Planet Minis

PEACEOUT

On my 1st ride I realized it's pretty slow and scary in downtown traffic. It back fires alot. Sputters like crazy. When it heats up, it sputters to a crawl and feels like it's going to die out in the middle of traffic. I am forced to walk it in the bicycle lane. Can't even thottle it to save my life.

1) What is the position of choke??? Arm down or arm up?

2) I took the carb apart and cleaned it. After reassembly, it idles great with the choke arm up, but when I push it down, it revs up like I'm throttling it.

3) I also lost the use of the throttle...I can't twist the throttle anymore. But, I can use the choke arm as a throttle when pushing the arm up/down, lolz.

Noob in training

jkg2003

1)I dont know what your carb looks like so I cant tell you which way(up or down) is choked, but if you look at it when the flap is closed then it is choked and thus you find out
2) I think you need to clean it more, there are two jets on your carb one is an idle jet and one is you throttle jet, it sounds like you cleaned one but not the other, try cleaning the carb again and see what happens
3)Sounds like you didnt put the carb back together correctly, check and make sure the carb slide is inserted correctly, there are slots the slide fits into and make sure the cap is on correctly

hope this helps

mexicanyella

If it's got the original carb on it, which in the photo it looked like it did, the choke will be a guillotine-style door which slides up and down, rather than a pivoted butterfly. Down on the lever is "run," up on the lever is "choke."

What happens when you pull over after the bad running and try to restart? Does it always start back up and run right after cooling a bit, or what?

Your symptoms seem to be occurring in a combination not quite like I've encountered before, but it sure sounds like a carburetion problem or a intermittent weak spark problem. The fact that it idles well at least some of the time makes me think your pilot jet is unobstructed. When the pilot jet gets dirty, which is common, the bike idles wrong all the time and is even worse cold, since the clogging makes the idle mixture lean. The fact that you think it runs okay some of the time makes me think your main jet isn't varnished up, or it would always run bad at higher throttle openings and maybe get a little better as it warmed up and could accept a somewhat leaner mixture.

You never replied in your first thread whether you checked the spark plug, spark intensity or condition of the points. Do those things. You want a clean plug and a bright blue spark. You'll need to check this when it's acting up too. Knowing whether your spark is going away when the engine gets hot would answer a lot of questions. It would probably suggest condenser to me, although I've heard of coils that get intermittent too.
If you're uncomfortable with any of these tasks just ask. It can be talked through.

Another thing to check before really tearing into anything would be to open the float bowl drain screw, that little knurled knob at the base of the float bowl, when it starts to act up and see if a couple ounces of fuel come out. (Make sure it works and isn't clogged first while the engine is cold). This will tell you if there is fuel in the bowl when the motor acts up, and will also get most of the water out of the fuel bowl if some has collected there from bad fuel. Dirt or water in the fuel can get sloshing around in there with the motion of the bike and get into the jet intermittently, then fall back out when the engine or motion stops. I want to hear that when the bike acts up and you stop and open the bowl drain, you get no fuel or only a few drops. That would tell me the float needle is hanging up and not opening some of the time even after the float drops. Or there's some loose crap in the fuel tank, petcock or fuel line intermittently blocking the flow. I'd tell you next to remove the float bowl, hook up the fuel line and turn the fuel on, and verify that by gently raising and lowering the float you can observe repeated, consistent starting and stopping of fuel, at a steady trickle when you lower the float. If the float needle is hanging up, and you have tried cleaning it with carb cleaner and gentle scrubbing, it's probably worn. I have two K2 carbs with similar mileage on them and one's needed a new float needle and the other's still on its original 38-year-old one and working fine. Go figure.

If fuel does come out when the motor acts up and you open the drain, thus shooting sub-theory I all to hell, and you find no traces of dirt, rust powder or small blobs of water in the fuel, thus shooting theory II all to hell, we'll revisit theory III, that it's an intermittent ignition problem.

I'll probably think of some step I forgot to say about five minutes after walking away from the computer. If so I'll include it tomorrow.

mexicanyella

I'd also check valve clearance. Maybe the clearances are too tight and closing up when the engine gets hot...but I'd verify the other things first.

You have a Ducati? Valve clearances on the 50 should be a walk in the park, then. Heh heh.

Also, I just reread your post and realized you said it idles cold with the choke arm UP. That's choked. Before you get into the ignition do like jkg said and pull the carb and check it again. Both jets clear, float needle opening/shutting, slide in correctly (cutaway points upstream, should only go in one way anyhow), fuel flow present at petcock, at carb end of hose, and at carb with float bowl off.

And while the carb's off, check the tightness of the manifold-to-head bolts. Do this with great sensitivity and reverence, for the head is made of a mysterious alloy that is nearly in a liquid state at room temperature and the threads in it strip very easily. One gentle hand on the ratchet, near the head, not at the end of the handle, if you don't have a torque wrench and the torque specs handy. This is an easy place to get an air leak, which miiiiight cause symptoms like you describe (the high, unpredictable idle, at least) if the bolts have worked loose or are already stripped now.

If you strip them there's a good chance you can fix them with a rat repair method I have but we'll get into that later. This ought to have you busy for a little while as it is.

PEACEOUT

Thanks for the detailed reply everyone. I removed all the jets, and cleaned them thoroughly and used a thin wire for the itsy bitsy jet. Dissasembled the float and needle, cleaned it all out. Used up a can of carb cleaner and cleaned out all the orifices.

I'll repeat the cleaning, and print out all your suggestions and knock them out one by one.

Mahalo!!!

It's a Stock carb.

PEACEOUT

Spent a whole 5 mins after my last post to get it running

I wanted to find out why my throttle wasn't working. I took the carb off and the throttle cable. I lubed it and reassembled. Started right up on the 1st kick with the choke lever down. The engine purrrrr'd. Wow, I guess it just needed some lube, buwahaha.

Honda's are so forgiving, especially the oldies. I didn't get to ride it yet to check out if my previous carb cleaning session had solved my sputtering problem. It does shift very nice while just idling, haha.

Looking forward to my 2nd ride with a cleaner carb and adjusted clutch.

Mahalo to my braddahs across the ocean!!!

PEACEOUT

Took it out tonite for a little test ride. It rides smooth and shifts great. Looks like cleaning out the carb and adjusting the clutch to factory spec did the trick. Now I just gotta get the lights to work.

Aloha!!!