People 150 losing power

[awoz]

Hey guys, I recently picked up a 2006 People 150 from an auction, it had about 950 miles on it and looks almost new. It was running when I bought it, started easy, mild hesitation when rolling into the throttle but it would not go over 30mph with the throttle wide open.

Air filter looked brand new so I pulled the slide out the top of the carb and noticed the diaphragm was pinched and not sealed all the way around, I reseated it assuming this was my low power issue and took it for a spin. Now it will get up to about 10mph and hesitate/lose power and then sort of come back on, if I baby the throttle it will continue to cruise but when I roll on to full throttle it falls on its face.

Just wondering if anyone has some pointers on what to look for, to me it seems like a fuel issue, possibly not getting enough fuel now that the slide/needle is assumably moving like it should?

Also, can anyone tell me what the stock jet sizes are? As well as the stock procedure for setting the idle air mix screw? I assume its so many turns off fully seated.


Thanks!

[Iahawk]

awoz - congrats on your purchase! A 14 or 15 year old scooter with 950 miles has sat for a looooong time. First thing I'd do is clean the carb, starting with the pilot and main jets. Main jet is pretty tough to clog as the opening is so large but the pilot jets opening is about the size of fine fishing line.

I have a People s200 with a 163cc engine and 116(main) and 35(pilot) jets, but I don't know if they are different on your 150cc engine (?)

You'll want to make sure all the old fuel is out of the tank and replaced with fresh fuel. You'll want to make sure your petcock isn't clogged (disconnect fuel line to carb and crank engine to see if fuel is pumping out).

I'd also open up your belt cover and inspect the variator, belt and clutch to make sure everything is ok. You'll want to make sure the airbox isn't home to a family of mice.

Pictures of your scoot are also highly encouraged on this forum! Hope this gives you a good start and let us know how you're progressing as your fixes will likely help others down the road with similar problems.

[awoz]

Thanks for the tips, I will work on getting some photos!

A small update, I did pull the carb and clean it, pilot is a 35 and main is 110 (I saw someone else post they had a 110 in their P150). Overall the inside looked very clean, hit all the passages with some carb cleaner with the jets out. Reassembled, same issue.

I pulled the plug and it looked a little lean, I am now wondering if it is an intake leak somewhere. I tried spraying all the boots and everything with some carb cleaner to see if the idle changed, it did not. Overall the entire engine area is very clean, none of the lines looked dryed/cracked and I did test the fuel valve, confirmed it is working.

I am going to buy some vac line and some plugs to do some more testing for an intake leak, feel free to chime in with any best practices or known trouble points.

[Iahawk]

have you had a look under your belt cover? Problems there could possibly affect top speed. No blockages anywhere in the intake path or exhaust?  plug, wire and coil? CDI? front brake dragging? ...ok, now i'm just reaching...

Keep digging in and let us know what you find!

[Kansas kymco]

Just curious did you drain all the old fuel from the tank and put in fresh fuel?  The first thing I would replace would be the fuel filter.  If they become clogged it will run like you described.

[awoz]

Here are some photos

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bD6htmkQo9iYqZi37
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VVxEYAS4LqnYtJyLA

have you had a look under your belt cover? Problems there could possibly affect top speed. No blockages anywhere in the intake path or exhaust?  plug, wire and coil? CDI? front brake dragging? ...ok, now i'm just reaching...

Keep digging in and let us know what you find!

I have not pulled the belt cover, I am almost certain it is something engine related. It seems to happen worse under load (going up a hill or going WOT at low speed) When its on the center stand it revs up just fine.

Things I have done since previous post

-Remove and cleaned carb again, set float height, also removed intake tube from airbox and check all that
-Removed the intake manifold, everything seems ok but I am going to try and find a new oring for the manifold
-checked valve clearance, it was a little tight so I set it to .12mm
-checked auto choke, working properly
-checked spark plug gap and tested to make sure its getting spark

This one made it a little better
-I plugged the larger nipple on the intake manifold (the one for emissions NOT the one for the petcock)

Just curious did you drain all the old fuel from the tank and put in fresh fuel?  The first thing I would replace would be the fuel filter.  If they become clogged it will run like you described.

So it had VERY little fuel in it when I got it but I did not drain it, I filled it with a full tank of fresh 91, I assume that could maybe still be my issue, fuel flows very well. Where is the fuel filter? From what I can see the fuel valve is mounted direct to the tank and the fuel line goes right from that to the carb.


I ordered a new spark plug, thinking I should probably check compression as well. Also testing all of the ignition stuff probably makes sense, reading over how to do that is making my head spin a bit.

[Kansas kymco]

It may just have a screen that is part of the vacuum operated petcock.  It sounds like a fuel related issue to me.  I had a 2006 People 150 that had set for years.  I ended up purchasing a  cheap  new Chinese  carburetor and reusing the electric choke on the new carburetor.  Would run a indicated 60mph on flat level ground afterwards. I have asked Iahawk to post a picture of my carburetor I removed after years of sitting with ethanol fuel in it.

[Iahawk]

here is Kansas Kymco's pic of the carb..wow, that's dirty!

[Iahawk]

one crazy question...are you sure it's a 150 and maybe not a 50?

[Iahawk]

nope, looks like the 50cc has only a single seat while the 125/150 has a 2 passenger seat...disregard previous post

[Kansas kymco]

If it was me I would drain all the fuel out and rinse the tank out with Seafoam and drain and fill with fresh fuel.  Put in a gallon of pure gas with 1 ounce of Seafoam and run for awhile. I've found it is very difficult to get the small passages in the carburetor cleaned out.

Very nice looking scooter.

[awoz]

If it was me I would drain all the fuel out and rinse the tank out with Seafoam and drain and fill with fresh fuel.  Put in a gallon of pure gas with 1 ounce of Seafoam and run for awhile. I've found it is very difficult to get the small passages in the carburetor cleaned out.

Very nice looking scooter.

Thanks! Not bad for $400 (or so I thought? haha) And I will give that a try tomorrow with flushing the tank, I should have done that to start.

I am thinking about buying a new carb for it, even though the one it has now is super clean (even before I pulled it apart), I'm just beating my head against the wall. I owned MANY carb'd motorcycles and have never had one fight me this hard haha