Won't Start

[bmurph44]

Hello first time poster here. As the title states my low mileage 2013 Agility 125 will not start. I don't get to ride it much but I do use alcohol free fuel and start it at least once every couple of weeks, I'm sure it is not a bad fuel issue but I have always felt it was rather hard starting after sitting for a few weeks and always takes a long time to warm up. I have a new battery and a new spark plug and it has spark the fuel filter has fuel in it, thinking a possible venting issue I tried it with the fuel cap removed.

Any ideas on where to begin, bad fuel pump, bad choke or fuel filter?

Thanks ahead of time for any help or ideas.

[CROSSBOLT]

Gravity fed = no fuel pump.
No choke = uses auto bystarter to accomplish the same thing **
Fuel will evaporate from the float bowl. Could be your vacuum operated fuel valve is stuck shut, auto bystarter** is not working or your carb has some tiny passages blocked from the "ethanol-free" fuel you put in it (some stations cheat - they don't get a tax break on non-ethanol fuel).

[eamartin]

I'm with Karl on a couple points.  7-year old Agility - wouldn't hurt to pull the carb for a cleaning, especially the idle jet and passages.  Also, pull the bystarter and bench test it to confirm the needle moves when 12 volts are applied.

And a question, are you attempting to start it with the electric starter, the kickstarter or both?

[Iahawk]

yep, listen to the experts. When a scoot with a carb sits for a while, the carb gets goobered up. My People S200 with carb was having a hard time starting and staying running. Give it a little throttle and it died...classic symptom of clogged pilot jet. I ended up replacing my pilot jet due to messing it up with repeated cleanings. Starts like a champ...for now...with the new pilot jet.

Do you have any mechanical ability? Sometimes that's assumed but not always a given.

Another way to narrow down a fuel problem is to disconnect the airbox intake from your carb and shoot some starter fluid or carb cleaner in there and see if it starts. if it does you know you have a fuel delivery (likely clogged carb) issue.

[scooterfan]

This sounds like a common problem on all Agilities - even with a clean carboretor it will battle to start if the scooter stands for about a weak or even less.
I use my Agily almost 365 days per year - it always runs perfectly unless it stands for 3 or 4 days. Then it battles to start. I always use clean gas - we don’t have mixed fuels in our country.
I think the fuel somehow just evaporates inside the carboretor - or maybe something is causing a vaccuum to make the fuel disappear. This really puzzles me, I would also like to know what is causing this.

[bmurph44]

Gravity fed = no fuel pump.
No choke = uses auto bystarter to accomplish the same thing **
Fuel will evaporate from the float bowl. Could be your vacuum operated fuel valve is stuck shut, auto bystarter** is not working or your carb has some tiny passages blocked from the "ethanol-free" fuel you put in it (some stations cheat - they don't get a tax break on non-ethanol fuel).

I'm 100 percent positive the ethanol free fuel is legit, small town and I have know the owner my whole life. You may be correct on the blocked carb, it was preowned so I have no idea what the previous owner used. Where can I purchase a new bystarter?

[bmurph44]

I'm with Karl on a couple points.  7-year old Agility - wouldn't hurt to pull the carb for a cleaning, especially the idle jet and passages.  Also, pull the bystarter and bench test it to confirm the needle moves when 12 volts are applied.

And a question, are you attempting to start it with the electric starter, the kickstarter or both?

Mainly the electric starter, I did try to kick start a few times with no luck. Is using the electric starter an issue?

[bmurph44]

yep, listen to the experts. When a scoot with a carb sits for a while, the carb gets goobered up. My People S200 with carb was having a hard time starting and staying running. Give it a little throttle and it died...classic symptom of clogged pilot jet. I ended up replacing my pilot jet due to messing it up with repeated cleanings. Starts like a champ...for now...with the new pilot jet.

Do you have any mechanical ability? Sometimes that's assumed but not always a given.

Another way to narrow down a fuel problem is to disconnect the airbox intake from your carb and shoot some starter fluid or carb cleaner in there and see if it starts. if it does you know you have a fuel delivery (likely clogged carb) issue.

I do have some limited ability, I did try the starter fluid with no luck.

[bmurph44]

This sounds like a common problem on all Agilities - even with a clean carboretor it will battle to start if the scooter stands for about a weak or even less.
I use my Agily almost 365 days per year - it always runs perfectly unless it stands for 3 or 4 days. Then it battles to start. I always use clean gas - we don’t have mixed fuels in our country.
I think the fuel somehow just evaporates inside the carboretor - or maybe something is causing a vaccuum to make the fuel disappear. This really puzzles me, I would also like to know what is causing this.

This sounds exactly like what I'm experiencing that's why I initially thought it was the choke or bystarter.

[Iahawk]

not starting on starter fluid should theoretically rule out a fueling problem (although I'd never totally rule that out with a carb that's been sitting)..which leaves spark, air and compression. You said you checked for spark?..assuming your intake system isn't plugged..do you have compression?

How about a valve adjustment?  That can cause hard starting or prevent starting. Valve adjustments are easy to do on our little scooter motors.

[Iahawk]

Garret Seesing has some good scooter videos on diagnosing no start issues:

[scooterfan]

This sounds exactly like what I'm experiencing that's why I initially thought it was the choke or bystarter.

I find myself in an area with a subtropical climate. Ambient temperature hardly ever plays any role and my Agility always starts instantly, even during winter - unless it stands for a couple of days. That makes me think something else must be causing this problem.
 The valve clearances are correct on my scooter, and it always have spark - if the valve clearances were incorrect or if there was a spark issue I can not think of any reason why the scooter always starts instantly when it get used every day.

Another thought which just came to mind - the battery on my Agility probably needs to be checked properly. It might be on it’s way out. Our scooters have DC CDI’s and maybe the battery has a Voltage drop after the scooter has been standing for a couple of days. In case of a Voltage drop the CDI might not get sufficient voltage to generate a proper spark.

[Iahawk]

scooterfan - battery, yes! good call to make sure the battery is holding a full charge. Lots of scoots running around with weak older batteries.

[bmurph44]

This morning I removed the autostarter and tested it with a voltmeter and it measured 2 ohms, my research is telling me it should be in the region of 10 to 20 ohms.

Just a shot in the dark I tried starting it with the autostarter removed and put my thumb over the opening where it is attached no luck doing that.

Can someone point to a amazon link to the correct electric choke, there are many listed and none give an exact description of what it will fit.

[bmurph44]

not starting on starter fluid should theoretically rule out a fueling problem (although I'd never totally rule that out with a carb that's been sitting)..which leaves spark, air and compression. You said you checked for spark?..assuming your intake system isn't plugged..do you have compression?

How about a valve adjustment?  That can cause hard starting or prevent starting. Valve adjustments are easy to do on our little scooter motors.

I have plenty of compression, the weird thing is it started, then a week later it wouldn't start. I also pulled the fuel line off when I cranked it plenty of gas flowed so it must be getting fuel.