My first Honda

MariePhotography · Post by **MariePhotography** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:53 am

Hey Guys!

I once had a 1979 Yamaha QT50 but sadly departed with it.

I'm now a proud owner of a 1985 Honda Spree... named "GeekMo"

I bought her off CraigsList for $125. The guy used her for a pit bike but hadn't touched her in a whole year. No Turn signals, no battery, no speedometer cord, turn signal relay dead, no air filter element.

We took everything off and found someone had messed with the wiring; crossed a few hot wires, found 'em, fixed 'em... now she runs. But we have to use Starter Fluid in order to get her started until it warms up.

The last quarter of the throttle kills the engine. My dad thinks:
A) It's getting to much gas/oil
or
B) It's not getting enough gas/oil

We haven't taken the carb off yet because we don't have a fix-it-kit or cleaning solution. I read through the other post about someone's carburator and cleaning it.

Any suggestions?

-Marie & GeekMo

chevyguyjay · Post by **chevyguyjay** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:29 am

umm....clean the carb. probably gummed up in spots.

dr.ona · Post by **dr.ona** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:55 am

Hey Marie,
I think you got this scooter right before I did!

I called the guy but he said it just sold.....
My girlfriend and I live in Newport and make it up to Portland alot...maybe this Summer we can all hook up and scoot around Portland...We've got some friends up there that have Sprees also...
Robert

Broke95 · Post by **Broke95** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:29 pm

does it bog and then die? From like 3/4 throttle to full is the main jet, sounds like it might be clogged. Take it out, and run a stripped bread-tie wire through it numerous times to make sure you get it all clean,or if you have access to the small pins that go from like .012 or .12 and up, use those, starting from smallest to the largest one you can push through the jet. Clean the emulsion tube aswell and make sure the bowl has no gunk in it.

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:36 pm

Plug chop, and clean the carb.

MariePhotography · Post by **MariePhotography** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:13 pm

dr.ona wrote:Hey Marie,
I think you got this scooter right before I did!
I called the guy but he said it just sold.....
My girlfriend and I live in Newport and make it up to Portland alot...maybe this Summer we can all hook up and scoot around Portland...We've got some friends up there that have Sprees also...
Robert

Lol, Probably!! Sure, when I get it running! Let's Go! =)

Thanks to everyone. I've read that Carbs are the common problem with Sprees. I'll clean it and let you all know if it runs better!

But should I soak it, brush it, and flush it or take the whole thing apart to clean it?

CharlotteSpreeRider · Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:03 am

Marie,

Definitely clean the carb, I'd also suggest the air box and get a filter in there, too. Filters can be gotten at the Honda Powersports dealer for about $4. Your Spree is more than likely an 86 since it has a kickstarter and the petcock cover is missing (84 & 85 did not have that, 87 has built in petcock cover), unless someone changed out the side cover at some point and the left side cover is broken more than the pictures show, but that is highly unlikely since it got abandoned. I was surprised that the rubber piece on the kickstart pedal is still intact, that is very odd. Do you not have a rear wheel on the bike? It doesn't appear to have one in the picture. There is one bolt holding the oil pump onto the engine, make sure that bolt stays tight. It has a tendency to back itself out and when it does the oil will not flow to the carb correctly. Let the bike idle with no throttle when you first start it until you see smoke coming out of the pipe. That lets you know when oil is making it to the chamber. These are 2 stroke, so no smoke = no oil, and that is "A Very Bad Thing├óÔÇ×┬ó" for a 20+ year old motor. The bogging thing could be caused by alot of different things, it's best to just start narrowing it down to start with. 2 stroke engines are very particular to air pressure. You might find that adding a properly oiled filter fixes the whole problem immediately.

-aseigler

DrZ34 · Post by **DrZ34** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:45 pm

how bout the obv. no air filter!!

MariePhotography · Post by **MariePhotography** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:10 pm

CharlotteSpreeRider wrote:Marie,

Definitely clean the carb, I'd also suggest the air box and get a filter in there, too. Filters can be gotten at the Honda Powersports dealer for about $4. Your Spree is more than likely an 86 since it has a kickstarter and the petcock cover is missing (84 & 85 did not have that, 87 has built in petcock cover), unless someone changed out the side cover at some point and the left side cover is broken more than the pictures show, but that is highly unlikely since it got abandoned. I was surprised that the rubber piece on the kickstart pedal is still intact, that is very odd. Do you not have a rear wheel on the bike? It doesn't appear to have one in the picture. There is one bolt holding the oil pump onto the engine, make sure that bolt stays tight. It has a tendency to back itself out and when it does the oil will not flow to the carb correctly. Let the bike idle with no throttle when you first start it until you see smoke coming out of the pipe. That lets you know when oil is making it to the chamber. These are 2 stroke, so no smoke = no oil, and that is "A Very Bad Thing™" for a 20+ year old motor. The bogging thing could be caused by alot of different things, it's best to just start narrowing it down to start with. 2 stroke engines are very particular to air pressure. You might find that adding a properly oiled filter fixes the whole problem immediately.

-aseigler

I bought an air filter, first thing, because it didn't have one. On the Vin plate it says it's a 1985. I do see smoke when I start it. Lol and it does have a rear wheel.

Here's a couple more photos:

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:38 pm

Your perforated airbox lid is the problem, replace the lid or cover the holes with some duct tape for a quick fix. Do a plug chop, your probably running super lean with the drilled airbox and you will damage the motor if you run it with that lid.

darat · Post by **darat** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:52 pm

holes are bad in the filter box

MariePhotography · Post by **MariePhotography** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:43 am

Holes are covered now! And she runs full throttle without bogging down.

*Does a jig*

Now I need to fix my Starter Motor and get an Ignition for it.

Marie

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:20 am

Make sure those holes are well * covered and do a plug chop to make sure it isnt running lean. Running lean quickly kills 2 stroke engines.

MariePhotography · Post by **MariePhotography** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:25 pm

I guess I should. I'll have to find that link about how to do it.

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:59 pm

READING SPARK PLUGS and JETTING and PLUG CHOPS

Two stroke engines are sensitive to the level of heat inside the engine.
The main jet size in the carb is the main determiner of how hot the engine runs at wide open throttle.

Too hot and they will seize the piston.
Too cool means they are not making full power.

Engines get the hottest when they are running at wide open throttle making maximum HP.

"Reading" a spark plug is the best way to see how hot your engine is running.
Reading the plug means looking at the ceramic insulator inside the plug and checking its color.
The color will indicate the overall level of heat in the engine.

Reading the plug requires fully warming up the engine by running it for about 10 minutes... Then making a top speed full throttle run for a half mile or more, then killing the motor and stopping and pulling the spark plug on the spot.
That is called.."Doing a plug chop".

When doing the "plug chop"... It is important to chop the throttle and turn the engine off with the switch or key and then pull over to stop... You don't want the engine to idle... that will change the plug color.

You can wait till the plug cools... the color won't change.

The color of a plug on a correctly running engine is a light brown or tan color. Coco brown is the perfect color.
Lighter than that means danger of a piston seizure.
Darker than that is OK... But real dark or wet looking means your main jet in the carb is too big (too rich)... pull it out and look at the number on the side and buy the next size smaller (leaner).

Note... To get an accurate plug reading takes a fairly new plug... a plug with 2 years of crud on it will never really show the true color (or heat) the engine is running at.