VITALITY 4S NO LIGHTS?

[thatsdax]

Hi.. I have a Vitality 4 stroke with almost 2000 miles.. Runs Great !! My Starter motor / Bendix has been making noise for some time. Ordered a new Starter motor a few days ago just because of the noise is not getting any better.. So.. Was out riding and during a hot restart, everything locked up !  Tried the kick start, locked up.. Pushed the scooter home as I was only a mile or so from home.. Got lucky there.. Once at home, I pulled the squirrel fan fairing side and was able to rotate the fan by hand and was impressed with the compression.. Wow !! So.. I knew the motor was not start still locked up. Pulled the starter motor and it looks fine.. Guess the one I ordered will be a spare..  Kick start still locked up. Removed the CVT cover and could see the Bendix was pushed out into the CVT main gear. I pushed on the bendix and it returned back to where it should be and the CVT side became free.. Yeah !! I noticed the Kick start gear had a few teeth and then the teeth were not there but solid steel for what I would guess would be 2 or 3 teeth length  and then all the teeth were there all the rest of the way.. I re clocked this gear and re-lubed the bendix and re installed everything. Scooter lit with the electric starter. Killed engine.. Kick start also worked good..  Re lit and Drove the scooter for 45 mins or so.. Returned home.. Killed motor.. Hit the starter motor to restart and motor locked again on the restart.. Tried to Kick start.. Again.. Locked up...  Removed the CVT cover again.. Pulled CVT wheel with impact and removed the Bendix totally.. Ordered a new Bendix.  I will just go with kick start until my Bendix arrives... 

  Ok..  Sorry to be so long winded.. But.. Here is my real concern at this time.. In doing all of this work and test driving it that afternoon.. I never noticed that my Head light and tail  light  quit working until the night hit.  What ?  The Headlight is a fixed low beam and there is no way to switch it off or on as it comes on as soon as the engine is lit telling me it runs from the AC stator only with really no regulation? Not sure....  Anyway.. The Headlight and tail light as well as a single very bright blue dash light comes on as soon as the engine is started.  This is the only time they come on and there is no switch any where to change this..  Later models may have a switch, but not this one as it comes from the factory this way and as long as it was working was fine with me as it provided plenty of forward light at night using a halogen bulb at least it looks like a halon bulb. Brake light still comes on nice and bright when you hit any of the brakes..  Only my running head light and running tail light is out which I believe this circuit runs on AC . But not sure.. I put a DVOM on the the battery and it reads 12.5 v and when the Engine is started never changes this value telling me my charging circuit is also down?  I pulled both front and rear bulbs and ohmed them good. Also Checked 2 fuses in the battery box fine. Any help to understanding this  bikes voltage delivery methods would be appreciated.  I am thinking my Stator has gone bad...  But I only see wire for the Magnetic spark pick up on the fly wheel side and no wires for any stator.. Maybe I just can not see.. Any and all help is appreciated.. I found the Manual PDF and dumped it.. After going through it cover to cover, found no help. Again. Any help is greatly appreciated.. Thanks.. Duane.. Still a proud Kymco Owner..

[thatsdax]

ok.. Here is the latest for those that have a 4 Stroke Kymco where Headlight and Tail light only come on when started as these lights run off the AC Stator Circuit.  Initially I refused to believe it was the Stator since it is a non moving part and is wound with really thick wire. What can go bad on this.. right ?  Anyway.. I bought a new Stator from Kymco since I could not be sure a Chinese version would match.. So.. It cost me 75 bucks instead of 20 bucks and it also came with the Pick up as well. So.. I had to strip faring pieces to get to the plug which was buried deep inside the rear faring which meant I also had to remove the rear rack as well.  O well.. And so.. New Stator installed and now my lights are back on and charging circuit back up. Also.. My Squirrel fan had teeth missing for some reason "bought this scooter used" and I replaced the fan with a Chinese version which fit perfect and was only a few bucks. Also.. Starter Bendix went bad, not sure why since the scooter only has 1500 miles on it, and that too was replaced with A Chinese 139QMB Bendix which installed perfectly and works great and cost very little.  The Chinese 139qmb is in most cases an Identical knock off of the Kymco 4 stroke.  I installed a power up kit made in China. It is cylinder and piston only.. And guess what the cylinder name is?   Jymco !!!  lol.. This too works fantastic !  I have the video posted on youtube for those wanting to know how to install the 4 stroke power up kit using 139qmb parts.

And so... Now.. Pushing almost 2000 miles now with the new parts.. All is well.. And here is my Review now of the Kymco Scooter VS the Chinese Scooter 50cc only.. I own 50cc scooters all the way to 250cc scooters Chinese, french, German, and now Taiwan..


So.. Let me tell what I know about the 50cc 4 Stroke Kymco VS Jonway 50cc 4 Stroke..

I have had more Trouble with this Kymco than with my Chinese Scooters engine wise..  The parts, fit and finish is better on the Kymco, but when it comes to the Engine, I like the Chinese engines better. The Kymco came with a CVT limiter bushing which had to be removed and milled or replaced with Kymco version in order to get more speed and power from the CVT. Chinese scooters do not need this mod.  Also. The kymco had a Rev Chip limiter wire which had to be located and cut inside the CDI by Grinding the corner of the CDI which cut the wire allowing the engine to rev better and higher. This is critical when installing the Power up kit.  All of this is a big hassle to do which is not  required for the Jonway.  As far as ride quality and handling, both the Kymco and Jonway are pretty equal. It seems that the Chinese have much more ride quality and control built into their 50cc Scooters than their 150cc and 250cc scooters. The 150cc and 250cc scooters  are very poor ride quality as there seems to be little rebound control for these larger scooters. Not sure why.. But the 50cc scooters are very good and very tight !!  In all .. I love them both and now that my Kymco is fixed I enjoy it more and more.  All things being equal, you will have just as much fun with the Chinese scooter but when it needs parts, they are much much less expensive to buy...  Enjoy the ride...

[JJJoseph]

Nice summary of the merits of a Kymco 50cc.  I just posted a how-to on installing a Chinese hi-speed gear set in a Kymco 50cc 4T in the "Technical/How-To" section.  The qmb139 gear set ALMOST works except for a Kymco quirk,  but it's worth figuring out for the extra 15km/hr speed increase. It's almost a no-brainer after you see the secret :-)