Trouble with my recovered scooter

[arcus]

So about 6 months ago my 2010 Agility 125 broke down beside the road.  I had to walk home and arrange for help to get it and when I got back to the scooter it had been stolen.  Fast forward to about three weeks ago and I get a call from the police saying they had found it and it was in the tow yard. I get the scooter back but the thieves had replaced the ignition lock and the police did not give me a key.  Well I finally got the new ignition in and tried to start it.  It did start with a lot of gas, the auto choke did not seem to work at all.  However what has me concerned is when I did get it started and held the gas open some, I started seeing smoke coming from under the front cowl.  It had an electrical smell to it.  Any idea what could be the problem with the electrical that would cause the ignition wires (I think the two green wires) to pull to much current and melt the insulation on the wires?

[BettinANDlosing]

So about 6 months ago my 2010 Agility 125 broke down beside the road.  I had to walk home and arrange for help to get it and when I got back to the scooter it had been stolen.  Fast forward to about three weeks ago and I get a call from the police saying they had found it and it was in the tow yard. I get the scooter back but the thieves had replaced the ignition lock and the police did not give me a key.  Well I finally got the new ignition in and tried to start it.  It did start with a lot of gas, the auto choke did not seem to work at all.  However what has me concerned is when I did get it started and held the gas open some, I started seeing smoke coming from under the front cowl.  It had an electrical smell to it.  Any idea what could be the problem with the electrical that would cause the ignition wires (I think the two green wires) to pull to much current and melt the insulation on the wires?

Have you inspected the wiring of the ignition up front? Did they use a genuine Kymco Ignition? Look around for obvious stuff, broken or frayed wires etc. That kind of problem is not hard to trace.

[arcus]

The thieves did not, they used a generic, however I used the Kymco replacement.  The wires up in the front are fine.  From the stock plug on the switch to the stock plug on the wiring harness.  I have not traced the wires all the way back to the cdi and the coil yet (the green ones that I am currently blaming).  Was just kind of hoping someone would have the magic answer for me and not the spend days tracing wires answer.

[zombie]

Green is ground on Kymco's. If the grounds are melting it means there is too much current for them to handle.
My guess is your thieves were playing Evil Knievel, and in some of their "stunts: the large black wire connecting the engine to the frame, and in turn the battery may have broken or come loose.

Try running a new 8-10awg wire to these points.
Also check your fuse(s). They may have used tin foil or some such to repair a blown fuse when they swapped the Ign.

If my guesses are correct... It wasn't me that heisted it but I might know a guy, that knows a guy.

[arcus]

So green is ground.  I knew that wire went to a lot of stuff so that would make sense.  Where is the ground wire to the engine? 

Just going over this in my head: there are 5 wires that go to the ignition switch. 2 green (ground), one red (straight to the battery) and a black and white (not in the connecter with the rest) and a black. 

The black and white goes to the pulser and the cid, the black (which is labeled bat2) goes to the cdi and what looks like the front stop switch and the fuel meter, I am guessing that is what provides power to all the lights and such. 

So when the ignition is on, the power from the battery goes from the red wire, into the black and black/white.  But I am still unclear on what the green wire does.  Does it ground the coil and most everything else?

Anyway tomorrow I will look at the ground wires and see what I find.

[zombie]

Bat 2 in Chinglish means Ignition. That's the one that gets +12v when the key is on.
The black/white is the one that gets Grounded when you turn off the key to stall the engine.

The heavy black ground that I suspect is missing is usually located on the front bottom section of the engine. Usually from an engine case bolt to the frame or the injector pump bolts on a 2 stroke to the frame. The air tube mount on your valve cover is where I would start looking.

This post might help you as well...  ConradF was nice enough to make this for us... Simplified wiring schematic for the Agility 50
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5Pa8JyT0MA_NkRlN1Z4VUNLczQ/edit?pli=1
Try searching for his original post. He did some updating that made it easier to follow.

I know it's a AG 50 schematic but it is the same as your harness.

[arcus]

Checked the engine to frame ground is fine.  I followed the green wires and don't see any place they are grounding to frame either.  However I don't see any signs of heat in the wires under the front section either, so not to sure what to think of that since I am sure I smelled burning insulation. 

However it still wont start either, another whole problem I know.  I pulled all the covers off dealing with the electrical so while it was all off I checked the valves and they are good.  I have not pulled the carb for a cleaning, however I replaced the spark plug and it was oily but it has good spark.  I then checked the compression and it showed about 110psi or 7.7 kg/cm2.  Which is low it should be 14 kg/cm2.  I could only check it with a cheap hold it in the spark plug hole kind of tester so I would think it would be a touch low on the reading, but probably not that low.  Not sure where to go from here, I don't want to pull the head off to take a look inside yet that compression does not seem good.

[arcus]

Recheck the compression and it is fine, got 160 psi.  I did not remember you are supposed to hold the throttle open. 

I am starting to admit to myself it has to be carburetor.  However I know there is fuel coming out of the engine when I was doing all the compression tests, so it seems like the carburetor should be working well enough for it to start but not run well even though it is not running. Looks like tomorrow I take the carb off and clean it.  I have never been to successful at cleaning carbs so we will see how that goes.

On the electrical side the only thing I can come up with is that the alternator was producing to much current, since after doing all the compression tests I have not felt those wires getting hot at all....or it is the headlight which is unplugged but that seems unlikely.

[zombie]

It COULD be the rectifier has shorted, and is supplying full AC current to the DC side of the bike (overcurrent)
I would try a cheap DMM ( multi meter ) and use the 10 amp scale. You have to look for a meter that has this but they are still under 30 bucks for a decent one.
Turn on the key w/ the probes in series going from the +12v battery post to the disconnected +12v wire. With just the key on, start turning lamps, and blinkers one at a time. See if anything spikes the meter.
Also try putting the meter across the battery to check voltage both static, and w/ the key on.
Try cranking the bike w/ the spark plug removed, and look for a drop or spike.
If it spikes then you know the rectifier is actually shorted (rare but does happen) vs. being blown, and 0 voltage out.

Watch a FEW Ytube vids on carb cleaning. I say a few because I have not found a good complete vid in the bunch.
Sewing needles are your friend. If you use less than 2 cans of carb clean... The carb is most likely still dirty.
Spray thro ALL the tiny holes but watch your eyes. Some of them expel at 90* from what you think they will.

[BettinANDlosing]

Oh carb clean in the eyes is the best part of doing it!

[zombie]

I just shoot a quick stream into each eye to get it over with.

Today was Toluene. Never wipe your face w/ a rag soaked w/ it

[arcus]

Update time.

    I pulled the carb off the scooter, pulled the float bowl cover off and it was dry as a bone inside.  Did not dawn on me at first that this might be a problem.  I pulled the jets out, sprayed them out, they looked perfect when I pulled them out.  I then sprayed into the fuel line going to the float bowl and nothing would come out into the bowl (see how we came back to the perfectly dry float bowl).  After looking at the manual to see how it comes out I pulled the float bowl valve out and all kinds of junk in it.  Scrubbed it out real good and soaked the jets and put it all back together.  Also replaced the fuel filter while I have everthing apart.  Put it all back together and tried (yes that is a bad word) to start it up.  At first no fuel was coming from the tank, I traced a vacuum line to a canister all the way up under the floorboards that had come off.  Is it supposed to just kind of snap on? or is it broken?  Anyway snapped it back on and fuel was flowing into the filter and thru.  Started it up with a little bit of throttle there was gas spurting out of the exhaust, like a steady stream of it.

     So I obviously did a poor job of putting the carb back together.  What should I look for when I take it back apart again? Jets not set right?  Looking at the manual better I did not even take the pilot screw out I don't think.  Just the slow jet and the main jet. Also no carb cleaner in the eyes so obviously I did that wrong also.

Also on the electrical front it ran just long enough for me to see where the electrical smoke is coming from.  It is coming from the voltage regulator connector.  So when I get it running I at least know where to look now.  Not sure if it is fried (would bet money on it) OR the alternator is also bad.

[BettinANDlosing]

Awesome, yeah that canister you should yank all of that stuff out, it robs the engine vacuum and sometimes there isn't enough to open the petcock. Also that crap doesn't let your tank vent and puts exhaust back into the intake. Don't tell the EPA but if I ever have a customers bike running poorly that's the first thing I do free of charge is rip every emissions thing off. You will have to block off the vacuum lines that go to the two emissions giblets. I think I did a write up, but it all boils down to just taking the two giblets off, and blocking the hoses that went to them. Your bike will run a LOT better. Also, when you crank your engine does gas come out the fuel line when it's not connected to the carb? You could have a blocked fuel passageway in the carb, and it won't flow of the float is closed, so if your holding the carb up-side down the weight of the float will close the needle and not let gas in the float bowl. Lastly, was the smoke coming from the wire itself or the connector of the voltage regulator? If its the connector it might just have a bad contact, there's a lot of ac voltage going in there and a poor connection will smoke when the electricity jumps that gap. If you haven't, buy our download the service manual and there is a very easy ohm test to determine if the regulator\rectifier it's bad, all that's in there is 2 large diodes, 3 on full phase bikes.

[arcus]

Getting fuel into my card is not the problem right now.  I have so much fuel going in that it is coming out the exhaust as a spray.

Question: the manual shows a slow jet, main jet, needle jet holder and a needle jet.  In my carb I have a slow jet, main jet on the top of the needle jet and the needle jet, but nothing on the bottom of the needle jet like the picture shows.  Am I missing a piece? or is the picture trying to show what is going on inside the needle jet holder?

I did find a little piece of something on the end of the slow jet, so maybe that was the problem?  The manual says to "Install the slow jet, needle jet, needle jet holder, main jet and pilot screw" (still haven't taken it out yet) the is says "standard opening 2+- 1/2 turns.  So how do I put these back in? Is there a special way? I am sure you can tell I don't know anything about carbs.

[BettinANDlosing]

You might be talking about the small brass piece that goes on top of the emulsion tube (Main jet "holder), the tube with a bunch of small holes in it. The slow jet (more commonly said to be the Idle jet), does NOT have anything that goes in before it.
http://www3.telus.net/MyScoot/carb.JPG <---------- Look at this diagram, put yours together EXACTLY how you see that.
Make sure if you took the mixture screw out, that you have a spring, little washer, and little o-ring in there still and not sideways or torn o-ring.