Engine won`t start

[morfeus]

Hello to all and congratulation for the superb work you do here, i cant tell you how happy i am to find this forum. So let me introduce my self and apologise if my English is not the best. I am from Greece and we have a 2003 Silver Grand Dink 250cc in the family, used for town movement, shopping etc. All this years it worked perfect and i didn`t have any problems at all, but everything changed three days ago. My wife was in town for work, she parked and after 30-35 minutes came back to return home. She turn the key, open the kill switch and tadaaa the Motor Unit Starter is spining but the engine won`t start. Any ideas what this is ?

[MaryK]

Hello & welcome to the forum.

If the starter motor is working but the engine is not turning, then there is a problem with the mechanism that connects the starter motor to the engine. 
I do NOT know how this is doen on this engine. 

In general, it can be a chain drive or a gear arrangement. 
In my opinion, unless you are mechanicaly experienced and have time & location to work on the engine, then it is a dealer garage type problem.

If the starter motor is turning the engine but the engine refuses to run, then that is a different problem.

I hope this helps.

Scoot safely,

[Portland Steve]

Well, obviously, you should not let your wife ride the scooter!
Just kidding.
If the engine is not turning over then it would be the connection of the starter to the engine, but I have a feeling that is not it.
Is the engine turning over?  Try to start it and put your hand over the exhaust pipe.  If there is air coming out, then the engine is turning over.
It could be lack of spark, check spark plug wire and plug.
Do you smell a lot of gas down by the carburetor?  It could be flooded.
If you are not mechanically minded, then take it to a shop or have one of your scooter buddies take a look.
I would be happy to come visit if you would buy a plane ticket to Greece for me. 

Cheers

[morfeus]

Many many thanks to both of you for your answers. MaryK the starter motor is working 100% and i know that because i try it alone (i remove it from the engine and i used only the battery on it and it spins). As for my mechanical experiance im not a F1 tech for sure but i can do all the services (oil, air filter, sparks, fork oil, chain) till now to all my motorcycles (now im riding a Strom 650) and i also have space and time to work on it. I want to give it a shot before i visit my mechanic. The truth is that this machine is so difficult to access but i hope i will manage.
Portland Steve, im not letting her ride it she is taking it behind my back I have done all the things you suggest from the first moment and im sure that the engine is not turning on because i can listen the starter motor to work and nothing else moving, nothing coming out of the exhaust pipe. From the first moment i believe that there is a problem with the mechanism that connects the starter motor to the engine but im not 100% sure witch mechanism is this.

[MaryK]

If you can find a manual, the starter clutch is documented in chapter 10.  I think that there is a site that you can download the manual.
http://www.scootforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=133&t=612&p=1658

Or do a search on grand dink 250 manual.  Grand Dink & Grand Vista are the same scooter.

You will probably need the manual to get the covers off.

[morfeus]

I already have the manual. Here it is for anyone who needs it.

Code: [Select]

https://rapidshare.com/files/2071771044/18012388-Kymco-Grand-Dink-250-EN.pdf
Also i have opened everything like in chapter 10. Does anyone know what the part (i think it is called Gear Comp Starting Cluch) in page 10-5 first picture does ?

[Urbestfriend]

Urbestfriend recognizes your mechanical ability.
The question I have though is...Even though the
starter motor rotates,  did the bendix (Small gear
advance on the starter shaft).  Even though I have
both a Grand Dink (Vista) and Xciting 250.  I did have
an Agility 50 that experienced a similar problem.
Even bought a new solenoid.  Ended up being a
bad battery.   As far as working on these bikes,
I've found them easier to service than most.

[MaryK]

I also recommend fully charging your battery and having the battery tested under load, before proceeding beyond that.

scoot safely,

[J-7]

Try giving it some throttle.

[morfeus]

Hello to all again. After some days with a lot of work i found time to work on the problem and iam very happy to announce that everything went very well. So you are wondering what the problem was.



As you can see in the photo above there is a chain called cam chain coming from inside the engine (right crankcase) and its work is to rotate the camshaft gear to get the correct timing for your valves. This chain was fall off somehow, so the valves wasn`t moving and the engine couldn`t start. I put the chain in the correct position and i resync the valves and babooooommmm everything is fine.



My next move is to replace the Cam Chain Tensioner (picture above)to ensure that the chain stays there. Many thanks to all of you for your answers.

[allenquach]

It's happen to me once when I twisted the gas handle too much (cause of the cramp buster took out from the handle) then I press hard almost ten times but my GV250 2009 didn't start. I left it for couple of hours then I did press the starter butter and engine reving up. From my experience you just leave it there and go for a shopping or a coffee for couple of hours then return to start it again. If the scooter is old, just change the spark plug and air filter. That's the basic thing to do. If it is not start consult the fix manual though. Good luck

[J-7]

 Bizarre and frightening. Never heard of this happening.

[Portland Steve]

Interesting.
I would not have guessed that in a million years.
Thanks for the photos.