pilot jet question

[Iahawk]

Hey Guys, scooter was running very rough just off idle last fall, as in almost dieing when slightly opening throttle. Experience tells me it's likely a clogged pilot jet. I opened up my carb this afternoon and cleaned both main and pilot jet.

My question is about the opening in the pilot jet. I can put a tiny drill bit into the hole in both the top and bottom of the jet but something stops it from passing all the way through. When holding it up to the light and looking through it you can see the interior is obstructed with something. Is the pilot jet supposed to be narrower in the middle (inside)? Is it supposed to be slightly obstructed or should it be completely clear all the way through, just like the main jet is?

picture of jet attached and thanks for any help!

[Iahawk]

Well I think I answered my own question. I was able to get a strand of wire from a wire brush through the pilot jet and it looks like that is about all that will fit in there. That, combined with lots of carb cleaner and I think I’m good to go!

[tortoise]

One strategy.

[Viper254]

Let us know if it sorts your problem

[Iahawk]

I will report back...not quite ready to ride, yet, as the weather is still a bit too cool. I have a new battery waiting to go into the scoot, too.

Seems I have a parasitic draw that keeps running down my batteries..have replaced with 2 new Yuasas in the past 4 years.  That will be the topic of another thread.

[Iahawk]

OK..pilot jet cleaning follow up...it worked! I'm back to a good throttle response with no bogging just off idle.

Today I watched my Iowa Hawks win their NCAA tourney game and was in a great mood, plus it was 51 and sunny outside. I put my freshly charged, new battery in the scoot, slowly kicked it over a few times with the kick starter (hoping to help prime the empty carb bowl..not sure if it made any difference, still took a bit to start)..and fired it up.

Scoot ran well, let it warm up a few minutes and then went out for a ride...and MAN...it felt good!

So if anyone else has the classic symptoms I did...scoot wants to bog down and die when you give it a little throttle...cleaning the pilot jet did the trick. It didn't appear the carb has ever been apart or out of the bike since new...so I suppose a cleaning was due.

I didn't totally remove the carb..just removed a few vacuum hoses, drained the bowl, unhooked it from the intake manifold and from the air intake and flipped the carb over. I left the fuel line, throttle cable and a few other things attached. There is enough slack with those other lines to let you lift up on the carb and turn it over to get the bowl off.

Today is the start of a new riding season...can't wait to get back out there!

[big blue]

Great report I don't know how many times I have seen this query on scooter forums. The jets on these scoots are so small it only takes a little bit of grit to spoil the engine state of tune.