Another Exciting 500ri with starting problem..(SOLVED)

[Basri]

Hi all, just bought a friend's 2011 xciting 500ri at a low price because it has a starting problem. Every morning he had to jumpstart from car battery. Kymco mechanic here says it is the starter motor. I ordered a new starter motor. If it does not solve the problem, will check the decompession cam wear and valve clearances. It is not the battery for sure. Bike has 44000 kms on the clock and starts with no problem in summer. Just gambled, if it works fine I will have a very clean bike at a very low price, if not, will sell it and maybe will loose some money. Will keep you posted, best wishes from Turkey.

Basri...

[CROSSBOLT]

Welcome! Yes, you have a problem! The past history of these models is greatly varied, some great like most Kymcos and some not so great. We look forward to your progress.

[Stig / Major Tom]

This model has unusually high incidence of non-start in cool to cold temps.
It is known as the record holder for no -start-in-cold of all the Kymco line-up.
Not to say you won't find a solution.
Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

I was blest with putting a $30 US lawn & garden battery in my UXV 500i side by side to solve the starting problem. The batteries Kymco is putting in these 500i machines is just not strong enough to do the job. I would be eager to make one of these beauties a project if the price was right like you found! Most of the fix answers are on this forum. Not all are verified because owners get weary of fixing one thing only to have another pop up!

[Basri]

Just received my new original starter motor in box today (180 US$).
Pulled the bike to dealer service and they will let me know when it is fixed.

When it comes to battery issue, I removed 12v 100ah battery from my Toyota Hilux and tried to jumpstart, cranked slowly and killed that battery  too rapidly..
She only starts if I jumpstart while my Toyota is idling..As I mentioned in  my first post, IT IS NOT THE BATYERY..
But, if the problem persists after replacing the starter motor, I will consider to upgrade the battery..

We'll see in couple of days how she will behave with a new starter motor.

Best wishes,

Basri...

[Stig / Major Tom]

Basri, please know that we are all wishing you the best of luck with your 500RI adventure....and we are standing with you ( well, behind you!) as you purchase more bits at the parts counter😊
These 500's are always entertaining!
Truly, good luck.
(also, I was under the impression that jumping a scooter from a running car was not advisable? )
Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

Basri, please know that we are all wishing you the best of luck with your 500RI adventure....and we are standing with you ( well, behind you!) as you purchase more bits at the parts counter😊
These 500's are always entertaining!
Truly, good luck.
(also, I was under the impression that jumping a scooter from a running car was not advisable? )
Stig

Yes, what Stig said and I agree, jump while donor vehicle engine running not a good idea. Has the tendency to destroy the rectifier bridges in alternators. Forbes! Is that the way you see it?

[Forbes1964]

Yes, what Stig said and I agree, jump while donor vehicle engine running not a good idea. Has the tendency to destroy the rectifier bridges in alternators. Forbes! Is that the way you see it?

To be honest with the low requirements to start a scooter, if you have a good set of cables, starting the car shouldn’t be necessary. But alas, some cables are junk.  Having said that, unless the rectifiers are extremely fragile, I don’t see how it should hurt if done properly. 1. Hook the cables BEFORE starting the car. 2. Let the car idle, don’t rev it. 3. As an EXTRA precaution to prevent high voltage, turn on the headlights in the car.
But generally The voltage produced by a running car is around 13.5 volts. That’s around the same as produced by the scooter.

Most of the time when a rectifier is damaged, there was a lot of excess arching from careless cable connections or momentarily hooking the cables in reverse. Or more commonly the alternator CONSTANTLY trying to change a bad or severely discharged battery . It doesn’t usually hurt to charge a severely discharged battery once or twice, but doing so repeatedly can damage stuff because the charging system was designed to top off a battery after starting and to run the accessories. It really wasn’t designed to repeatedly charge a deeply discharged or bad battery.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[CROSSBOLT]

Better answer than mine. Listen to Forbes!

[Basri]

Thank you all for precious information shared here.

Today afternoon they called me from dealer to inform they are finished with the bike. New starter motor replaced, oil  changed and few other minor maintenance. I picked the bike couple hours ago, starts and runs great. After touring around the town parked the bike outside in the cold to see if she will start tomarrow morning..

By the way it is 7:00 PM here, in this part of the world, quite happy with the bike for the moment, will have couple bottles of beer to celebrate, if she starts tomarrow morning and runs all day with no problem, will celebrate with a bottle of scotch..

Basri...

[CROSSBOLT]

Thank you all for precious information shared here.

Today afternoon they called me from dealer to inform they are finished with the bike. New starter motor replaced, oil  changed and few other minor maintenance. I picked the bike couple hours ago, starts and runs great. After touring around the town parked the bike outside in the cold to see if she will start tomarrow morning..

By the way it is 7:00 PM here, in this part of the world, quite happy with the bike for the moment, will have couple bottles of beer to celebrate, if she starts tomarrow morning and runs all day with no problem, will celebrate with a bottle of scotch..

Basri...

Awaiting your report....

[Basri]

It was 5 C (40 F) 11:00 AM this morning, bike stayed around 15-16 hours all night outside. She fired up  3 seconds after I hit the start button, auto choke was on for 10-15 second until I sligtly twist the throttle, than droped to normal rev, heated up while I am puting on my helmet and gloves on and hit the road. Temperature indicator raised up to operation heat (middle point) in less than 30 seconds and stayed there during entire ride, droped to zero after 20 minutes coffee break, and jumped to the middle after 20 seconds after I started the bike. This is technically inpossible, I think this is a kind of Kymco trick..

Bike is great on the highways but when it comes to bumpy country roads extremely unconfortable unless if you don't lower the speed to 30-40 km/h. That was annoying. Maybe it is because of "R" (race) type shocks. On the highway, it is the king..

Sharp corners, high speeds she has a tendency of pulling out. Not expecting cornering like a super sport or naked bike but there are many maxi scooters much more succesfull in the curves.

Overall, as price/performance ratio, it is a great bike. Very powefull.

If it does not repeat cold weather start problem I may keep it, if she start coughing in the mornings, I might sell or trade it in for a Japanise one..

Every bike is different, that was my case, but my advice to Kymco owners specially 250 & 500 RI exciting models, if bike begins hesitating to fire in cold mornings and cranking slowly, second thing to check after battery, must be the starter motor before it gets worst or probaby die like mine.

All the best,

Basri...

[CROSSBOLT]

Great report! Really happy to hear how well it turned out! Now RIDE!

[Stig / Major Tom]

Super!
One in a row!

Stig

[BigBlue505]

When it comes to battery issue, I removed 12v 100ah battery from my Toyota Hilux and tried to jumpstart, cranked slowly and killed that battery  too rapidly..

That sounds like a bad starter to me.  I've read about Xciting cold start issues, but I keep mine garaged and it's always over 50F in there.  If I don't run it for a while, it cranks slowly but hasn't failed yet.