Tune that carb!!!

[scootercapecod]

Hey gang, just a reminder that tuning your carb every now and then can save you some headaches down the road (literally). I was driving during the coldest of weather here (in the teens at times) and thankfully the roads were dry. I noticed that as it got warmer over the past few days my scoot was getting harder to start and stay running at idle. At first I thought the battery might be weak (and this may have been so) but the idling rough, some backfiring and stalling at stops indicated a need to retune the old girl. So, I opened up the bucket, turned up the idle screw (after a warm-up run of 15 min) and reset the A/F screw. I was sort of surprised how lean it was running according to how many turns I needed, about 3 3/4 to get her to highest RPM anything after that and it went to the rich side so I set it up right and now she's back to full song. A little proactive maintenance is always a good thing.

[scootercapecod]

I also failed to mention that this is a common issue on these threads, especially the stalling. If your current carb doesn't have a setting for air/fuel, buy a new one from any of the sites. The junk they ship with some scooters won't last and they cant be tuned.

[MEAN_MOTOFINO]

So your :yay:

thank you

ride safely my deer friend
yours Mean Machine

[epyon96r]

I adjusted my carb yesterday, if was 4 turns out and the rpms were still climbing, I did not want to turn it out any further because i was worried it would just fall out(even tho it has a keeper). what would you say is the max number of turns i can do before having to worry about the screw falling out?

also.... i have a vitacci elite 150(chinese) that looks sporty. I used gps to find my max speed and its verified at 55mph. with a modded air, exhaust, and a rejet. do you think i will be seeing the 60 mph zone?

[zooooom]

I also failed to mention that this is a common issue on these threads, especially the stalling. If your current carb doesn't have a setting for air/fuel, buy a new one from any of the sites. The junk they ship with some scooters won't last and they cant be tuned.I've never been very mechanical (much more into the bodywork) but I checked my carb after your post and realized I don't have that setting. Now to search out a new one - do you recommend anyplace in particular to buy parts?

[scootercapecod]

Absolutely! www.partsforscooters.com look under full size street legal scooters, 150cc carburetors GY6. That's MY personal recommendation but there are other sites on here that I'm sure are good.

[ltdHPP]

I was amazed at what a difference fine tuning the needle height made, especially for seasonal temperature changes. This is also something everyone should experiment with. If you are not comfortable taking apart the carb, do it anyway. You will need to eventually (for other possible reasons), especially if it's Chinese, unless you can easily find and pay someone to do it for you.

[antchainscoot]

I turn the key ignition to on. Before pressing the start button, I fully twist the throttle for 3 seconds. Then press the start button and it fires up!

[4950cycle]

Mine will start right up too ! It just won't stay started. That's what the topic is here. Very often it will stall when just slowing down or especially stopping. I've adjusted the valves about 1500 miles ago which cured it till now. I've checked the fuel pump operation (pumps fine). I'm lost.