Noob help! Spree keeps dying.

[Ziraya]

revision, it appears the act of turning around caused the stalling to stop, at least for a bit, tilting the bike to about 45 degrees (carefully) for a minute or so at idle revives it quite well, which goes against the clog in the fuel line theory. Also I went to drain the fuel tank by disconnecting it from the carb and idling till the motor cut out and the fuel line was putting out well more than should be needed to keep it running, so at the very least if there is a clog it is inside or after the carb, or not fuel related.

Sidenote; when I pull the throttle while on the stand there is lots of blue smoke coming out , if I recall this means the oil isn't being completely burned which ether means it's not tuned right yet or my oil pump is putting out way too much.

edit: earlier in this string of posts I didn't have any carb cleaner, now I do, tomorrow I shall clean the carb and we'll see what that does about the problem
furthermore I grabbed a bottle of some sort of chemical that smells oddly of licorice, bubble gum, and paint thinner, advertised as a cleaning agent for small engine things (mainly 2 cycle) that have been in storage for an extended period, "Start(!) Your Engines". Put it in as directed, waited an hour then did my little test run, it got a bit further than before but I'm not convinced I used enough gas to actually get the stuff into the system so who knows if it's related, I'll let it sit another hour then do that again, then let it sit for the night, then tomorrow I clean out the carb the normal way and it'll definitely get there.

[Bear45-70]

What happens when the engine is unloaded (on the stand) has nothing to do with what happens when you head down the street. The fuel required to rev the engine unloaded is less than a 10th of the fuel required to accelerate the scooter. The extra smoke hurts nothing and tells you you are not under oiling the engine, which is a good thing. Not enough oil will soon mean your engine will stop rotating and not turn again.

For a fuel additive use nothing but Seafoam, it works and isn't full of crap that does nothing for your engine.

[outofcontrol]

I'm a little skeptical still that it is the fuel not moving quickly enough from the petcock into the carb. once i hit 5mph at full throttle itll die quickly, but if i let off in time itll stutter back to idle and stay running. Half throttle has similar results, while it doesn't die as quickly it still doesn't exceed 5-10mph.

Thanks for the input!

I just got a new project spree and I suspected the same thing. Here's the shade tree mechanic method of checking your fuel flow/float setting at the same time:
1. find the hose that comes off the carb bowl on the very bottom. it's the one that is used to drain the fuel out of the bowl if you loosen the screw on the opposite side of the carb (the lowest screw on the carb, at the bottom of the bowl)
2. pull that hose out and route it up by the carb in pointing toward the sky where you can see it.
3. now open the bowl drain and you can see the level of the fuel in the bowl.

It acts like a sight glass so you can see the level of the fuel in the carb bowl. From here you can do several bench test simulations or actually run the engine to see how quickly the bowl recovers it's proper level (or not). The level of the fuel should be right at the top of where the bowl meets the carb body. I would dump the bowl, then suck on the vacuum side of the fuel petcock and watch the level of the bowl recover in the upright drain hose. If you have one of those stone filters with a clear body you can see the fuel moving down the fuel line too.

BTW, it was fine with mine, and I suspect it's fine with yours too. All it takes is just a little air leak somewhere around the carb and it will screw up everything. Make sure the airbox lid is fitting properly and that it's all air tight except for the inlet. On my other spree, I drilled a couple holes in the airbox lid thinking that I could tune it for more power and it displayed the same symptoms that you have. I taped over the holes and it ran perfect. I'm talking about two 1/4 inch holes next to the airbox snorkel. That's all it takes to screw up the system. I couldn't go over 15mph with those two little drilled holes.

Good luck.
-Kevin

[Ziraya]

fuel level is stable, other than looking around is there any good way to find air leaks? maybe burn a pencil and watch the smoke?

btw, the problem isn't a speed top, it's a distance thing, mine dies off after 200~ yards not at 15mph.

Furthermore, I think it might be a bystarter thing.

Just took it for a spin to see if letting it sit while I was at work (after cleaning the carb and such before work) helped anything, and I realized about half way through that it's dying off sooner if I run it hard, but it still dies off reliably if I don't, which means it's ether eating through a reserve of something or it dies when it gets hot/warm, to my knowledge the only part that reacts directly to heat (usually it's own) is the bystarter, so I unplugged it mid ride and about five seconds later I was going full speed, it still died off after a bit but it wasn't idling right before I unplugged the bystarter so I'll retune it tomorrow and see what happens.

I assume the bystarter is there for a reason so assuming it is that, or at least involved with that, what's that say? how do I fix it?

btw, I've yet to find seafoam in my area, but I'm stuck with Meijers and such, once I get the thing running I'll be able to get to a Murrays

edit:

What happens when the engine is unloaded (on the stand) has nothing to do with what happens when you head down the street. The fuel required to rev the engine unloaded is less than a 10th of the fuel required to accelerate the scooter.

Even unloaded it still dies off, it just takes longer (about twice as long, not ten times)

[Bear45-70]

fuel level is stable, other than looking around is there any good way to find air leaks? maybe burn a pencil and watch the smoke?

btw, the problem isn't a speed top, it's a distance thing, mine dies off after 200~ yards not at 15mph.

Furthermore, I think it might be a bystarter thing.

Just took it for a spin to see if letting it sit while I was at work (after cleaning the carb and such before work) helped anything, and I realized about half way through that it's dying off sooner if I run it hard, but it still dies off reliably if I don't, which means it's ether eating through a reserve of something or it dies when it gets hot/warm, to my knowledge the only part that reacts directly to heat (usually it's own) is the bystarter, so I unplugged it mid ride and about five seconds later I was going full speed, it still died off after a bit but it wasn't idling right before I unplugged the bystarter so I'll retune it tomorrow and see what happens.

I assume the bystarter is there for a reason so assuming it is that, or at least involved with that, what's that say? how do I fix it?

btw, I've yet to find seafoam in my area, but I'm stuck with Meijers and such, once I get the thing running I'll be able to get to a Murrays

edit:

What happens when the engine is unloaded (on the stand) has nothing to do with what happens when you head down the street. The fuel required to rev the engine unloaded is less than a 10th of the fuel required to accelerate the scooter.

Even unloaded it still dies off, it just takes longer (about twice as long, not ten times)

Which means you have a fuel feed problem to the carb. So check the fuel supply from the tank. Oh and it ain't the bystarter. Try a clear fuel line from the petcock to the carb, bet it goes dry.

[Ziraya]

the fuel is feeding to the carb perfectly well

[Bear45-70]

the fuel is feeding to the carb perfectly well

Your description is a classic fuel bowl going dry. Taking longer unloaded does not change that, it is still going dry. You don't want to believe it, but it is a classic symptom of no fuel entering the float bowl. I worked professionally on 2 strokes and was a certified mechanic, plus I raced the d*** things and even won a couple of National Championships being my own mechanic. I know 2 strokes and the problem you have is fuel starvation. Connect a clear hose to your float bowl drain and the form a "J" with it to monitor the fuel level in the carb. The bowl will go dry. Or try connecting a different tank to the carb and see if it cures your issue. It will.

[Ziraya]

I did that, and in the post you quoted first the first thing I said was the fuel level is stable

[Bear45-70]

At idle or at speed?

[Ziraya]

fuel goes up when I give it throttle, goes down for idle

with the bystarter unplugged I get nearly a mile before it starts acting up

[Bear45-70]

fuel goes up when I give it throttle, goes down for idle

with the bystarter unplugged I get nearly a mile before it starts acting up

First off if the bystarter was plugged the engine wouls not want to run when cold because the engine would be too lean. Once the engine is warm, the bystarter is no longer controlling fuel entering the engine. So at the most your bystarter is covering up your real problem, which is fuel starvation.

[Ziraya]

ok so it's not getting enough fuel, fine

The fuel line to the carb is putting out more than enough

tomorrow I'll plug the bystarter back in and run the engine dry, let it sit for a bit then do the tube test again but I bet it's gonna say the same thing it said the first time

assuming it does where's the next place there might be a clog? I cleaned the carb as best as I know to but if there's somewhere specific to check it'll help a lot

[Bear45-70]

ok so it's not getting enough fuel, fine

The fuel line to the carb is putting out more than enough

tomorrow I'll plug the bystarter back in and run the engine dry, let it sit for a bit then do the tube test again but I bet it's gonna say the same thing it said the first time

assuming it does where's the next place there might be a clog? I cleaned the carb as best as I know to but if there's somewhere specific to check it'll help a lot

A plugged passage or jet in the carb will not take 20 seconds, a minute or ant time at all to have whatever problem it will cause show up. But the float bowl being sucked dry by the engine will.

[Ziraya]

so it absolutely postitively cross your heart, hope to owe me money, has to be a clog between the fuel tank and the float bowl

[Bear45-70]

so it absolutely postitively cross your heart, hope to owe me money, has to be a clog between the fuel tank and the float bowl

25 years as a professional mechanic and over half of it on 2 strokes, says yes. *, I will give you one of my National Championships and you can , (OUCH!) if I'm wrong. Check the fuel level right after it dies, it will be low.