2013 Kymco Agility 50 starting and running issues

[NOVAguy567]

I've owned my scooter for about 5 months now after buying it brand new and it's really been a gem for the last 7,000 miles. That is until about 2 weeks ago when it started developing some issues. Starting the thing has become a nightmare. It's been taking 20+ seconds of cranking the electric start before I can bring her to life. But that's not where the trouble ends. After starting it she'll run fine for about 4 or 5 blocks before it starts to bog down and eventually cut out, even at wide open throttle. Then it will take another 20+ seconds to get it started again. This will happen 2-4 times before it actually starts running more properly, but even then it sometimes has difficulty idling and has difficulty scaling hills of any size. Since these problems have developed I've changed the oil, spark plug, fuel filter, and air filter as well as adjusted the idle screw. I've seen some improvement but it still has issues. For the first start-up it will start almost instantly come to life but it still bogs down and dies after about 4-5 blocks and restarting it takes that same 20+ seconds. It still repeats that process 2-4 times before running more normally. The idle is completely erratic now. Sometimes it idles perfectly, sometimes it stalls, and sometimes it idles at an abnormally high RPM. The power (as well as gas mileage) has increased but it's still not as powerful as it once was. At this point I'm at a loss. I can't find the problem. I'm going to Seafoam it today to see if that helps but I have a feeling that it's going to have little affect on this issue. Does anyone have any idea what the problem(s) could be???

[reg]

Hi, sounds like fuel starvation . Enough fuel gets into the carb for the engine to start but not enough is getting in to last it far. Try starting and running it with the fuel cap slightly undone , enough so that air can get into the tank to replace the fuel going to the engine.

[NOVAguy567]

Huh. It's interesting that you say that because the thing runs like a champ when I top off the tank. I'll give that a try. Is that a solution or more of something to help me determine the problem? And could a valve adjustment fix this? Honestly I have no idea what difference that makes.

[reg]

If your scoot runs okay after filling the tank then it looks even more likely that fuel starvation is the problem. The valve clearances would not produce thses symptoms as the engine output would be poor and poor all the time. as i say if its better just after filling up then its because the full tank is pressurising the fuel line to some extent and there is no need for air to enter the tank to replace the used fuel.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.

reg

[NOVAguy567]

Thanks everyone for the help. I ended up putting a couple of ounces of Seafoam in the gas tank before I filled it up and force fed the carburator with some more of the stuff until it choked out. Then I poured a few more ounces in the carb to fill it up some and let it sit for about 15 minutes. She started right up after that so I rode it around for about 10 minutes to burn off any excess Seafoam, adjusted the idle, and now it geniunely runs better than the day I got it. It idles perfectly and I got all of my torque back. Seafoam never ceases to amaze me. I assume that it cleaned out the jets which must have been clogged. I usually get Sunoco gas but had been using some off-brand gas stations recently and noticed that I had gotten a handful of bad tank-fulls. That must have clogged up the jets. Can anyone else think of anything that the Seafoam may have helped? I'm not too familiar with carburetors. I grew up working on cars with fuel injection so anything old-school is foreign to me. Anyways I think I'm going to put a little Seafoam in every tank to maintain things.

[tortoise]

could a valve adjustment fix this? Honestly I have no idea what difference that makes.

On GY6 type engines, checking the valve lash should ALWAYS be a priority to establish a troubleshooting baseline.

Posting multiple threads on the same issue segments the discussion and complicates finding a solution!

[NOVAguy567]

What are the recommended specifications for valve lash adjustmemt?

[tortoise]

Agility 50 specifications.