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Post by madcervantes on May 14, 2013 17:59:39 GMT -5
I have a 2012 50cc Bashan scooter. It's the same in parts as a Tao-Tao I believe.
I rode it pretty hard during the Boston winter, and right before the nice spring weather really came back it conked out hard. First a dead battery (fixed), then a rusty electric starter spring (fixed), and finally a fuel delivery and broken kickstarter problem (not fixed). Busy with a senior thesis, and only 1.5 months before I graduated and moved back home to Texas (where I would be buying a new motorcycle), I decided to abandon the project of DIY fixing it, and just sell it off for parts.
I'm fixing to post a thing to craigslist about it, but I'm not sure how much I should ask? It comes with a brand new tire, a decent helmet, and while it's in pretty bad condition (some cosmetic cracks, bad electrical connections, the fuel problem, the kickstarter is broken etc) I figure that that the engine itself is probably still good quality. If nothing else, it's a big ol hunk of steel that has to be worth... something, right?
I don't know much about this. Any suggestions?
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Post by madcervantes on Apr 4, 2013 2:01:15 GMT -5
Turning the engine over slow. Need to charge the battery. The battery is brand new. The other one, as you remember, was having trouble so I exchanged it on warranty. The lights etc are strong and the fuel meter doesn't dip when I push the starter like it does on the low battery. So I tested the spark plug and it's sparking fine. An interesting thing is that when the spark plug is tested against the metal frame it doesn't do a whirrwhirrwhirrwhirr sound. Instead it just does a long continuous whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sound. In the process of trying to get the spark plug back in it's socket, the stupid thing dropped down inside the engine... case? I guess thats what it's called? There's like this plastic and metal thing that has a hole in it that the spark plug sticks out of. Anyway I'm having trouble figuring out how to get that off. I'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow afternoon. If this is a fuel delivery problem, as alleyoop says, then what kind of thing would cause that? And are you sure that it's not just some part inside the kickstart that is shared by the electric starter that is broken? My friend who knows about motors watched the other videos, and he's still convinced that the problem is inside of the kickstart. One last thing, I can't get the cover for the kickstart off because the last bolt is shredded. Something someone suggested to me was to try welding another bolt onto that bolt and then turning it that way. How safe is that? Welding around a bunch of fuel seems bad, right? |
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Post by madcervantes on Apr 3, 2013 20:25:20 GMT -5
Awesome, thanks for the guidance. I tried to open up the kickstart case, to get a look at the inside, but one of the bolts is pretty shredded from a previous botched repair attempt, and plus the gasket sealant makes it pretty hard to pry off. That said, I'll do a test on the spark plug and see if it's working.
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Post by madcervantes on Apr 3, 2013 19:11:14 GMT -5
Okay, I'll check the spark plug. I had trouble with the spark over the summer, and I forget if it made a sound like this or not. I did check the spark a couple of weeks ago, and it seemed to be running kind of rich, a lot of black residue etc.
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Post by madcervantes on Apr 3, 2013 18:50:32 GMT -5
50cc Chinese Silver Bashan- like a Tao Tao. Hey guys so I was having trouble with my kickstarter and electric starter here itistheride.boards.net/index.cgi?action=display&board=50ac&thread=875&page=1#8303 and decided to call a friend about the problem who knows more about motors than me. I showed him this video and he told me the problem with the electric starter was that it was not engaging the gears. He suggested that it could be a solenoid issue but he thinks it also might be something else. He doesn't know moped motors though, so he is unsure of what that could be. His guess is that the starter motor and kickstarter share some part in common and so the reason the electric starter won't work is because the kickstarter won't work. Thoughts? Do kickstarters and electric starters hold stuff in common? A NOTE ON THE KICKSTARTER: I detached the lever on purpose because it was getting in the way of the kickstand. The kickstarter is broken, shows no resistance and just hangs limply at the side. I'm hoping to fix the electric scooter as I have neither the time, money, or skill to fix it right now, and I only need this thing to last 1 month more before I move cross country and leave the hunk of junk |
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Post by madcervantes on Apr 3, 2013 12:22:11 GMT -5
Got a new battery. Here's an update.
A Note on the kickstarter: I removed the kickstart leaver because it was getting in the way, and because repairing it, from everything I can see on the videos online, requires a good deal more skill and time than I have right now. I'm moving across the country in a month, so it's not worth spending a lot time trying to fix this thing when I'm just going to get rid of it in a few weeks. I'm focusing on fixing the electric starter.
A note on the Electric Starter: Got a new battery, the old one was dead. When I tried charging the old one, the starter turned over and started up briefly before chugging out and was coming up bad on a battery meter.
With the new battery, it sounds like at least one problem (the battery) has been fixed but still will not turn over. It's making a weird whirrwhirrwhirr sound.
I've included a video here to help explain stuff:
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Post by madcervantes on Apr 2, 2013 10:33:42 GMT -5
Sorry guys, still no pictures, my camera phone is broken and I need to borrow a real camera from a friend.
But I do have an update on the battery. I went to go get it tested. Without load, it was rated as being fine, but very very low wattage. When load was applied, it tanked to the "BAD" section of the meter.
I bought some booster cables, and hooked it up to a car battery (the car wasn't on, don't worry). I then turned the key and started up the engine. The moped started up, though it was kind of making a weird clunking noise. Then I removed the cables, and gave it a couple of seconds. A couple of seconds passed and then it shut down again.
I hooked the cables back up, and tried to start it again but it won't. It doesn't just make the sort of hiss wheeze of the low battery. It sounds like it's fixing to turn over but doesn't. Kind of like, if it were a rollercoaster, it gets all the way up the hill, but right before it takes the plunge down the first hill, it sputters out. A couple of more attempts at starting it, and it's back to the electric wheeze.
I'm thinking this is a problem with the battery still maybe, though it also could be something else that went wrong. If something is broken in the kickstarter, and loose, maybe it's rolling around and jamming something up, though I don't know enough about kickstarter to diagnose that via sound only.
I'll try and get some pics up soon. Thank you guys!
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Post by madcervantes on Apr 1, 2013 0:28:05 GMT -5
If you can give us a little more info, we might be able to help you out. What kind of scooter do you have? What engine are you talking about? ...and some pics might help, too. Sorry. 50cc offbrand Chinese. Sort of like a Tao Tao. Called a Silver Bashan but it's hard to find anything about that online. I'll get some pics up tomorrow. If the Kickstarter handle is the only thing that is rotateing on the shaft it depends on how it goes on there. Some have a bolt to tighten it onto the shaft some have a hole and a pin to hold it onto the shaft. Also the shaft usually has splines so the kickhandle grabs the shaft good. If the shaft rotates all the way around then it is in pretty bad shape inside. The small batteries on the scoots are not the best and will loose a lot of their charge over a couple of weeks if not charged up. If you have a charger put it Trickle charge for at least 6 hours to bring it up and hope it holds a charge and your charging system on the scoot is working. If working it should charge the battery up as you are riding, short trips and shutting off and restarting will not charge the battery. You need to ride it for around 20 minutes or so at a good clip. Alleyoop It's not just the handle, which is tightly fastened to the axle. Instead, the axle and handle just rotate freely without any resistance. I figure the problem is inside, and as you say that seems to be a pretty big problem. Take off the primary cover and look. It's a simple system. You will be able to tell real fast. 1 washer, 2 bushings, 1 assembly, and a spring. That's it. 1 of those things has crapped out on you. Yeah, I had heard that if you do that though, the spring will pop out and it's super hard to get it back in place though, right? Thank you everyone for the help. |
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Post by madcervantes on Mar 31, 2013 16:04:17 GMT -5
Hey guys, so I was having trouble with my throttle, turned out to be a rusty spring, a day of use, and now she's down again.
Basically, I went to kickstart her, and with barely a push the kickstart lever went limp. It just sits there in it's socket, uselessly hanging. It can spin 360 degrees, no resistance etc. Just a swiveling rod.
I think what happened is that the kickstart spring snapped. That's my guess. Fixing that I hear is pretty intense though.
It also won't start on the electric starter, but I think that's just the battery being low, though I did get it charged a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to hook it up to a car battery and see if that can get it started. (not with the engine running of course)
I guess something is wrong with my charge circuit, if it isn't holding any charge. ugh.
Thanks guys for the help!
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Post by madcervantes on Mar 30, 2013 2:27:27 GMT -5
Awesome, thanks! I think it's the engine racing but I'll also check the solenoid. Thanks. It really helps if you would learn some simple rules and ways to destcribve things so we know what to H=== you are talking about. When you do not know the difference between the enginew running and the starter turning you can't even tell us simple things. I feel like saying - go hire a mechanic. Cheers lefty2 The way to learn the rules and lingo of this stuff is to ask questions and talk about it with people. So that's what I'm doing. In case I was unclear, the engine is running. The issue is that once I hit the button of the electric starter, the engine revs up and won't turn off or slow down. |
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Post by madcervantes on Mar 29, 2013 11:29:19 GMT -5
Hey guys, so I'm back again with a new repair issue with my moped.
Last couple of times the problem has been getting it to start. Now the problem is getting it to stop.
I rode some errands etc on Wednesday, no problem, came back home, put in the garage. I come back today to ride it to work, and when I hit the electric start, it starts zipping off full speed.
I slammed the breaks and killed it.
For some reason, every time I turn hit the electric start, it starts full throttle and won't quit. I put it up on it's kickstart stand, and if I hit the electric starter it will keep going until I kill it, nothing will stop it.
Obviously in this state I can't ride it, unless I want to take turns full speed and don't bother with stop signs.
I've also got about 1.5 months before I graduate college and sell this thing for parts. I'm decently handy but also busy, so I'm not sure how much time I can spend to learning how to do something real complicated to fix this, and maybe I should just buy a bike or walk more. Any suggestions?
EDIT: Oh yeah, and the last time I had trouble getting the motor to start, it was a dead battery problem. When I installed the new battery, and started it up the first time, it actually did this same thing (revved up all the way with no stopping) for the first 10 seconds. I don't know, but maybe that's connected? I've been doing some research and people talk about speed limiters and stuff, which are attached to batteries? And maybe that's related somehow?
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Post by madcervantes on Mar 16, 2013 22:35:43 GMT -5
Ah darn. I'll look into that and see what I can do. What is the difference between a problem with valves, and a problem with rings? What I mean is, what is the function of the valves versus the rings? Total newbie question I know.
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Post by madcervantes on Mar 16, 2013 22:33:33 GMT -5
Just finished installing and not only does the battery fix the problem, the kickstarter is working again too! Thanks for the coupon, and I'll see where the nearest store is ASAP.  Also I'll keep the auto jump suggestion in mind for sure. |
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Post by madcervantes on Mar 16, 2013 17:31:38 GMT -5
Looks like you applied a post-production effect to get rid of shaky cam right? That thing is wicked smooth for a helmet shot, and I can see some warping in the background (which is usually a tell tell sign of subspace warping effects). Is my guess correct?
Also great video! Makes me want to do something similar.
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Post by madcervantes on Mar 16, 2013 17:28:54 GMT -5
I recently had a problem with my scoot, and since I had previously had problems with my spark plug, I decided to take a look at it. It's working fine, but it's all black and oily. Not black and dry, like my last sparkplug when I burned it out. Just black and shiny, kind of slick.
I was reading somewhere this has to do with the oil to air mixture. Black and oily means that there's too much fuel in the mixture. Is this true, and if so how do I change that? Additionally, does not changing that mean I'll screw up the spark plug somehow? What are the effects of too much oil to air ratio?
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