Hey All. First a big Thank You for all of your help. Even though you may not have known you were helping.
For the past several weeks my 2013 Like 200i would turn over but not start. Well, every now and again she'd start for a short burst, but 99% of the time she'd just crank. Got on here and read EVERY post I could find with this issue, and tried every suggestion. 'TPS reset', 'ground the pink wire', 'throttle full on for 8 sec, then off for 5 sec, then key off', and tested the Ohms, Volts, spray patterns, fuel pressure, the fuel pump hose, etc... Everything was in specs. Replaced fuel with new and added SeaFoam, bought a new battery, installed a new Iridium spark plug, performed a Valve Adjustment (thanks for the YouTube video) and put Carb Cleaner in the air intake. Nothing made a difference.
The only thing that was off was the compression. My cheap-o Harbor-Freight compression guage said I had about 90 psi. Many posts, and other sources, said it should be anywhere from 100 up to 213psi depending on the post. I took the compression reading off of a functioning People 150 and it was also about 90 psi. I figured the guage was not the most accurate since the People runs just fine, albeit with a slightly smaller engine, so I figured the Like's compression wasn't too far off. Nothing seemed to be wrong, except it wouldn't start.
Since I really didn't want to start just throwing parts at it until something worked, I decided I must have missed something and started over from ground zero and checked fuses, wiring, vacuum tubes, etc... Then my cousin suggested that I put some oil (10W40) in the spark plug hole, reinsert the spark plug and see if it would start. So, I did, and she started! Spewed forth a ton of white smoke from the muffler, but it ran. At least for a while. Then when all the oil burned off, or leaked out, it'd go back to just turning over. I did see a small amount of oil drip beneath the motor up by the valve cover. Finally she ran, and I knew it was a compression issue. I took off the valve cover and examined the gasket thinking it must have worn out, or broke. However, it still looked to be in good shape. Then I noticed there was a small twist in the rubber gasket and the seam that runs along the sides was now where it made contact with the cylindar head. Maybe that leaked enough to lower the compression and keep it from firing. I cleaned the metal and gently cleaned and reinstalled the gasket so it wasn't twisted. Put everything back together and she started right up and kept running. I let her cool down and cleaned the underside well, so I could more easily see if she was still leaking. Let her run for a while and didn't see any oil, so took her for a spin. All went well, and she is still up and running. I did another compression test and this time it was around 100 psi. Again, not sure how accurate my guage is.
I remembered I did a valve adjustment last fall just before I put her into winter storage and realized I must have twisted that gasket when I put it back together. I haven't had her out until just a few weeks ago so didn't notice until now.
Who knew (except for probably several of you) such a small thing would stop a scooter from running. I now know! I appreciate all the help, wisdom, and advise you all provide. I hope y'all don't find this post too boring, but I like it when a problem gets resolved and the solution gets posted.
Live, Learn and keep on scootering.
