What? Dealer wants to basically rebuild carb after 1600 mi?? GV250

[shawgb]

Okay, fabulous forum...I've been SO impressed with you so far, don't fail me now! (I don't expect you will...)

Here's the story:
My scoot developed an issue where like 5 minutes after starting, it'd start idling rough - but after another 5-ish minutes, would settle down and run fine. That went on for several months.

Then it got worse. After the 5 minute warm-up, it started totally stalling. I could immediately restart it, but would have to futz with the throttle to keep it idling thru the next 5 or so minutes - then fine again.

Well...whaddya know. It got even worse! After warm-up it'd quit and the only way to restart it was at full (or nearly full) throttle! That's when I had it towed to the dealer.

They just called and said the jets were clogged and something else about a "balloon" or something. I said "how can this be with only 1600 miles?" They said that's exactly WHY this would happen. If ridden rather infrequently - and mine is, being an '06 with 1600 miles - they said gas (and especially the new gas with ethanol) will evaporate from the carb and leave behind gummy junk. I asked how to prevent this and was told to use an additive called "Sea Foam" (maybe it's "C-foam" - I dunno...)

Anyway - that's like $250 worth of repairs and a TWO WEEK wait for parts!
I mean, now I'm totally screwed - I have no choice but to authorize the repair - but I wonder if this makes sense, or if it sounds shady...
Depending on feedback, I'll decide if they'll ever work on MY scoot again!

Any insight will be MUCH appreciated, as always.

Thanks!

[wordslinger]

..what they told you about the ethanol and adding sea foam is true...

..judging solely by what you are saying here, i'd say they were probably straight with you on the cause of your problems..

..i cannot vouch for the costs, as i have never had to have any such repairs on my scoot...


peace

[jprestonian]

No; that sounds right. Not good to leave any gas in a small engine that is infrequently used, and it sounds like the dealer is leveling with you (although $250 sounds steep to replace a float and clean the jets, which sounds like what they're doing).

SeaFoam is an excellent fuel stabilizer -- I use it in my bike. About 1oz. every 5th fuel-up. Keeps the carb nice and clean, but I run mine nearly every day. For long-term storage, you'd want to probably follow the directions on the can.

There's a new product on the market, StarTron, which is supposed to be specially formulated to stabilize E10 fuel.

Best of luck!
.

[shawgb]

One more time - I'm so impressed!
THANK YOU!

Well, the cost and the wait suck - but I've learned something very valuable because of it.
My hope is that I can save someone else this expensive lesson - so again, thank you so much...

[Shaka]

I have used SeaFoam for years with excellent results.  I just recently began adding Sta-Bil marine formula to my fuel instead.  It is designed specifically to prevent "todays"  ethanol enriched fuel from attracting water.  I still use SeaFoam occasionally just to thoroughly flush everything out.  I just pulled my carb apart last week and it was spotless inside.  Basically, I've been using the Sta-bil as preventative maintenance and the Seafoam to clean up any leftovers.

[joeboy]

I would just strip it myself and leave all the bits in carb cleaner for a few hours or over night, while i was waiting drain the tank and replace the filter.

After a good inspection and a blast of compressed air put it all back together and use a fuel stabilser, you can get lots of makes mostly liquids and some tablets but they all do near enough the same thing.

The 250 dollars you save can buy a lot of this stuff.