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  1. #11 Re: Headlight goes out when wheel is turned. 
    Administrator-tron CrazyCarl's Avatar
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    Diana,

    There's nothing wrong with keeping your own thread running. It actually shows more persistence than lots of other folks on here, myself included.

    There's very few more satisfying feelings than working through your own problems and ending up with a good ride. I fully believe the ability to ride safely increases with the amount of technical knowledge and hands-on experience you have with your wheels. The more intimate your understanding of the bike, or really anything for that matter, the more you'll appreciate the intrinsic value of the bike itself and be aware of it's limitations.

    What you likely experienced on your scooter is not likely a fuel pump. Fuel pumps are often used when gravity can not be used to move fuel the carb (basically if the fuel tank is vertically lower than the carb, a pump is needed). Also fuel pumps will have electrical wires attached to them and usually are quite noisy.

    What you probably have is a vacuum operated "petcock" (the valve from your gastank that connects to the fuel hose). The reason why these are sometimes vacuum operated is because it assures fuel is flowing to the carb ONLY when the engine is running. A little bit of vacume from the engine is used to basically "open" a valve at the "petcock" thereby letting the fuel flow. If the vacuum hose (from the carb to the petcock) is leaking air, then there will not be enough vacuum to open the "petcock valve" and no gas will go to your carb ... which equals you pushing the scoot.

    Lastly, if you're into reading, I fully support Jape's recommendation to read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" but Pirsig. A great book dealing with a wide range of topics and is usually found in the Philosophy section of your local book store.

    Congrats again on your successful repair and keep up the good work! It only gets crazier from here!

    CC
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  2. #12 Re: Headlight goes out when wheel is turned. 
    C-Moto Not-so-Noob
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    Hey Carl, I've added that book to my Library list. I visit the Library weekly. Vacumn Fuel pump is the part description. Everything you described is exactly what happened. After taking the covers off I got a good look all the parts. Amazing that something so simple left me w/o my wheels. I have some great neighbors, so I survived.

    Jape thanks for weighing in. I don't like to get dirty, but sometimes you gotta do, what you gotta do.

    Thanks for your input. I appreciate the technical lessons. My confidence definitely got a boost. I still love my scooter. It is a lot of fun to ride and the weight is easy on my back. I had no problem pushing it. But I don't want to make a habit of it.

    Di
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  3. #13 Re: Headlight goes out when wheel is turned. 
    C-Moto Not-so-Noob
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    I got a lot of work done on my scooter this week. It's at 535 miles and this is what I've done. The headlight situation finally came to a bifurcation point and chaos ensued. No power when the key is turned. Electrical is my strong suit and I like it. I start at the battery and check the fuse. Fuse is blown. I replace fuse. Bike runs. Blows fuse again. I remove the front cover and low and behold I find hanging bare wires. I save the wiring harness, and then my neighbor, a motorcycle guy, says "come here, look at this." The wiring harness was wearing in two places. I cover those with conduit and rebundle all wires and take the bind out of it. Steering is much improved.

    This morning I replaced all vacumn lines and idling is much improved.

    I purchased this scooter from a small dealer going out of business. I got it for one third of retail. His eighteen year old son did the dealer prep on this scooter. The problems I've had experienced can be traced to poor oversight, as opposed to any manufacturing problems.

    Overall, I'm enjoying my first chinese scooter. It challenges me in a good way.
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  4. #14 Re: Headlight goes out when wheel is turned. 
    grumpy old sod jape's Avatar
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    There you go! A bit of looking and thinking and fixing and you are on your way, safer and happier! A different feeling now to when the first fault kicks you in the guts. Well done.

    It took me five weeks of intensive self determination to get my car going recently - in other words forcing myself to stay calm, not panic, not get the 20 pound fixing tool out, just look and think and then look and think again. Finally after using all the logic up and refusing all the very expensive options suggested by professional mechanics I replaced a couple of parts that looked worn - to no avail. Imagine the feeling then. I felt gutted as I am going through a 'broke' phase and not in any position to buy even a junker at the moment. But again I went and looked and finally found (through fortunate accident) that when a particular set of wires was wiggled at a particular time, the car worked! Fortune comes through persistence. Still the experts told me it was going to cost me a lot to fix and replace as this was a complicated setup but I used commonsense and managed a two dollar fix ... not perfect but functional. Well that is me, not you, sorry, and I don't want to seem patronising but a LOT of people get ripped off by mechanics and dealers, both male and female. If you have the determination to look and play your confidence grows immensely. You won't always win and sometimes you have no choice but to pay up, however you have saved yourself a fair bit of grief, diagnosis costs, labour costs, and fixed it yourself! That is priceless.
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  5. #15 Re: Headlight goes out when wheel is turned. 
    C-Moto Not-so-Noob
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    Right on.
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