Got me a Tao Tao

[prodigit]

My Tao is almost falling apart at 5k km.
I have yet to do the first valve adjustment.
The exhaust is rusted,
The windshield (non-stock) cracked,
The seat broken (unfortunately my dog ate half of it).
The lowbeam bulb filament broken, highbeams work fine
The blinkers broken (wiring issue)
The horn not functional (wiring issue).
The belt screeching when accelerating.

However the thing is still running fine! Probably illegal in some places, but in S FL no one cares. The front tire is as good as new, with virtually NO wear, and I ALWAYS brake with the front brake (I only add the rear when I need to stop faster).

[Firehawk989]

Originally Posted by prodigit

My Tao is almost falling apart at 5k km.
I have yet to do the first valve adjustment.
The exhaust is rusted,
The windshield (non-stock) cracked,
The seat broken (unfortunately my dog ate half of it).
The lowbeam bulb filament broken, highbeams work fine
The blinkers broken (wiring issue)
The horn not functional (wiring issue).
The belt screeching when accelerating.

However the thing is still running fine! Probably illegal in some places, but in S FL no one cares. The front tire is as good as new, with virtually NO wear, and I ALWAYS brake with the front brake (I only add the rear when I need to stop faster).

Back when I had a Chinese scoot it developed the screeching problem. It was actually the clutch pads, you can get it to go away for a while by scuffing them with sandpaper, but the only thing that really made it go away permanently was replacing the clutch.

[prodigit]

Oh, thanks for the suggestion, I knew it wasn't the belt, as the belt was still in a pristine condition!
I'll just ride with a screeching pad then. It screeches less when the engine is warm.

[inuyasha]

Hi
Latest update
160 miles
She is now starting and the key is not sticking and all this happened by itself overnight with no human interaction
Instead we now have a speedo that says im going 20mph when im going 5 30 when im going 10 and 50 when im going 20 it is also fluctuating up and down
Idle wont stay set its either too low and stalls or too high and races
Yeeha we are really getting the Chinese scoot experience
Take care and ride safely
Yours Hank

[prodigit]

I noticed when putting 15W40 in it, the idle would go up too much when warm (engine would do almost 2k RPM, while on cold I would barely be able to start it).
Lighter oil (10W40, 10W30, 5W30) gives more constant idle.
Some people mention to do a valve adjustment. Mine came from the distributor with tight valves, which seemed to last for 5k miles, and now I hear them tapping; ready for the first Valve Adjustment on mine!

I also always check the hoses, and hose clamps. It doesn't take an engineer to put the clamps on the right places. sometimes a wrong clamp placement could be the cause of a vacuum leak, with all kinds of problems of the kind.
On my Roketa, the carburetor wasn't mounted well. It was mounted, but not sealing well. On my PDI I accidentally noticed it, and tightened the bolts.

I have a pulsing speedo on my Tao 150cc. It only pulses until ~30MPH, but that speedo is on the dot correct.
Has to do with it using only one magnet to record and send electrical pulses to the speedo, so if the tire rotates too slow, the speedo meter tries to fall back to zero before the next pulse arrives.

Too bad you ain't got the ATM50 speedo, that speedo tells you in KM, about how many MPH you're doing divided by 2.

Have you done a PDI yet?
Opened her up and taken pics?

[Guest_3]

I noticed when putting 15W40 in it, the idle would go up too much when warm (engine would do almost 2k RPM, while on cold I would barely be able to start it).
Lighter oil (10W40, 10W30, 5W30) gives more constant idle.Lighter oil (10W40, 10W30, 5W30) gives more constant idle.

I hate to pop your oil myth bubble.

A well tuned-up truck/car/scooter/ lawnmower/snowblower will start in any range of temps.

Oil temp/weigh has NOTHING to do with how something starts or idles !!!.



PS, It does in diesel engines only, thats because of the cold diesel fuel = lower flash point.

[prodigit]

It does on a 50cc. The engine barely has enough juice to turn 15W40 oil over in the crank case when it's cold; so you'd have to up the idle to keep it running.
at cold it might barely keep itself alive, but when the oil heats up, the engine idles at higher RPMs.

Lighter oil allows you to lower the RPM when the engine is cold; so that when the engine is hot, idle RPM doesn't shoot through the roof.

Not an issue with 100+cc engines, but it is with a 50cc.

[Guest_3]

Not an issue with 100+cc engines, but it is with a 50cc.

You are so full of , You make me with that statement.

[qwertydude]

Oil weight doesn't have much of anything to do with idle. It only affects cold starts if you're well below freezing. Other than that the difference in absolute viscosity at room temperature of 10w40 and 15w40 of the same brand is probably less than the difference between 15w40's of two different brands. There is absolutely no way you can tell the difference between 10w40 and 15w40 when starting and idling except if you're starting in below 0 temperatures. And I know prodigit isn't since he's in Miami.

On my 50cc Chinese scooter I put in whatever oil I had on hand, it ranged from 5w20 since my Ford Focus runs on it, to 10w40, Rotella 15w40 when I bought it for my other motorcycles, and even 20w-50 just because my lawnmower runs on that stuff. I personally never cared since even if it did blow up a new engine costs less than an overhaul. And I've never had a starting or idling problem starting in temperatures as low as 40 degrees.

[prodigit]

Tell that to my ATM50!
It knows the difference!

Also, on my 127cc engine I can clearly feel the difference between 15W40 and 10W40, at higher revs 15W40 vibrates more.

I'm sorry if you think different, but my experience tells me this.

[Guest_3]

I can clearly feel the difference between 15W40 and 10W40, at higher revs 15W40 vibrates more.

Dude, Get off those wacky drugs you are on !!.

I've driven almost everything known to man with over 1.5 million miles under my belt.


I'm gonna say it again... You are so full of with your post !!.

[teddy554]

Originally Posted by inuyasha

Hi
First update and its not a promising one
150 miles and the ignition is sticky doesn't always want to turn to start very easily and she left me stranded last night
WILL NOT START it appears to be fuel related
Im not impressed with Tao taos quality right now
Will be calling the local dealer tomorrow and let him deal with it as shes still under warranty
Take care and ride safely
Yours Hank

taotao has always been on my bad list with one ahead of it, the peace models, been trying to make people aware since the old scootdawg of how bad this scooter are compared to any other Chinese scoot. Hope you get it all sorted out

[Admin]

Now now boys, lets keep it civil.. we can still disagree and have differing opinions but in a respectable manner.

[prodigit]

Yes,scooterwayne. I might be full of my post, so please, you with your 'million miles' of ride experience certainly know better...

not..

If you're so knowledgeable, why dont you then at least TRY to buy a 50cc scooter and add 15W40 in it, BEFORE you start posting, because it makes you look mightily stupid when you're going on the aggressive like that, and you have never even tried it!

If you tried it before, you know what I say makes sense!
Been there, done that. Have you?
Clearly not!

[inuyasha]

Hi
She has finally told me her name
Meet "Huli jing"

Tao Tao E21 001 by inuyasha50, on Flickr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huli_jing
Take care and ride safely
Yours Hank