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Post by ellpee on Aug 3, 2018 19:26:43 GMT -6
Have never had a response on this one, still wondering. Problem continues. Seat is supposed to open with a left (counterclockwise) turn of the key, but it opens anyway, key turn or no. HOWEVER, back part of seat does not respond to any kind of key turn and has to be opened with a bit of brute force. Surely that's not as intended, any advice/hints/experience/clues in this department welcome. Not stopping me from riding, but would like to have it working the way Xing Xuan Xong in China intended.
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Post by ellpee on Jul 30, 2018 18:08:24 GMT -6
Easy one. At one point I had drilled a small hole in the intake manifold so I could spritz in some starter fluid, and closed it off with a piece of tape. That tape had come loose, so vacuum leak in the intake. New tape -- GORILLA tape this time -- and all is well. Also no coolant overflow after a pretty good five-mile run up and down hills; temp gauge rose to third bar, or about 11 o'clock on the gauge, but in Tucson in July that came as no particular surprise. So I'll keep an eye on the coolant thing for awhile yet but all appears good. If no relapses in a couple weeks, will close out this thread.
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Post by ellpee on Jul 27, 2018 8:39:01 GMT -6
The latest: tried to take it out for a run to check on the coolant thing, but it wouldn't run at idle -- engine missing, popping sounds at the exhaust. Runs okay once above idle. Not sure if I inadvertently loosened some wire, or if it's a carb thing again. So more investigation needed; darn, got one decent run out of it and now back in the workshop. Ideas welcome. Plan to first check plug for carbon and plug wire for good, consistent spark, after that  |
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Post by ellpee on Jul 18, 2018 11:16:17 GMT -6
Topped off the coolant reservoir this morning and then ran it at idle for awhile. Temp gauge, which normally stays in the range of 2-3 bars, went up to 4, or about the 11 o'clock position, but no coolant loss. Will take it on the road again and see what happens after some real driving, but hoping it was just a loose radiator cap.
(I topped off, by the way, with regular automotive antifreeze, 50/50 premix; hope that's right, didn't even think about it until afterward.)
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Post by ellpee on Jul 17, 2018 11:57:31 GMT -6
First big road trip today, maybe 15 miles, and scooter ran okay, but when I got back home and had it idling for awhile in the driveway to check for fuel leaks or other issues, it heated up a bit and started losing coolant. Not a freaking-out situation, but guessing a hose clamp somewhere needs to be tightened or a cheapo Chinese hose needs to be replaced. Comments from anybody who has messed around with the Magnum radiator/coolant system welcome, as pretty much everything to do with the radiator is really hard to get at on the Magnum. Felt good to be in the saddle again today, but don't want to burn out the engine somewhere for lack of coolant.
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Post by ellpee on Jun 26, 2018 13:34:30 GMT -6
Holy smokes it lives!!!!!! Good job on the resolution,,,now it's time to ride!!!! Yeah, want to think so. Will title and register it in AZ in a couple weeks and take it for some more serious rides, but it behaved reasonably on a short run around our private neighborhood streets this morning. Surprised so little response about ANYTHING these days on the trike forum, even from RapidJim, who used to be all over this trike stuff, especially anything Ice Bear. Hope I haven't invested in a dinosaur, although I just saw the newest Jurassic Park knock off and maybe there's even hope for dinosaur owners. Anyhow, will see what the near future brings, if crap, trust me, I'll be back here venting. MY ICEBEAR MAGNUM SAGA AFTER ONLY 1700 miles: two replacement carbs, re-jetting for high altitude, two replacement fuel pumps, bad disc brake pads, bad enricher, brittle plastics requiring repairs almost any time removed, poor adjustment of rear drive chains etc., bad right side handlegrip, bad fasteners in general (plastic cracks, poor grommets, luggage compartment fell off in the middle of the road 2-3 times before I gave up), bad latches on both front and rear seat halves, poor airbox-to-carb connection, and above all, NOBODY, absolutely N*O*B*O*D*Y in the Tucson area, metro area of almost a million, who even wants to talk to you about anything made in China. Make your own decisions. |
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Post by ellpee on Jun 25, 2018 17:14:10 GMT -6
Got everything hooked up at last and fired it up today. Two ways it could have done me dirty, leaking fuel lines (many clamps involved) or too much pressure from the electric pump, but neither happened. Started right away and runs smoothly, no carb overflow, evidently it can handle the 3-6 PSI that the new pump puts out. I still need to sacrifice a few more knuckles making sure all the various bolts are tight and the wires and hoses are zip-tied out of harm's way, but it's looking good. Also took out the OEM air box while I was at it and replaced it with a bolts-right-onto-the-carb filter, that too doesn't seem to be causing any starting problems, will see if all good once out on the road. There were two ventilation hoses dumping into the airbox, one from the engine and one from the tranny, those are now venting straight into the atmosphere, but hey, I don't live in California. (I did put a small filter on one and will do so for the other next time I get to Autozone or wherever.) So maybe, just maybe, another problem solved. Add that to the considerable list of things I've had to fix on this great and wonderful Ice Bear scooter in its first 1700 miles. Caveat emptor. Lots of others seem to be having good luck with the Magnum or its cousins, but that definitely hasn't been my experience.
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Post by ellpee on Jun 22, 2018 9:12:30 GMT -6
No updates except installing it is a real ordeal, Holes of course don't line up, so had to manufacture a bracket with angle iron, then get that bolted firmly into place so I could mount the pump to it. Incredibly small space for any kind of wrench or screwdriver, so that has been a major challenge. Almost done with that and ready to connect the in and out fuel lines and the electric, but those too are difficult due mostly to very limited working room. And to cap it all off, I did something to my knee along the way and have been wearing a brace with ice packs for three days now. So no BIG news, as in does it work, still struggling with the difficult working conditions and the extreme AZ heat by 9 AM every day. Thanks for your interest!
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Post by ellpee on Jun 16, 2018 13:59:11 GMT -6
ellpee the electric pump upgrade is a brilliant idea. Hopefully you won't need to regulate it. If you do there's other ways beside the separate pressure regulator in line with the pump. There's also the method of pulsing the pump in time with the spark. Thus later method is implemented by Honda in the 86 Helix, and it doesn't have a pressure regulator at all. Unfortunately those damn pumps are not cheap, but I would expect it to be simple to have your current choice of pump work the same way. Either way, looking forward to hearing how it goes. Good luck! Hoping for the best. Hoee/Tube issues, 1/4" versus smaller, but progressing. Have electrical all set up as far as I know, so any problems beyond that have to be fuel flow, including too much or too little fuel pressure. Will see how all that works out, and report here about it. |
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Post by ellpee on Jun 14, 2018 9:06:34 GMT -6
Should only have 2 wires black and a red or green and red red being hot feed ,,doubt if it'll run backwards but testing isn't such a bad idea,,,just make sure you tap a switched hot,,that's only on while ignish is on Bench-tested it, polarity does matter, runs when correctly connected, does not run at all if connections are reversed. Will install it this weekend and see what happens. Puts out a pretty good stream of gas (or water, in the case of my test), so hoping PSI will be okay, if not may need that regulator thingie. As to tapping, have used the connection to the enricher, which is live as soon as the key is on, otherwise dead. Can't imagine the load for those two things will be excessive. |
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Post by ellpee on Jun 13, 2018 9:48:39 GMT -6
I'd go electric myself,,,don't know the fuel situation but I suspect alcohol in the fuel,,,it's hell on rubber,,,I think an electric pump and a mechanical pressure regulator will do the trick I'm guessing that with an E-pump, polarity will be important -- reverse the wires and it would run backward. Can anyone confirm? If not, I'll just test it with a bucket of water before installing it. |
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Post by ellpee on Jun 10, 2018 9:55:36 GMT -6
Okay, falls under better safe than sorry sounds like. Where's everybody else these days? Seems like it's just us two.
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Post by ellpee on Jun 8, 2018 7:50:07 GMT -6
E-pump on order, inexpensive and supposedly lifetime guarantee. Will have to wire it in and find a way to mount it, doesn't match existing holes, but that's okay if the darn thing will just WORK! It's 3-6 PSI and 19-20 GPM, hoping that works out.
Hey, just for curiosity, does the location of the electric fuel pump -- above or below the fuel tank and the carb -- matter? The OEM vacuum operated pump was mounted way low on the frame, but I might find it easier to mount at some other higher attaching point if it doesn't create any problems. That being said, I can imagine having it higher than the fuel tank might lead to it sucking air after a period of non-use.
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Post by ellpee on Jun 6, 2018 8:27:55 GMT -6
Well, our gas has 10% ethanol at least part of the year. Maybe that's causing the pump diaphragms to fail ....
Pressure regulator? New subject for me. Would an an E-pump have one built in, or is it an add-on? And in the latter case, what pressure do I want? Will educate myself online. Theoretically I imagine the needle valve should shut off the flow at the appropriate point and prevent overflowing from too much pressure, but I can see way too much might override that.
Later, after some googling: I see many electric fuel pumps, most not very expensive, and all with fairly low pressure ratings in the 2-6 psi range. Unfortunately the ones that have failed me don't say anything about pressure, so may just have to roll the dice unless somebody knows the answer for the Magnum.
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Post by ellpee on Jun 3, 2018 16:29:24 GMT -6
Fired up the Magnum this morning for its weekly short run around the neighborhood. Started well as usual, ran nicely for a few minutes, but then started stalling if I let it drop back to idle. Started up again each time, no problem, but had to keep feeding it gas to finish my run. Gave a quickcheck for loose vacuum hoses, etc., all seems okay. Any thoughts on where I should start to isolate the problem? It's obviously getting fuel and spark, so I assume something carb-related. Have been running it about once a week (on the road) for just a few minutes just to keep evrything lubricated, but in between it's been parked in the driveway in the hot AZ sun. Just put a gallon of fresh gas in it a couple days ago, same gas I run in my truck without problems. NEXT MORNING: UN FREAKIN' BELIEVABLE! Fired it up this morning and watched "under the hood" for clues, and the replacement fuel pump that solved my no-start issues last fall is doing exactly what the old (OEM) one was -- allowing gas to be sucked up the vacuum line straight into the intake manifold!!!!!!!! (Fortunately I was smart enough to replace that vacuum line with transparent tubing, so it was at least easy to spot.) The scooter has only been run for 5-10 minutes a week, maybe 4-5 street miles in total. Everything was fine from November until yesterday, and now the fuel pump has apparently failed AGAIN! So it looks to me like I need to replace the piece-of-crap pump again, but this time with a generic after-market one that will last longer and keep my Magnum happy. I'll of course be googling like crazy, but any tips on vendors and items, positive or negative, are always welcome. Also any advice on switching to an electric pump, and on specs that might be important -- PSI, GPM, whatever. I'm already seeing that many scooters apparently use electric pumps, so am guessing that won't be a problem other than a little re-wiring, but want to get one that's right for the Magnum engine and carb. Don't want to starve or overflow the carb. |
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