agility 50 problems :(

[matthew_addison]

Yeah I was hoping that's what it wasn't, but he stripped down the top end and cylinder and piston rings were fine luckily, just somehow a lot of oil got into the combustion chamber and made a nice cloud of smoke, the crack is only minute but is enough to allow petrol vapours out over a few weeks.

I'm guessing I'll have to take the fuel tank out and flush it through with water perhaps or would this just rust it? Or I'm hoping that the valves might just need some adjustment, but its not efficient as bigger bikes or cars so will always be some smoke from a little 50 so I'm sure its nothing to worry about.

[skippy]

not sure water is a good thing to use. maybe drain all fuel then put an air line to it blow the crap out. then a quick rince with a little fuel.

if you had a mec working on your bike im suprised he dident change the piston and rings when he was in there only £15 for piston and rings. but while he was in there he might as well do...

id forget the mec. striping down the head would only take you 2 hour to strip and rebiuld yourself and is easy to do. it looks worse than it is. if you can check valve clerance then youre nerly there to doing a top end rebulid.

[mono]

if fuel can evaporate crap could be sucked in...

Crap like water for example, remember that most gasoline contains the hydrophilic ethanol curse nowadays !
Oh, and never flush a tank with water, since it repels gasoline it will make some of the dirt even stick in there, and you'll only get more water in the system than you have already...

the crack is only minute but is enough to allow petrol vapours out over a few weeks

No way that a whole tank of gasoline would evaporate through a little crack in a few weeks.. You're sure there isn't a leak somewhere else, maybe the carb flooding because of a flaky float valve or something ?

Or I'm hoping that the valves might just need some adjustment, but its not efficient as bigger bikes or cars so will always be some smoke from a little 50 so I'm sure its nothing to worry about.

Valve play will only cause real trouble when it's set too tight, which could be a possible cause of your machine shutting down after warming up, but in that case you might have burnt a valve already...

And NO, it's not normal for a 50cc 4T to burn so much oil that there's even a tiny amount of smoke visible, your machine obviously has a serious problem, you might indeed have a broken oil seal on one of the valves...

Sounds like you're going to learn a lot about your A50 before you'll get it to run well... 
On the other hand, messing around with these things can be a lot of fun when you have some patience and like to learn and take control in the end...

[streido]

+1 on the smoke. I have never seen any smoke out the back of mine, and i got 24,500km on mine. 2 strokes smoke, 4 strokes shouldnt.

[matthew_addison]

Oh crap like I've even got the time or money to be replacing valves, it looks easy but I'm sure you will need some specialist tools or something, even to adjust the valves you need a 'valve adjuster'?! I don't have one and have no idea what one is, would a pair of pliars work? Also I don't have any feeler gauges only got basic tools hmm maybe easier to strip it and sell it for parts rather than messing about with it anymore than I have. It wouldn't be an issue if I had a job then it would probably be sorted by now. So if I just try to clean all fuel pipes etc what shall I use to clean them through? Also not sure how to clean the tank :/ well if I have quarter well not even that then over a period of a few weeks it will have evaporated, and there's no fuel leaking out anywhere haven't seen any moisture or smelt any petrol when I've had petrol in the tank so where its going I don't know?!

So the smoke could be worn piston rings? It was all fine when I stripped and cleaned the engine, and piston rings were fine must of finally worn then.

[mono]

You only have to replace the valves if they're burnt from being set too tight... The things that _might_ be leaking oil are the oil seals on top of the valves, but I'm afraid it's no fun replacing them without a proper valve spring compressor, although it should be possible...

It's perfectly possible to adjust valve play with only a 9mm wrench and a pair of pliers. I did it that way for a few years, until I bought the right tool, which really made the job easier though...

And yes, it will be easier to strip your scoot and sell the parts, but then you're without scoot and you won't have made enough money to buy a new one...


_{Edit : you will either need feeler gauges or a lot of experience to set valve play... And maybe it's time to take a break, put the scoot aside for a few weeks, read a few good books about scooter/motorycle maintenance, ask yourself what you're really after, a hobby or just cheap transport - and only then decide whether to go forward with this project or not.... This will sound harsh, but sometimes it's good to step back and think things over without the pressure to achieve something...}

[skippy]

as for the valves you may be able to buy a used head with valves for $15 of ebay. but you will not know if they are any good till you put it on.
1) GET SOME FEELER  GAUGES. ( you will always need them playing with engines. even if its cheep set.

try that first after a good fuel system change/ clean up.

[streido]

I never use any special tool to do my valves apart from the feeler guages and theyre only a couple of bucks off ebay or a good tool shop.

[skippy]

i think mat ment he didnt have tools to take valves out using valve spring compresor tool .not to check valve clerance.

[matthew_addison]

So how will I know if my valves have burnt or not? I took the rocker cover off and it all seemed clean and like new, the valves went up and down fully when pushing the Kickstart and there is good compression, well it sounds like there is hasn't changed still just as easy to kick if not maybe a little harder. Just wish there was a goddam garage near me that fixes bikes and not only cars as they won't touch it I've already asked them all yeah Skippy I did mean that I have no spring compressors etc. Just a basic wrench set and toolbox full of tools but nothing specialized

[matthew_addison]

Yo guys, I'm going to invest in some feeler gauges found some on tebay don't know if they're any good

 http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=120784819568&index=2&nav=SEARCH&nid=22327591972

[skippy]

they will do the job.but id invest a fue more quid and get some better ones. if you have just set the gap the other day you will be in no rush for them, save a little doller. you will have then for life. in my youth i always bought cheep tools and they never lasted, just desposable. when i worked in the car trade all my tools got thrown away and bought teng tool. in my vote even better than snap on for price. but the price now has skyrocketed. but worth ever peney. look after your tools and they will look after you.

as i say they will do the job. but if youre getting into playing with your scooter ask santa for some tools.

[matthew_addison]

Yeah I guess I'm better spending a bit more, I will try and fix it... Eventually when its a warm enough day for it so bloody cold annoying thing about winter in the crappy UK! Next it will be snow again already had some! Dont need anymore of the blasted stuff, will have no chance fixing her then or riding her, snow+agility = very dangerous I've tried it on snow once and that was enough for me! lol

[skippy]

matt just a thought... the last fue days my agility been running major rough. took the carb off 4 times to clean. new fuel filter etc.
every time i did it it was fine for a mile or two. even got some fuel addative (pre mot stuff to clean and reduce emitions) thinking that would clean all the crap and today just got worse. so after work(in the car park) ran engine and saw that the earth to the starter moter was lose, arking. so thats why it was running so bad. let it cough and splutter home with the odd stop to hand tighten the bolt.( the threds were worn and lose. changed the bolt to the starter and earth. all is good. so may be worth a running her in the dark see if your problem is just the earth.

[matthew_addison]

Is that the green wire what connects to the starter motor and back of Kickstart case? If it is I noticed a few months ago the bolts were a little loose so I tightened them as much as I could as they're such a twat to get to, ended up using a socket screwdriver it seemed to work but maybe this could be why its dieing! Would love it to be an easy fix like that but knowing my luck it will be something much more serious and expensive haha!