but could not spot the problem.) Plastic goes back on as soon as I can get to it, followed by a test run or two with the new fan. If anybody knows of another source for that switch assembly please let me know, but I went to several sites and if they had it listed at all, it was "out of stock." It's the one with a nine-pin connector and two other wires.

Attachments:

[alleyoop]

Here you go the exact same one as your picture:
Alleyoop

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