These kymco petcocks do go bad over time. It is activated by vacuum from the INTAKE manifold. There is a thin (1/8") hose that connects between a diaphragm on the petcock, and the intake manifold. Since there should always be fuel in the bowl of the carb. the vacuum should have no initial effect. What happens MOST of the time w/ hard starting on the electric start is... The voltage draw from the relay, and the starter motor reduces the voltage in the battery to the point the cdi does not get enough voltage to fire. so kick starting works when the elec. start does not. To test the petcock you can pull the thin hose off the intake, and the fuel line off the carb. Suck the end of the vacuum line, and fuel should flow freely out of the fuel line. I recently had an idle flooding issue, and found the diaphragm had ruptured leaving the fuel line open, and pulling fuel thru the vacuum line as well. I fixed it by getting a manual petcock from a Honda dealer in Tallahassee, and plugging the vacuum line at the manifold. Sorry if this is off topic, I just wanted to explain how it all works