Should I buy a new battery or take it to the shop?

[Snorvey]

Yeah, I'm with Forbes here.

Touch nothing. Take it back to the dealers and tell them your not happy with your recent purchase and let them sort it out.

[Tseg]

Latest development:

I called the dealership and explained my issue.  The tech explained since it has a gel battery and the tender turns green that likely the battery is not the issue.  He said 95% of the time if it is the battery it would not turn green/fully charged.  He suspects some type of short that draws power... interestingly the headlight does not go dim, just power to the starter disappears (and the scooter cannot be kick-started).  I then went to my garage and  started it up without a problem (coming off the tender) and it idled for 15 minutes while my son was putting on his clothes.  My son got on the scoot, turned it around to exit the driveway and as soon as he gave it gas, the motor cut out.  Then, nothing, hitting the starter button made no noise in the starter... no cranking, nothing... kick-start, nothing.  The headlight was still bright.  The fact it starts every time coming off the battery tender, and usually ramps up to full power initially, but this time we had a long idle, makes me think it is not a carb issue.  Upon reflection, it almost seems somewhere ~ the 15 minute mark it cuts out and can't start again unless tendered again.

At this point I have a battery, a bottle of Sea Foam and a scooter carrier en route to my house via the mail.  I'm thinking I'll be returning at least the battery (or will it keep if I don't use it for a few years?).  I'll be loading up the scooter and making the lengthy trek to the dealership.

[Forbes1964]

Latest development:

I called the dealership and explained my issue.  The tech explained since it has a gel battery and the tender turns green that likely the battery is not the issue.  He said 95% of the time if it is the battery it would not turn green/fully charged.  He suspects some type of short that draws power... interestingly the headlight does not go dim, just power to the starter disappears (and the scooter cannot be kick-started).  I then went to my garage and  started it up without a problem (coming off the tender) and it idled for 15 minutes while my son was putting on his clothes.  My son got on the scoot, turned it around to exit the driveway and as soon as he gave it gas, the motor cut out.  Then, nothing, hitting the starter button made no noise in the starter... no cranking, nothing... kick-start, nothing.  The headlight was still bright.  The fact it starts every time coming off the battery tender, and usually ramps up to full power initially, but this time we had a long idle, makes me think it is not a carb issue.  Upon reflection, it almost seems somewhere ~ the 15 minute mark it cuts out and can't start again unless tendered again.

At this point I have a battery, a bottle of Sea Foam and a scooter carrier en route to my house via the mail.  I'm thinking I'll be returning at least the battery (or will it keep if I don't use it for a few years?).  I'll be loading up the scooter and making the lengthy trek to the dealership.

40 miles one way is really not that far. I drive 45 miles ONE WAY to work DAILY. So once you get the carrier simply take it to them. It's likely electrical---something to do with either an intermittently loose wire or a bad or misadjusted switch.  At any rate, they are the ones to sort it out. Once they sort it out, I'd find out what they did, so if it occurs again after warranty, then you may want to fix it yourself.


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[Tseg]

After buying a scooter carrier and ratchet and soft straps I finally made the 40 mile trek to the Kymco dealership.  Two days later I got the call that they found a wire was not hooked up to the alternator.  They attached it, tested the electrical and said all is now working fine.  I suppose that would explain why the motor would always cut out after running for 15 minutes and couldn't be restarted unless charged again?  Does that sound right to you guys?  Hopefully this simple fix is the fix.  A little disappointing in the build quality that such a thing would happen.  Over $100 later for transport apparatus and 2 Saturday mornings down the drain (plan to pick it up next Saturday as it is snowing significantly now) hopefully this will be my only bit of bad luck with this machine.

[Scooter Dan]

Look on the bright side and be happy that it's fixed now and Spring is right around the corner to enjoy your scooter.  I went through something similar recently and drove 800 miles to get my scooter fixed, cost 235 for repairs, spent hundreds on fuel cost and gave up 2 Saturdays trailering my bike back and forth across Texas to get it fixed. I'm not down about that though as the grin on my face as I ride my new to me scooter is priceless. Enjoy your ride and don't look back on all your troubles. Someone else has got it worse than you, the one who is scooterless.

[ole two wheels]

Tseg, A wise man once said, "If it's got wheels or wears a skirt. it's gonna give you trouble." Don't lose faith in Kymco, they are quality machines. That same thing could , just as well, happen to any of the Japanese scoots. I hope that now it's fixed good and no more walks of shame for either of you. Might want to get yourself a Kymco so you and your son can enjoy a Saturday morning ride together, when it warms up... Good luck


Mac

[Tseg]

I've proposed to The Shop they transport my scooter back to me since they delivered a Day 1 defect.  As they say, "Its not the problem, its how the problem is handled whether you can have a customer for life".  We'll see how they respond.  The good news is the service rep didn't immediately kill the proposal... had to speak to a manager.

[klaviator]

I've got a Super 8 150.  When it was new it started having problems starting.  With a weak battery even the Kick starter may not do it.  I took it to the dealer, under warranty, and they found a mis routed wire that had been damaged and was causing the battery to n ot charge properly.  They fixed the wire and replaced the battery fixing the problem. 

More recently I had some more issues.  I thought they were carb issues until it refused to start.  It turned out to be the CDI.  Replacing that made it run like new again.  I have over 26,000 miles on it. 

Bottom line here is that it could be a lot of things causing your problem.  I'd take it to the dealer.

I run 87 octane gas with ethanol.  93 octane is just wasting money.  Ethanol normally won't cause problems if the scooter gets ridden regularly. 

[vespbretta]

Hey Tseg,
well done. Good to hear that your problem is solved and that you and your son are facing many many troublefree miles from now on with the scooter.
Good move also with your proposal. At least within the first 6 month the dealer should pick up and bring back the scooter for severe and rare failures like this.
Especially when they didn´t do the pre-delivery check as they should have done. But sadly enough they almost never do it. The weakest link in the chain is always the dealer and this fault could have been avoided pretty easily. Same thing with early damaged misrouted wires. So unnecessary if the dealers would just do the checks correctly before they deliver the vehicle to the customer.

So what I do when I buy a bike or a scooter or a bicycle, I ride it home carefully and then check all the wires I can get to and their routings myself and the torque of some important screws and bolts and do proper adjustments myself if necessary. Because as I said, dealers are too lazy, they almost never do it. They just want to sell quickly and earn the quick money. It´s the same game all over the world.

Sometimes I have that scecial gut feeling, that some of the dealers leave out the checks on purpose, so they can make some extra money with warranty repairs. But that´s a whole different story and of course hard to prove.

So a helpful advice could also be to choose your dealer wisely.

Anyway, let´s hope the best for you, your son and your scooter now. 

[Forbes1964]

Hey Tseg,
well done. Good to hear that your problem is solved and that you and your son are facing many many troublefree miles from now on with the scooter.
Good move also with your proposal. At least within the first 6 month the dealer should pick up and bring back the scooter for severe and rare failures like this.
Especially when they didn´t do the pre-delivery check as they should have done. But sadly enough they almost never do it. The weakest link in the chain is always the dealer and this fault could have been avoided pretty easily. Same thing with early damaged misrouted wires. So unnecessary if the dealers would just do the checks correctly before they deliver the vehicle to the customer.

So what I do when I buy a bike or a scooter or a bicycle, I ride it home carefully and then check all the wires I can get to and their routings myself and the torque of some important screws and bolts and do proper adjustments myself if necessary. Because as I said, dealers are too lazy, they almost never do it. They just want to sell quickly and earn the quick money. It´s the same game all over the world.

Sometimes I have that scecial gut feeling, that some of the dealers leave out the checks on purpose, so they can make some extra money with warranty repairs. But that´s a whole different story and of course hard to prove.

So a helpful advice could also be to choose your dealer wisely.

Anyway, let´s hope the best for you, your son and your scooter now. 

I don't know how scooter manufacturers operate. But with automobiles the manufacturers REIMBURSE the dealers for the PDI (pre delivery inspection). And they provide a list of the things that are supposed to be checked. The amount varies depending on the particular vehicle. But Ford reimburses the dealer around 1 hour per vehicle.


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[Forbes1964]

I suspect that Kymco reimburses the dealer for the inspection as well. BUT they likely don't get done. At the FORD OF dealership where I work, some of us do the inspection. And some techs simply pull the vehicle in the shop, take the plastic off the seats, and send it to the car wash. We're supposed to put about ten miles on them. But some don't.

I suspect that the scooter dealer has techs that simply install the loose parts and pull it around the front. I know that's what was done with my Yamaha majesty. They told me they had test driven it, but when I took delivery, it had EXACTLY 1/10 mile on the odometer! My test drive was the 100 miles from the dealership to my house. Luckily, nothing major was loose.


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[Mr. Paul]

I suspect that Kymco reimburses the dealer for the inspection as well. BUT they likely don't get done. At the FORD OF dealership where I work, some of us do the inspection. And some techs simply pull the vehicle in the shop, take the plastic off the seats, and send it to the car wash. We're supposed to put about ten miles on them. But some don't.

I suspect that the scooter dealer has techs that simply install the loose parts and pull it around the front. I know that's what was done with my Yamaha majesty. They told me they had test driven it, but when I took delivery, it had EXACTLY 1/10 mile on the odometer! My test drive was the 100 miles from the dealership to my house. Luckily, nothing major was loose.



Sounds like this "dealer prep" charge is something that the dealer has largely already been paid for! 

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[Stig / Major Tom]

Glad you're fixed!
Man, that was a 'take-it-back-to-dealer' issue all the way.
If they wouldn't/couldn't fix it....then you give Kymco customer service guy a call.....and if he's left the country, or Trump won't let him come home from Disneyland, THEN you start home fixes!

It is a darn shame you & your son had to go through that with a new scooter.


Left-over scoots' warranty starts the first day it is registered for use on the road by the new owner....no matter how long it sat unsold on dealer floor.

Stig

[Tseg]

Well, I finally had some free time to make it back to the shop to pick up my scooter.  They refused to deliver it.  Of course my only free day was a rainy day, to add to the fun.  Nonetheless, the Super 8 is back home... but because it is raining have not got to put it through it's paces.  I did  let it idle for a long time while checking everything out.  The idle now seems to be much more strong and consistent throughout 15-20 minutes.  Previously, as the scooter idled longer it also would start to idle weaker.  I thought that was just the CDI backing off on the choke as it got warmer.  Unbenounced to me, this was actually the scooter dying a slow death as the battery drained.  According to the repair order "a starter wire was disconnected underneath the headlight"... "also found output side of the charging system of the regulator was disconnected from the main harness."  I guess my scooter must have been made on a Monday?  Hopefully these fixes do the trick.

[Forbes1964]

Glad they found the problem. I figured that it would be relatively simple. I work at a Ford dealership. And from time to time we receive a new car that has some part that isn't quite attached correctly. It's particularly frustrating when it's electrical.
But If we perform the Pre Delivery Inspection properly, we discover most of these problems BEFORE the customer takes delivery.


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