Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Hi all-

I have an 85 Aero 50.

It starts, idles, runs just fine.

The carb has just a couple issues.

1. The inner most mounting bolt for the carb to intake is stripped, so it can't quite seal all the way with just the outer bolt.

2. The fuel line from the vacuum petcock to the carb will fill up while running, but after about a day and a half the fuel line is empty. Sometimes I have to provide vacuum on the air line to get the petcock open to full up the fuel line, and the float bowl. It starts right up and I have to burn out the gas ,I think it's gas, white smoke for a minute then it clears up and sounds way more like a 2 stroke.

My question is where does this fuel go? Is it making it's way to the combustion chamber? How can it hold vacuum for a little while and then completely lose it?

I replaced the float needle and float. The float is plastic so the height cannot be set. I want to note that the petcock that come with the scooter failed a while back, so I have an eBay petcock on there at the moment. This petcock appears to be operating properly.

I believe my issue to be with the float valve/needle but the scooter operates great when gas is present. The carb is strong enough to apply proper vacuum to the petcock and keep it going all day. It's only when I come look at it after a day or more that the fuel line is malfunctioning.

Thank you for reading

When I removed the carb to clean it, I did not do that to the float valve. That's something I'll look at this next go round.

Item 1 is an easy fix. Simply install an M6 helicoil and your repair will be stronger than new. This problem is not uncommon as well

Ok I took the carb a off again, cleaned it out, run a little poker through the float valve, and put it back together.

I don't have a tiny brush for polishing the valve so I did what I could. I couldn't get a helicoil kit this time around but it's going on the list of things to have.

I just don't think what I did is going to fix it completely but I'm prepared mentally to do it again as is really easy

I'll keep you posted

OK I fixed repaired the stripped out socket with the helicoil.
I turned it on ran the white smoke out, got the fuel line filled up, good vacuum on it.

To be continued as I doubt this is the fix but I'm hoping to eliminate sources of air leak

I polished the valve seat and the rest of the brass with toothpaste, washed it off cold water, dried it out, put it all back together. The carb sits snug.

I noticed the float needle looking goofy on the rubber part so that's definitely adding to the problems so I'll install a new needle here very soon, preferably a metal one like I put in my Keihin carbs on my CB. This current needle was installed along with the current float.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ub4tVt9i4-Y?feature=share

Yeah it is unfortunate because this one is relatively new. The rubber part does not have straight lines on the profile anymore. I'm putting another in as soon as I get a new one.

Regarding a manual petcock- I would have to route it outside the plastics . I have to research that some more

I installed a new float needle today. Only time will tell

Update:

I turned the reed valve over to close the clearance in the intake.
i tried a new carb.

The gas from gas line still drains out after a couple days. I don't know if its evaporating or falling into the carb...bypassing the bowl somehow and going right into the cylinder. The scooter has to burn off gas every start up after a while.

The update is that it still happens.

In the future im going to drop the motor or open it up and see if theres any underlying issues.

thanks