Question
pocket bike: red devil
QUESTION: I recently recieved a 49cc pocket bike from my brother. He had it for about a year. he ran it about 3 or 4 times last year and it has sat in his garage until this year when he gave it to me. We are unable to get it started. We tried putting in fresh gas/oil mixture but that didnt work. A family member used starter fluid in the spark plug and carburator and managed to get it started. I dont remember if he turned it off or if it turned off on its own but he wasnt able to get it started again. he said it was probably the carburator. We tried spraying carburator cleaner in it which did nothing, so we pulled the carburator appart and everything looked fine in it. put the whole thing back together and it still wont start.
ANSWER: Melissa,
Sounds to me like your fuel delivery is clogged with lacquered fuel Basically if you can take the entire carb assembly off and soak it in parts wash/cleaner Not carb cleaner or Gas Make sure the parts cleaner is safe for use on rubber and housing. Any Auto Parts store will have something safe.
another thing is the fuel needle valve port my be clogged causing nothing to travel thru the carb into the combustion chamber.
when your Family member put starting fluid in the spark plug it was burning off of what was available since the carb injected the extra fluid into your combustion chamber along with the fluid in the cylinder the engine was running off what was combustably available.
allow the carb to soak at least overnight then air dry wiping off only the outside remove the fuel bowl and have a look as you dump it out if you see anything that looks like honey or has a honey color to it the lacquer is removed try that.
remember when you go to get the Parts wash Make sure to let the clerk know your using it to overnight soak a pocket bike Carb in for possible Lacquer Deposits.
After that It should fire and run If not Let me know we will try something else :)
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: A few days ago (before i got your answer) i tried starting the bike again, this time it sounded a bit different so i gave it some throttle and it started but died right away. It wont idle now unless im giving it throttle. And it is pumping out a lot of white smoke. If you hold down the throttle all the way the back tire starts spinning (as its supposed to) but under load the bike doesnt go anywhere. We tried adjusting the idle screw and managed to make it idle for short periods of time (up to about a minute or two without stalling) but it seems to take longer for the back tire to start spinning. Is there any possibility that having put the float upside down might have something to do with this? or could it be the throttle needing adjustment or something to do with the clutch? or something else? We put the float 'ridge side up' as we couldnt remmeber which way it had been.
AnswerMelissa,
The white Smoke is indication of burning oil/fuel the float is upside down and that will cause it to "BOG" out when throttling it But since the power vanishes under a load What May Be happening is an indication of a more in depth issue Such as piston rings.
try this to see if you can get it to stay running
screw the Idle screw all the way down and back it off exactly 1 1/2 turns continue to turn 1/2 turn until it starts when it is idling give the screw 1/4 turn and let it run
flip the float over whats happening is this
when a normal float in correct position is in operation the engine draws the fuel out of the bowl as the float drops a small needle opens to allow more fuel into the engine when the bowl is full it closes the valve
an incorrectly installed float will cause the needle valve to stay open thus when you throttle it floods the engine causing the smoke and the under powering
Throttle adjustments are easy to do Basically Just pull the cpable down until it is tight then let it keep a lil sag in the cable and tighten the screw down.
this is what i would try and it should work if not let me know and I will diagnose this issue further for you
