Well, time for the Hail Mary pass..
Took another look at it this morning since it’s super bright and sunny outside. I’ve located where the CDI likely resides. It’s either on top of the fuel tank or in the dashboard. The coil’s wire disappears into a bundle that leads to the front. In fact, a whole slew of wires seem to go up front.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I do remember something that sounded like electrical arcing in the dashboard a few days (or on the day of) before the scooter died. I’m beginning to think that maybe the CDI is damaged and is getting worse and worse over time. So my next step from here is to take apart the dashboard and see if the CDI is chilling out in there.
Haven’t gotten around to compression testing but that’ll happen about at the same time I’m taking the dash apart. Why am I continuing to waste time on this? Because I’m not getting any offers, not even getting low ball offers. So I have nothing better to do than soldier on.
This scooter has two potential futures awaiting for it:
1. I figure out the issue and getting it running again...but it becomes my Gambler for May. I then send it as hard as I can to let out all my bottled up anguish over this darn piece of junk.
2. I don’t figure out the issue and it gets sold for a loss and a lesson about buying old Chinese motor vehicles..
The explained reason behind #1 is that I found out there’s a title loan lien (several months in default with an amazing balance) on the GMC Envoy XL I was supposed to take on the Gambler 500...so things may get a tad weird if it dies out there.
Plot twist, guess who is on the title of that Envoy? I haven’t checked to see if TitleMax put out a repo order for the thing, but in a worst case scenario I’ll have both a repo and a foreclosure on my credit before 2019 is done. Thanks, mum.
Original:
Alright, so I’m getting so close to just throwing in the towel on this thing.
Tonight I got myself some new tools to play with and attacked the scooter with them. First thing out was the plug. Well... this is the cleanest used plug I have ever seen. A quick wipe with a cloth had it looking like new.
The scooter started, ran rough, quit, then didn’t start again for the rest of the night without starting fluid. Pulling the plug again revealed it to already have carbon deposits and even a splatter of oil.
Next, I moved onto the tank and to make sure it didn’t have vapor lock, I took the cap off and tried starting with a splash of starting fluid. It actually ran worse with the cap off.
Next, I checked the wires to the spark plug coil and the coil itself. The coil looks undamaged, as does its wires. However, it could still be shot. Took everything apart and put it back together, no change.
Finally, I decided to check its oil. Oil appears to be thinned with some fuel (possible flooded cylinder?) and has the consistency of something between oil and water. Ugh..
Tonight’s session didn’t get me anywhere closer and honestly it’s made me even more reluctant to buy a new CDI, coil, and plug.
Worst yet, I’m getting absolutely no bites on Facebook, so it looks like I’m either going to end up selling it for a massive loss or stick it through to the end.
Alrighty kids...you’re going to hear it from probably the biggest Chinese bike fan on Oppo, but...don’t buy a Chinese bike unless it’s a Ruckus or Grom clone. At least those have a resale value. Better yet, don’t buy one at all unless it’s a cheap disposable pit bike.