We walk outside to run an errand, to go to school or work, and UGH, our scooter won’t start! How frustrating. Here are some basic things to check quickly to get back on the road.
We walk outside to run an errand, to go to school or work, and UGH,
our scooter won’t start! How frustrating. Here are some basic things to
check quickly to get back on the road.
First: The basic questions:
Did you hold in the brake? (Some scooters require the right brake to be pressed)
Is the kill-switch off?
Is
the key all the way on? (Sounds dumb I know, but as a repair shop
Manager, I get scooters in here all the time where the ignition is
sticky and doesn’t turn on all the way. The owners are embarrassed when
I make sure the ignition is turned all the way on, and the scooter
starts right up. Always works for the mechanic, right?)
Second:
Will it kick start? Try kick starting it. When kick starting, don’t
give the scooter any gas (you might flood it). Try to kick start-it
5-10 times. If that doesn’t work, give it some gas and try again.
Third:
Check the fuse next to the battery. Most fuse boxes next to the battery
have an extra fuse in case the original one blew out. Check the fuse
first. That only takes a minute. If it’s shot, replace it with the
extra one sitting in the case.
Fourth: Jump Start-it –
Scooters are not like cars. A scooter battery can be so dead, that
there is nothing anyone can do to make it start, except charge the
battery or replace it. So in the meantime, jump-it. Now a word of
caution. These little scooter batteries can burn up quickly, so if you
choose to jump it, only put the cables on a few seconds, quickly start
it and disconnect it. If you put on cables for 5-15 minutes, you can
destroy your battery. These scooter batteries can’t handle the amps put
out by car batteries. If you want to buy a trickle charger, get a 2 amp
charger.
Fifth: Pull out your can of Starting Fluid (you
know, the one you bought when you bought the scooter – every scooter
owner should have a can), and spray some fluid onto the UNI Air Filter
you have on your carburetor. They try to start it again. If it starts,
keep it running with the throttle. Keep your Starting Fluid with you in
the seat until you figure out what is going on with your scooter.
These
steps should get most scooters going and get you on the road. If these
don’t work, it might be something more serious, but at least we’ve done
the basics and saved us a repair bill for something that was silly or
easy to fix by ourselves.
Mark Kemp is the Parts Manager for ScooterStock in Orem, Utah. They specialize in Scooter Parts
and High Performance Upgrades for most Chinese Brands. They have a
Bounty- Hunter program; meaning they specialize in finding the
hard-to-find parts
