Beloved 87 Honda Spree Won't Idle/Start with New Carb

[tom.spisich]

Hey Everyone,

I have an 87 Honda Spree that I have had for over 10 years. This past year, the Spree would bog down whenever I accelerated. I instantly thought it to be my carb, so I took it apart (using the directions on this site) and cleaned it two times. In the end, the issue never resolved. So, I bought a cheap Chinese carb online. It also came with a new bystarter. After putting it on the Spree, it started right away, with no problems. However, a week later, I took it out for a ride and it stopped on me. It sounded like it ran out of gas, so I filled it up. Since then, I have had extremely low idling, and it often won't turn over at all.

I tried to troubleshoot the issue myself and checked the following:
Good Compression
Good Spark
All hoses to carb hooked up correctly
Air filter clean

Any ideas what it could be?

By the way, I kept original carb. If you believe I should put that back on and take it to a scooter mechanic, I wouldn't argue. Thanks!

[Campfire]

I’m battling the same issue right now. Did you put new fuel hoses on when you did the carb? Have you cleaned the petcock? Any debris in the fuel tank (it’s very easy to remove).

When you spray starting fluid into it, how does it run?

[Meatball]

Check both crank seals.

[tom.spisich]

I did not put new fuel hoses with the new carb, but I can't imagine that's the issue. I sucked ok the gas line, and gas poured out with no issues. Petcock was cleaned a couple weeks and and inspected. Thank you for your response. Keep me updated on what you do, and if anything ends up working!

[tom.spisich]

Thanks for the tip on the crank seals. I will look into that tonight and let you know what I find tomorrow.

[vintagegarage]

Please change the topic name to "Beloved 87 Honda Spree Won't Idle/Start with New Carb". If I understand the post, the engine does turn over just fine.

[Ben L.]

Throw that cheap carb in the trash and diagnose whats wrong with the original. I'm guessing you read the Wiki?

[tom.spisich]

Both crank seals looked good tonight. I am going to take off the Chinese carb and put the original back on tonight. I am hopeful it will at least idle with the old carb. Is there any reason to believe the new Chinese carb would make the Spree not even start?

[tom.spisich]

Also, yes I did use the pictures tutorial to clean carb. The only area I know I did wrong was when I used carb cleaner on the mixture screws and spring. I cleaned the pieces before I saw the fine print not to do so (which I am mad about still to this day). Could that be the reason the original carb is stalling when I give it throttle? I know it's not the carb idle, because I have adjusted that thing (1/8 then at a time) for hours on end. Thanks for the help guys.

[Campfire]

With my limited experience, just screw the idle screw all the way in. Then back the screw out to what you want. It’s not that sensitive. Carbs are very simple devices.

When you were putting the carb back together, did you put all the parts back in? No distractions from 10 year olds (asking for a friend)?

My Spree had similar issues due to somebody reassembling it incorrectly. It only takes a few minutes to pull the carb apart and redo everything now that you’ve done it before.

I didn’t see the note about no carb cleaner on the mixture screw. I carb cleaned that entire thing including the idle screw and have no issues besides a throttle slider sliding problem.

[tom.spisich]

Yes, I put all the parts back in the correct place. I followed the directions closely, even doing the light check of the carb holes. I am going to try and clean it again tonight, for the third time. If that doesn't get it going, I think it is time to take it to the mechanic.

[motormike]

From the original post, it sounds like that new carb might not be shutting fuel off with the float needle.
In turn, flooding the cylinder with fuel and causing some hydro-lock problems. Remove spark plug and crank engine watching to see if any fuel is discharged through spark plug hole. Fuel could also have accumulated in the case below the piston. The OEM carb is always better than a Chinese clone.

[tom.spisich]

Thanks for all the responses guys! I ended up taking off the new fake carb, cleaning the OEM one (for the third time) and reinstalling it. At first, it still didn't work. So, I checked the fuel lines by sucking on the vacuum line. The lines worked fine last week, so it felt like this was a real shot in the dark. But this time, there was no fuel coming out of the gas line. I switched out the vacuum line with a new one and it started up right away. Im almost embarrassed it was such an easy fix, but I am thrilled to have it up and working again. Thanks again for all the help!

[Meatball]

Good show! The lines get old and start to crack/split over time. Sometimes cracks cant be seen with the naked eye. Any tiny air leak could drop the vacuum pressure below the threshold needed to open the petcock. Now that its running...grip it and rip it!