Starting issue + basic stuff?

[anadiner]

09 Agility 125 with 1500km:

- Fuel gauge was stuck on 'E'.

- Filled tank and gas gauge read 'Full' but bike bogged down on the way back then died while turning in to the driveway.

- Bike would not start... seemed to want to start a couple times. Appeared to be flooded after several attempts.

- Next day, started once after holding auto-start button down a long time but died when gave it some throttle.

- Noticed I had overfilled the tank so, removed some gas from it.

- Left tank lid off to see if tank vent line was being restricted... still not starting.

- Read forums and manual.

Questions:
1. Am I suppose to change the oil if I have flooded the bike? Some guy in a forum said he changed his oil because he had flooded...

2. From what I have read, I should change the fuel filter and check the float level/valve. Is that correct?

3. Anything else?

Thanks

[sparko]

Make sure the kill switch on the right handlebar hasn't been turned to 'kill' position. I would pull the fuel inlet to the carb and see if the fuel flows properly when the right handgrip/throttle operates. If these two areas are ok, I would re-assemble everything, take the air filter cover and filter out and spray some starting fluid in the intake. If you get a sputter then you are on the right track but really we need more info, like if the carb is clean, gas is not fouled or electrical system not at fault. Go with the basics and maybe you should just leave it to someone who knows what they are doing. It doesn't sound serious so don't do anything that you can't fix because you may not be able to get back to where you were. Keep reading this forum. Good luck.

[anadiner]

Thank you so much for responding. I'm an electrical engineer but very mechanically challenged. You are right about finding a mechanic but I am in a very small beach town with nightmare stories of backyard scooter mechanics working on stuff so, I would rather figure this out myself.

First thing I have done is put some sea foam in it and it seems to want to start more. This weekend I'm going to change the fuel filter. Remember: this is a fairly new scooter with very low mileage... I can't imagine something major being wrong with it.

Once again, thanks so much for responding. I need all the help I can get... use it to go to the grocery and drug store here in my small beach town.

[Hoolander2]

Sounds a lot like you got some bad gas.  The seafoam should help eventually. Sparko is right about not going into things too deep at this point. Our small engines are more sensitive to bad gas.  I'd try siphoning out or pouring out the whole tankful of gas, drain what's in the lines and put some known good gas in with seafoam.  It's up to you if you want to try to drain the carb too.  It'd probably help but don't know how much of a job it is to do on your scooter.  If you can get it running after replacing the fuel, the remainder of the bad stuff in the carb will be used up fairly quickly - like in a few minutes. 

You can put what you take out of the scooter tank into the car or truck.   

Going forward, find a different station to fill up at for a while.

[sparko]

Sounds a lot like you got some bad gas.  The seafoam should help eventually. Sparko is right about not going into things too deep at this point. Our small engines are more sensitive to bad gas.  I'd try siphoning out or pouring out the whole tankful of gas, drain what's in the lines and put some known good gas in with seafoam.  It's up to you if you want to try to drain the carb too.  It'd probably help but don't know how much of a job it is to do on your scooter.  If you can get it running after replacing the fuel, the remainder of the bad stuff in the carb will be used up fairly quickly - like in a few minutes. 

You can put what you take out of the scooter tank into the car or truck.   

Going forward, find a different station to fill up at for a while.

I agree with Hooie about the gas being the probable culprit.
I agree about the gas being bad but don't know how long it has been in there. Get rid of it and/or put in in your  truck or recycle.  Living in a beach town gives you some interesting problems I am sure. But chances are the gas is old and if you can get rid of it then do it. At that point check your plug to make sure it is not corroded. Just clean it or replace it. Make sure you get a decent spark from the plug. You can do a quick carb bowl clean just by taking the nut off the bottom of it and dumping out the gas in there. If there is small stuff floating around in the gas that comes out then maybe clean the whole thing. Now that you have the fuel out of the system I would use starting fluid to see if the engine will start. It is an easy way to eliminate the fuel as a variable. If it starts then the fuel was the problem. My lawn mower repair guy is really good for advice but will only work on the engine not the scooter. He is big on SeaFoam as well and very reasonably priced. Living where you do you should be able to find some SeaFoam pretty easily.  That was a joke. But I bet you can figure this out for yourself. This forum has so much info that anyone can learn what they need.

[anadiner]

I seem to have some bad luck going on... (remember this is a scooter with only 1500km)

Put new, clean gas in the tank with sea foam then checked the spark plug. The spark plug was horribly corroded, chipped up and the gap completely closed... widened the gap a bit, cleaned it up and it cranked. The next day, it wouldn't fire at all.

Long story short: the factory plug that was in it was way too long and it appears small pieces of metal off it have now chipped off inside where the plug goes. I put in the correct plug but now it will not fire at all.

Anybody know what in the world pieces of metal coming off the top of your plug will do... I mean where do they go in the engine? Is the thing now torn all the crap?

[sparko]

I don't think any metal would make it past the rings to the oil but would likely be eventually crushed inside the cylinder. Hopefully the metal pieces are small, but any metal is not good. If the plug was that corroded then your wire is probably not good either. Make sure you are getting the right voltage out of the coil. At this point you might consider taking it to a good lawn mower repair guy who will be good at this kind of thing. They deal with engines that have sat for too long all the time. Sounds like the engine wasn't run for a long time and the wet salty air just got to it. But go slow at this point to keep from doing irreversible damage. Keep reading old threads and don't get discouraged.