|
|
Post by ellpee on Sept 15, 2014 15:52:18 GMT -6
So then: the saga continues. New enricher arrived today, perfect match, thank goodness. Installed it, put in a gallon of new gas, cranked and cranked and cranked to fill up fuel lines, new/larger fuel filter, and various carb chambers. Got some putt-putting as that was going on. Finally it caught and ran smoothly, except that until it warmed up the idle was a bit low and I had to keep nursing the throttle. That was a couple hours ago, I;m now letting it cool off again and waiting to see how it will start when cool. Hoping it will start normally after all this.
About that idle, though. At first it's too low, needs throttle nursing, but I upped the idle a bit and then when fully warmed up, it was FASTER than I really like. I imagine I can arrive at a reasonable compromise by tweaking it up and down until I'm happy, but does anybody have any special wisdom to offer about idle speed? (I have an after-market tachometer that somewhat lags, takes a few seconds to catch up with reality. Not as helpful as I would like in tweaking idle speed or other engine performance factors, but better than nothing.)
|
|
|
|
Post by alleyoop on Sept 15, 2014 18:28:24 GMT -6
Well I am sure before this you were messing with the fuel ratio mixture not knowing the enricher was dead and trying to compensate for it, so now that the enricher is working and feeding extra fuel when cold that needs to be re-adjusted.
Alleyoop
|
|
|
|
Post by ellpee on Sept 15, 2014 19:58:07 GMT -6
No, not so, I had not touched ANYTHING on the carb, neither mixture nor idle. And unfortunately, the news as of bedtime today is not all that great. After getting the scooter running again this afternoon, and bumping up the idle a bit, this evening after letting it cool down a bit (about three hours, I'm guesssing), it still doesn't want to start. I do get more "chuffs" while cranking than I did before, but it won't kick over and keep running. Will try again in the morning when I know everything is stone cold. If I can get it running again I'll take it directly to one of the two local scooter shops and just pay the ransom, but for right now I'm stranded on top of the mountain.
Is there a really easy way to spritz starter fluid into the carb on these things? I tried spritzing some into the little vent tube with no result; appears to me anything else would involve removing the air intake or something. Almost seems like there ought to be a little opening or tube somewhere for that purpose!
|
|
|
|
Post by alleyoop on Sept 15, 2014 23:21:44 GMT -6
You can take the diaphgram cover off and do it from there, at least that is on top with only two small screws . Are you sure you out the ENRICHER on all the way in. It has an O-ring around it that seals it if you put the "C" hold down in the wrong slot on the enricher it won't seal.
Alleyoop
|
|
|
|
Post by ellpee on Sept 16, 2014 8:30:09 GMT -6
I'll double-check that today. It arrived without that O-ring, or actually with only one of the TWO O-rings, but I was able to salvage the one from the old enricher to solve that little problem. I'm pretty sure it's seated all the way in, could feel slight resistance from the O-rings as I inserted it, and the little retainer clip is screwed down all the way tight.
No luck again this morning, couple good chuffs on the first crank and then nothing. Doubly frustrating as I actually got it running nicely the first try yesterday.
Could swear I posted this status update a few hours ago; guess I forgot to hit the post button.
-- Went down, cranked it a couple times, a couple initial chuffs, then nothing.
-- Carefully examined new enricher, seems to be fully, properly seated. Did NOT remove and reinstall it, since it looked okay from the exterior.
-- Removed diaphragm, including spring and rubber diaphragm itself, spritzed in some starter fluid, scooter started but only ran for a few seconds, until starter fluid was exhausted.
-- Spritzed some into the little vent tube just to see where it would go, showed up in bottom of diaphragm chamber; cranked scoot, started but only ran for a few seconds, same as before.
-- Reinstalled diaphragm, spritzed into the little tube again, cranked, nothing!
-- Confirmed gas was getting to the carb (fuel hose), all okay there.
So now I am well and truly puzzled. Starts on starter fluid WITH DIAPHRAGM REMOVED, but not with DIAPHRAGM INSTALLED. Wondered if maybe jets are blocked, but doesn't that starter fluid from the diaphragm chamber have to pass through the jets to reach the cylinder? I did a lot of googling about how carburetors work, but am baffled as to what's going on here.
|
|
|
|
Post by ellpee on Sept 17, 2014 8:40:44 GMT -6
Stand clear -- my head is gonna explode. Went down this morning, hit the starter, and it started in two seconds flat! Had to nurse the throttle a little until it warmed up (see above regarding idle settings), but all in all I started it three different times with no problem whatsoever. How in the blinkety-blank is that possible? Makes me nervous, never know what it'll do the next time.
|
|
|
|
Post by alleyoop on Sept 17, 2014 14:16:38 GMT -6
Take the overflow hose and twist it up and pour a little seafoam down into the carb bowl maybe something was clogged and freed up. A little seafoam directly into the carb will get to the passages and outlets right away. Start it so it cleans out the tiny outlets by the butterfly and pilot jet.
|
|
|
|
Post by ellpee on Sept 17, 2014 17:08:46 GMT -6
Continuing the saga, started it several times through the day, all fine. Then, around 4 PM, all of a sudden it went back to its old behavior, crank-crank-crank-crank, occasional chuff on the first few cranks, then nothing. All I had done in the meantime was add some StarTron fuel stabilizer to the gas tank. Removed the diaphragm again, sprayed in starter fluid, started but only ran for a few seconds. Also sprayed in some carb and throttle cleaner, same result. Put the diaphragm back on, sprayed some starter fluid in the overflow tube, which feeds into the bottom part of the diaphragm chamber, crank-crank-crank-crank, nothing, not even a chuff.
My theory WAS that somehow, some kind of crud had blocked the jets, and spraying in the starter fluid yesterday had dissolved the blockage. That theory only survived until late afternoon though, when the old problems came back. So here we are again, back at Square One. Can't wait to see what it does tomorrow morning.
|
|
|
|
Post by alleyoop on Sept 17, 2014 20:58:40 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by ellpee on Sept 18, 2014 8:04:39 GMT -6
I cranked it this morning and got some chuffs, but no start. It's GOT to be something internal to the carb. I have a brand new in-line fuel filter, which ought to catch any crud coming from the gas tank, which in any event is full of new premium gas with StarTron fuel stabilizer. I've been reluctant to remove and dismantle the carb, but by process of elimination it seems like that's about all there is left to do. I've watched several YouTube videos about removing and servicing carburetors, so I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be. The only consolation is that we're in the middle of a big rainy spell, so it's not like I could be out scooting anyway.
|
|
|
|
Post by ellpee on Sept 18, 2014 14:20:10 GMT -6
Prepare yourselves, I'm going to write a long story for the benefit of others who may have similar problems, and to elicit inputs from anybody who understands what's been going on and how to deal with it.
I pulled the carb this morning, completely disassembled it and cleaned it with that B-12 spray cleaner stuff. There was nothing apparent to the naked eye, but nonetheless I squirted stuff through every possible tube and passageway, then put it all back together again.
Initial result, lots of cranking, some chuffing, still no starting. Grrrrrrr. But then, I removed the big air feed tube off the filter box, intending to squirt some starter fluid into the air intake side of the carb. Noticed considerable gas in the carb, but when I cranked it (no starter fluid yet), it fired right up and ran pretty well. Carefully re-connected the air tube, engine kept on running. Shut it off and re-started it several times, all good.
So no idea what is going to happen this evening or tomorrow morning, but it seems much happier at the moment than it has been lately.
One odd thing though -- my temp gauge shows way high, as in overheat high, though that seems very unlikely after only a few minutes of idling. I topped off the radiator, but it only took a few ounces. I also disconnected that third wire that comes with the enricher, that connects to a pin on the engine and then to a wire that goes off somewhere to the front of the scooter. Disconnecting it caused the temp gauge to show the normal, low, right-after-cold-start display. Plugging it back in, the gauge immediately pegged again. So this is something electrical, and I don't know what to do about it. Ideas welcome, really don't want to go scooting for any longer times/distances with the temp gauge giving unreliable readings.
|
|
|
|
Post by ellpee on Sept 18, 2014 17:37:53 GMT -6
Temp gauge, continued: upon further examination, discovered an odd thing. The new enricher is wired differently from the old one. OLD ONE: red wire enricher<-->one pin of a two-prong connector yellow wire enricher<-->other pin of two-prong connector Green/black wire from a pin on the engine to a separate, one-wire bullet connector, continuing green/black on the other side. NEW ONE: Red wire enricher<--->one pin of two-prong connector. Yellow wire enricher<--->one-wire bullet connector, continuing green/black on the other side. Green/black wire from pin on engine<---> other pin of the two-prong connector. Now that's really freaky. Looking like maybe a certain Chinese scooter electrician had a hangover that morning. I don't have a wiring diagram for the magnum, but looked at the one I have for my Roketa and it doesn't look like the "water temperature sensor" (aka pin on the engine) has anything at all to do with the "liquid adding valve" (aka enricher). One thing I DO know is that connecting the engine pin to the bullet connector makes the temp gauge read normal. So unless I find advice to the contrary here tomorrow morning, I'm gonna start cutting and splicing so the new enricher is connected the same way the old one was. As if all this wasn't hard enough, gotta fight quality control issues like this!  |
|
|
|
Post by ellpee on Sept 20, 2014 8:00:11 GMT -6
With luck this will be the last chapter. Re-wired the enricher to correspond with the OEM one, and the scoot has cold-started normally several times since then. Appears a total carb cleaning plus new enricher were the solution, although I cringe as I write that because it has fooled me before during this episode. Only thing I want to watch is mixture, as I gave it the generically recommended 2 1/2 turns but will need to check the spark plug after each run to see if that was correct. Thanks to all here who chimed in with advice, sympathy, or both. Couple days later: has started consistently several times Sat/Sun. Yay! Still an oddity about the temp gauge (posted about that in General, since I don't think it's really Magnum/trike-specific), but otherwise, I'm feelin' good. Now if it'll ever stop raining I can take it out for a road test. I'm not one of them mud people ....)  Several days later: break in the rain, short test run, 3-4 miles, spark plug was a pretty golden brown, so mixture seems okay, and scooter is now starting regularly. Knock wood, all good, just in time to put it to bed for the winter. |
|
|
|
Post by ellpee on Oct 7, 2014 7:53:50 GMT -6
RATS! Back to its old tricks again. Cranks, couple of coughs first few tries, then nothing. Will try some starter fluid this morning; if I can get it going, will just take it down to the local motorcycle/ATV shop and let them solve the problem. My frustration cup is now officially overflowing.
|
|
..BAD TO THE BONE..