Kymco People 50 - Not A Morning Scooter!

[sidthesloth]

I would have to check again, but I think the ppl cdi is dc.

[MauryCocoa]

Well despite some of the signs (mainly the size) that the CDI unit on a Kymco People 50 is DC... I'm pretty sure now that it's AC. I turned the scooter on, disconnected the battery and she stayed running. If I'm not mistaken this means the scooter runs on AC?

[tomheet]

 You might wanna put a cover on it, EH ? (-: I just use a cheap grill cover for mine, and bungee it. At least get the direct rain off of it. Like your idea of celebrating when it starts. Think I may have fixed my carb problem, did not have to crank for 20 minutes in 40 degree MI weather, so had time for a big greasy donut before work! Your 2003
 issue sounds much like my 2003 people issue. I sprayed fogging oil in the carb while running, seemed to clear something out. I'm not saying this would help for you, sounds like you got a handle on it. Wonder if the 2003 models have more issues? Can't imagine the design changed that much, though.

[Rianna]

Big greasy donut time is good! We all need more of that! 

[art]

I think its just age (2003) and how it was maintained,things start to deteriorate after a few years.

[MauryCocoa]

Okay, still haven't gone one single week without having a problem with this scooter. Here's the latest:

Definitely found out the main problem was the CDI connection (not necessarily the CDI). The wiring inside the 4-port terminal was loose and I was getting a bad connection. I fiddled with it for a week before I soldered it to the terminal post. I kid you not, it ran for one night perfectly... and then the next morning, NOTHING! I haven't been able to start it since... no switch or kick. I've bought 2 different CDIs... one AC and one DC. Neither one will work. I definitely fried the AC one (started to bubble) and blew a fuse.

I've emailed numerous moped places but still no one seems to know whether the Kymco People 50 2005 is AC or DC. Also, the ports on the stock CDI are backwards (4-port on the right, 2-port on the left) from the other CDIs I've purchased (and seen). I'm tempted to buy the Kymco stock CDI but it's about $62 (I bought the other CDIs for under $30 total). I'm also not convinced this is my only electrical problem. Very very rarely I can get the scooter going by messing with some of the wires but it dies almost immediately.

I looked up the wiring diagram for the Kymco People but naturally it's blurry as hell when I print it out and can't really be deciphered (all the other pages print out fine).

Surely the moped Gods hate me.

[Rianna]

Hi, MauryCocoa. I don't know what all email addresses you have tried, but I just saw one in this other topic here:

http://kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=2672.0

Good luck!

[Rianna]

Hi, again, MauryCocoa.

I don't know if this is the CDI you need for your scoot, but this seller may have other types in their store as well. Someone here might know if this one is compatible with your scoot. When I saw the price I realized you could buy four of them for the price of that Kymco CDI if you are just using them for troubleshooting purposes.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260674985595&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3AWNAFP%3AUS%3A1123

Good luck.

[Areomyst]

When it's not starting, are you checking for spark?  I'd highly recommend that.  My 2005 People 50 has started and run awesome for just over 5 years now.  I even still have the original battery.  I just took it to the mountains of Tennessee last weekend and rode it up and down the Tail of the Dragon, had an absolute blast - the People 50 is truly a GREAT scooter!  Don't give up on it, once you get it sorted it should be rock solid for you.

It sounds like you could have an intermittent ignition issue, which could be as simple as a loose wire on the ignition coil, or the spark plug resistor cap (the part that plugs into the spark plug).   

It's difficult to diagnose problems over the internet, but I hope that you can get it sorted. 

All the best!

~Josh