The goal of today's ride was to start "training" for another attempt at riding across the country. Although the weather wasn't the best for riding today did yield some results.
First, I learned the Rally doesn't really like to be kept wide open for long periods of time. After several hours of full throttle driving it started smelling hot. With imminent failure in mind I decided to pull over and take a break, and that's when the wheels feel of (not literally).
When I pulled off the highway the Rally just cut out and stopped. I pulled off and started taking a look around. I found the spark plug was loose but not much else looked out of place. I let it cool for a bit but it still would not start.
After a bit of tinkering I pulled out the choke and it started right up. As soon as I pushed the choke in it would die. After a bit more tinkering and troubleshooting I figured it had to be something with the carb.
I pulled out the jets and look what I found in the idle jet, a nice big clog.
After cleaning that out I was able to get underway with no further issues.
So, what I learned today is that a non starting condition could be caused by a clogged idle jet. An easy troubleshooting step is to simply try starting the scooter with the choke out and then pushing it in. If it cuts out and dies, the idle jet could be clogged.
My next goal will be to try and determine how the clog happened. I suspect it has to do with the fuel line or something in the tank. Either way it's going to be a messy process.
- Michael
