Help with a Chinese scooter, please!

[loastlocos]

I just finished putting together my wife's scooter after replacing the drive belt.  Somewhere in the midst of this process (which took about a month  ), the battery went dead.  I haven't got a new battery yet so for the sake of testing my work (and science) I hooked up a small car audio battery to the scooter's battery to jump start it.  Nothing.  The starter doesn't crank and even when i try to kickstart it, it's like i'm getting no spark.  I didn't touch anything that had anything to do with the starting system besides taking the battery out to charge it.  I'm hoping it's something simple like a fuse but the only one i've seen is the inline fuse next to the battery which is still good.  Any ideas?  This scooter has been kickin my butt for months, please help!

P.S.  The scooter is a Qingqi qmb139 style

[scooter 49]

The audio battery may not be big enough to turn the starter over. First you must determine for sure if you are getting no spark. Take out spark plug and then attach spark plug wire to it. Hold spark plug to some part of the metal on the engine. Kick start it and see if you see any spark. If not then we can go from there.

[loastlocos]

I'm an idiot.  My wife came out and showed me that you have to hold the brake or the starter won't work.  The problem now is that i must have put something together wrong.  It seems like the starter gear is not quite catching the gear on the crankshaft.  The kickstarter starts to walk down as the starter is cranking and the kickstarter doesn't return on it's own once it gets to the bottom.  I guess I'm gonna have to take it all back apart and try again...   I have a manual i downloaded but it doesn't have very good detail do you know of anywhere i can download a good service manual or something?

[Fox]

The fuse next to the battery is the only fuse on the scoot.

You do realize that you have to squeeze one or both of the brake levers for it to start right?

If you answered yes to that, then try the following:

Hook jumper cables from a car battery to the scooter battery. You can hook the negative cable straight to the scooter's frame if you want and the plus to the plus side of the scooter battery. You don't need to start the car. If it still won't start with the button after a jump then get a wrench or a pair of pliers and touch it across the poles on the starter relay. A screwdriver will work too. The starter should turn with the poles bridged.

[scooter rebel]

Manuals;

Combined 50cc-150cc service manual

strickly 139qmb manual

maintenance manual

[goosestale]

This is from a 150cc, but what I am pointing out here is the spring mechanism that is held in place by this realy cheap little bracket, this is what you need to wrestle back into place probably.

[Fox]

Thanks for that goosey! It reminded me of the 50cc kick pic I have. The gears should be as shown below. The Bendix can be wiggled out of there. Make sure it's clean. I spray the crap out of them with wd40 and then wipe 'em off real good. If you twist the gears on the bendix in opposite directions you'll see how it works. NEVER START THE ENGINE WITH THE COVER OFF! You can damage the Bendix.




Bendix:

[loastlocos]

You guys are awesome!  I gave up on the scooter last fall because I was busy with work and needed to spend more time with my wife.  I just tore back into it a week or so ago.  i have the kickstart assembled as shown in your picture.  i cleaned it and greased all the parts up and now it's just locked up.  i can stand on it and it doesn't budge.  the electric starter works now though.  i had to install the bendix with it extended though (not sure if that's the correct way.)  sometimes it doesn't catch, sometimes it does.  the engine starts but only stays running for a few seconds.  it seems like as soon as the choke comes off it just dies.  it starts at high idle and then slowly revs down.  once the idle settles it just dies.  could the low speed jet be clogged???  i read another thread that someone was having the same problem and he was advised to reset his timing...that doesn't seem right to me because it's running great for those few seconds that it does, it just seems to starve out though.  i can post a video if you guys wouldn't mind taking a look at it and sending a few more pointers my way.

thanks for all your help!!!

[Fox]

Is it a 50cc or a 150cc?

Could be a clogged idle jet. Try playing with the mixture screw first.
http://www.scooterforumonline.com/index.php/topic,1603.msg7405.html

[Ted Brown]

Is it a 50cc or a 150cc?

Could be a clogged idle jet. Try playing with the mixture screw first.
http://www.scooterforumonline.com/index.php/topic,1603.msg7405.html

I own a Kymco 150, very close to a Chinese scoot, and had some of the same problems with it,
Fox is very good with these scoots, Fox did a very fine job on my scooter, cured all my problems...
 He is a very rare person indeed, WHY? Because He LOVES his work... So if any of you lucky folks
 need work done on your scoots,
 get a hold of FOX, best I have seen with scooters and has a great home scooter shop,
 a very nice setup he has... I will be sending all my friends to David/Fox...
Ted Brown of Ted Brown Chassis
 I used to build T Buckets (CCR was also my shop) and Pro. quarter mile race cars, now retired...
Check out a bunch of the cars I have built over the years on my myspace page =

   http://www.myspace.com/ted_retired

[loastlocos]

It's a 50cc.  I didn't have time to work on it this weekend but hopefully next weekend I will.  I may just take the carb out and clean the whole thing...we'll see...it would be nice if the mixture screw would solve the prob and then I could just run some seafoam through it  .

[Fox]

You can loosen the carb clamps and rotate the carb so the mixture screw is facing upward a little and then remove it and spray carb spray into the mixture screw hole. That sometimes clears anything that's in there. It sure can't hurt. Just don't lose the little anti-vibration spring that's in there with the screw.

I always just remove the entire carb and clean it all out, that way I know what's going on in there. Sometimes the idle jets get so clogged that that only way to clear them is to drill a thin wire through the obstruction then spray. I use a couple of strands of copper wire from electrical wiring twisted together. I stick them in the jet and twist the jet while applying light pressure to the wire. It drills it's way through the dried up gas residue.

[loastlocos]

I finally got the red dragon back to life. You were right on the money Fox. I tried the mixture screw first, that didn't work. I took the carb apart and the main jet was clogged up. I cleaned the carb out thoroughly, reinstalled and adjusted mixture screw. It still wouldn't run so i adjusted the valves as per your guide and that fixed it right up. I think it's noteworthy that i had to turn my mixture screw out several more turns than just two and a half. I am in socal right by the coast so i don't know if this being the first time the scoot has run at 0 elevation had something to do with the mix. Anyways i got it running good now thanks to the fox's advice. Now i just need to get it to go faster than 25 mph.

[Fox]

Yeah 2 1/2 turns is the starting point. All carbs act different.

 I'm up in the Pasadena area. I have a shop here at my house. If you ever need some help bring it over. I' charge $25/hr + parts.