puch hates me.....

Zach Pipik /

Ive ressurected a puch maxi recently, and its been giving me fits all summer. Every time I get something fixed something else breaks (which is supposedly out of character for a maxi?) and I end up taking the whole rig apart again. Heres my problem, or rather it was my solution....

The ped was found at a garage sale with no carb or front suspension. No prob on the susp. It now sports the forks off of a kawasaki 125. The carb I got from a lawnmower. And it worked. (It had external needle settings so it was easy to tune on the go...) I finally got the brakes fixed and I was riding it around and then it quit. (Not suddenly, but gradually requiring richer mixture until it wouldnt start at all...) I recently had to re-tap the cylinder head studs to get the head tight enough to fire (which was the only problem with the engine post-garage sale!) and I took out the head gasket.

Does this engine have a reed valve that I damaged with the tap? Did I puncture the case on the stud hole in the one oclock position?( the only one that goes into the case..) Would that matter? I think Im getting compression, and I know Im getting spark because I fried the crap out of myself yesterday. It just wont start. Wont even pop. Ive changed the carb settings and everything, taken the cylinder off and checked it twice, checked the points, checked the spark, the switch, etc. Can anybody give me advice?

Incidentally Im in Kzoo... so if you want to look at it I can bring it around somewhere or something. Im about to give up before it drives me nuts, since the thing is so simple but still wont run.

Re: puch hates me.....

take off the exhaust and see if it runs.

Re: puch hates me.....

Zach Pipik /

I just cleaned the exhaust out today, and I can blow out the tube no problem. Its not plugged I dont think....

Re: puch hates me.....

ok, just checking. :) what were your plugs looking like when it quit?

Re: puch hates me.....

also, could the filters on the petcok have clogged up? This would probably cause the symptoms you describe. did you try puttint a table spoon of gas in the intake and seeing if it runs?

Re: puch hates me.....

Zach Pipik /

The carb is definitely getting gas from the petcock. Since its a lawnmower carb it has a drain spigot that I can open to drain the float bowl. I also cleaned out the carb, so if it was clogged it isnt anymore and it should run like before. (Not great but dependably...) I also tried spraying carb cleaner down the pipe to see if it would fire... nothing. Do these have reed valves? It kind of spits gas out of the intake when Im pedalling... maybe backpressure through the carb?

Re: puch hates me.....

Zach Pipik /

The plug was black and oily, but that was to be expected after running on a lawnmower carb then being pedaled all over sucking in gas... I cleaned it and still no pop....

Re: puch hates me.....

no reedvalves. the piston acts as the valve, so there is an element of blowby. the only thing i can suggest is trying the small amount of gas spooned into the intake bit.

Re: puch hates me.....

Zach Pipik /

should I try the choke? This engine wasnt exaclty running well when it did run. Maybe tightening up the head restored the need for restriction on the intake? But that wouldnt explain the gradual loss of power....

Re: puch hates me.....

id have to say instead of cleaning the old spark plug get a new one youll feel like an idiot of thats the problem but at least it will run again

Re: puch hates me.....

Make sure that your lawnmower carb is for a 2 stroke. I finally found out that the one I have is actually for a 3HP leaf blower. It works well, but it's a little hard to get the high end throttle adjusted right. You have to drive around at 3/4 throttle, and then open it up all the way. You adjust the screw to give you the best acceleration. At least that's how you're supposed to do it. I'm not skilled enough to balance, with a screwdriver on the carb and adjust it while I'm moving. I adjust it a little at a time untill I get good top end speed, and a good plug chop.

Also, try leaning out your idle screw.

Re: puch hates me.....

Zach Pipik /

My idle screw is set at one quarter turn, so Its been lean the whole time. Im assuming that if the thing ran, it should again. I just dont know why it would gradually require more fuel then quit altogether. How often do coils go bad on puchs? Im pretty sure that Im getting spark,but yesterday I pulled the carb off and ladled some gas in there without a single pop afterwards. I got a nice blue spark to the head when I tested it, but is it lighting the mixture?? Im frustrated.

Re: puch hates me.....

Ron Brown /

Zach,

Try a brand new plug and spoon some gas in.

Only the color of the plug will tell you how the mixture is. 1/4 turn on that carb could have been correct, or rich on your engine.

Ron

Get a carb made for a moped...

That's all.

Re: Get a carb made for a moped...

awww- hell, what's the fun in that?

I like that one I have, but I made sure that it was oversized for my application, and made specifically for 2 cycles.

Plus, when I did it, in 1998, the moped army didn't have a forum, and there may have been about 2 places on the net that even sold carbs- and belive me they wanted more than $30.

so there neeeyah!

Life! for a second....

Ok, the plug was shorting. Go figure. Thats never happened to me in my whole life but hey, what the hell. So I replaced the plug and it ran for about a minute until it shorted that one too! (By shorting I mean it soaked the insulator with gas..) I had the mixture turned all the way down too. Now I guess I have to just keep putting new plugs in it and seeing if it will eventually run for me, while eeking out the mixture settings. How often does a maxi usually eat a plug? How sensitive is one with the appropriate carb to mixture changes? Im going to put a wider gap on the next plug to insure a really hot spark. .016 was way too small I think.

Re: Life! for a second....

InfectedBootSector /

Try an NGK B5HS or B6HS and gap it properly to the .016..... They are super hot plugs...I have had some luck with them with a similar problem on my 78 Maxi.

I would like to see a picture of this bike if ya don't mind. Sounds cool. I've always like Franken-peds.... its awesome that we can toss stuff together and build something that almost or does run.

I've had plugs last me 2000 miles or more with proper mix.

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