Problem starting Like II 50 2018 4-stroke

[FJA from Sweden]

Hello!

I live in Sweden and have some problems starting my Like II in cold and especially wet conditions.

Right now in Sweden it's about 32 degrees F and it rains like every other day. My Like is equipped with spike tires and I drive to work for about 20 min every day.

Lately there has been some problems starting it especially in wet conditions. When it has been standing over the weekend (always outside) its really hard to get it to start. The automatic choke doesn't seem to work. After several attempts giving it some gas/throttle wile running the starter it has come to life. When taking of it runs poorly for a few minutes and when giving it to much throttle the engine wants to die. After about 5 minutes it runs okay and without problems.

A couple of days ago I placed it in a warm garage overnight and in the morning it started without problems and runed totally OK.

I don't have any experience with fuel injection on scooters and would be really grateful for some advice.

Best regards

Fredrik

[Stig / Major Tom]

Welcome to the forum!

Just to be clear, you are starting it without touching the throttle, yes? In other words - letting the ECU do its thing for the cold start. No throttle - just key on and push start button.

EFI really likes a nice strong battery to get everything in motion for cold starts.
Is your battery in top condition? Do you have a multimeter to check its condition?
Nice clean terminals?
Good clean spark plug?,,,,giving you a good blue spark when grounded ?
When was the last valve clearance check accomplished?

How many miles on your scooter.

Stig

[FJA from Sweden]

Thank you!

Yes I always try to start it without touching the throttle. Before it has always started directly that way. But now when it's cold and especially wet/rainy weather it won't start.

I then try to run the starter with some throttle and it starts to ignite for a short little while but then dies. After a few attempts with giving the throttle it often starts and you can here the idle go up for a few seconds before it comes down to normal idle rpm. After that it runs poorly in traffic for about 5 minutes before it gets warm.

It has a new battery that's fully charged. The terminals are looking good. I have checked the battery with my multimeter and it's in prime condition.

I haven't checked the sparkplug yet.

Valve clearance has never been checked.

About 2300 miles on my scooter.

[Neil955i]

Welcome to the forum!

Just to be clear, you are starting it without touching the throttle, yes? In other words - letting the ECU do its thing for the cold start. No throttle - just key on and push start button.

EFI really likes a nice strong battery to get everything in motion for cold starts.
Is your battery in top condition? Do you have a multimeter to check its condition?
Nice clean terminals?
Good clean spark plug?,,,,giving you a good blue spark when grounded ?
When was the last valve clearance check accomplished?

How many miles on your scooter.

Stig

Dry = good start. Seems to me water is getting in somewhere to cause short & misfire ‘til it warms up and dries the affected part?  Not familiar with the Like, but is the HT lead exposed?…

At 2K unlikely the valve clearances?

[Stig / Major Tom]

Sparkplug Snug? Please don't overtighten!
Sparkplug cap has a nice solid "click" when you snap it on?
Yeah, at your mileage your valves are probably ok......but??
Are you getting any codes on the CELP?

Stig

[FJA from Sweden]

Between Thursday and Friday I was able to store the scooter in a varm garage. On Friday it started directly and driving good. So this weekend I started to dismantle it to try and find out what the problem was.  After some investigation, looking at the sparkplug, all the electrical connections and so on (everything looking good) I found a hose that was disconnected. It ran from the cylinder head/ crankcase to the airfilterbox. It had disconnected on the backside of the airfilterbox. Had to disconnect the exhaust and tire to be able to connect it. After that everything seems to be working fine. And this morning after standing outside the hole night it started perfectly!

Thanks for the answers and tips!

[FJA from Sweden]

.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Thanks for your update FJA~!
Dang - we'd never have come up with that as the source of your problem!
The old "hidden hose trick"!

Again, thanks for the update and for the photos - we'll try to remember that if another rider reports similar issues with cold starts.
Glad you were able to get it somewhere warmer to work on it.
I hate working in the cold....you find your scraped knuckles only after you warm up, inside.

Thanks again - ride safe over there!

Stig

[Neil955i]

Thanks for your update FJA~!
Dang - we'd never have come up with that as the source of your problem!
The old "hidden hose trick"!

Stig

Some sort of vacuum hose?...