Here in Minnesota, scooters spend 6 months out of the year sitting so it is common after winter to find your scooter won't start. We will walk you through diagnosing why it won't start, tell you what you can do to get it running again and also help you prevent this from happening in the future.

The first thing you need to do: determine whether your scooter is fuel injected or carbureted.

Fuel injected and carbureted scooters share a lot of similarities, but the process of getting them running after winter is dramatically different. Use the following lists to determine whether your scooter is fuel-injected or carbureted:

Here is a list of the more popular fuel injected models sold in the United States:

If you own one of the fuel injected models listed, then jump ahead to learn why your scooter will not start.

Here is a list of the more popular carbureted models sold in the United States:

*This is by no means a complete list, just a list of the most recent and most popular models*

If you have fuel injection:

• 1.Charge your battery: using a good quality battery charger that tells you whether the charger recognizes the battery or not and if it has reached full charge. Fuel injection requires a good battery in a good state of charge. If your battery charger does not tell you that it is charging the battery or that your battery is fully charged, consider getting one that does. Also note that just because a battery charges and is fully charged, does not mean your battery is any good.

Scooter batteries are very small and they lose a percentage of charge every month that they sit. If your battery was sitting in a cold garage for 5 months without being plugged into a battery maintainer, there is a pretty good chance it is toast as the charge depletes low enough that the acid in the battery becomes water and freezes, which destroys even the best batteries.

• 2.Start it up! Once you have verified that your battery is charged and in good working order, go ahead and start that scooter up!
• 3.Check your tire pressure: Always, always, ALWAYS check your tire pressure before riding after it has been sitting all winter. Set the tire pressure at the manufacturers recommended pressure and NOT what is printed on the sidewall of the tire.
• 4.Ride

If your scooter has been sitting for more than a year or does not start when following these instructions, you may have other issues. Common issues with fuel injected scooters that have been sitting for multiple years are: fuel pump failure, plugged fuel injectors or various other electrical issues. You may need to see your local dealer to diagnose and repair these issues.

If your scooter is carbureted:

• 1.Charge your battery: using a good quality battery charger that tells you whether the charger recognizes the battery or not and if it has reached full charge. If your battery charger does not tell you that it is charging the battery or that your battery is fully charged, consider getting one that does. Also note that just because a battery charges and is fully charged, does not mean your battery is any good.

Scooter batteries are very small and they lose a percentage of charge every month that they sit. If your battery was sitting in a cold garage for 5 months without being plugged into a battery maintainer, there is a pretty good chance it is toast as the charge depletes low enough that the acid in the battery becomes water and freezes, which destroys even the best batteries.

• 2.Kickstart it: One of the tricks we use to start a scooter that was not stored properly is we will kick start it. When kickstarting your scooter, it is important that the key be turned to the on position and that the kill switch is pointed towards the run position (usually a circle, not the circle with the “X” through it). You do not need to hold the brake lever or give it gas to kickstart it. We recommend kicking it 30-40 times consecutively until it starts running. One it starts running, let it run for a few minutes without giving it any throttle.
• 3.Choke it: A little known trick you can use to start a carbureted scooter that has been sitting is to “force choke” it. What you need to do is find the air intake portion of the air filter box and block it completely. On many scooters it is a small hole that you can fit your finger into. On others it is a snorkel that you can squeeze completely shut with your hand. Once you have found and plugged it, hold the electric start button down, turning the engine over until it starts. Once it starts, pull out your finger or release the snorkel as failure to do so causes the engine to flood out. Once it is running, let it run without touching the throttle for a few minutes.
• 4.Spray carb cleaner into the air box: Carburetor cleaner isbasically ether (starting fluid) so you can spray some into the air filter box intake hole while holding the throttle wide open. Once you have done that, continue holding the throttle wide open while holding the electric start button down. When it starts, let it idle for a few minutes without applying any throttle.
• 5.Check your tire pressure: Always, always, ALWAYS check your tire pressure before riding after it has been sitting all winter. Set the tire pressure at the manufacturers recommended pressure and NOT what is printed on the sidewall of the tire.
• 6.Ride

If the above methods did get your scooter to start, or it started but will not stay running, then you probably need your carburetor cleaned or replaced.

One of the more common calls we get is “my scooter started and ran but it died at the stop sign and now it won’t start.” What is happening in this scenario is the “auto-enrichener or auto-choke” is open when you first start it, which feeds extra fuel into the engine. As the scooter warms up, that circuit closes and when it is completely closed, the pilot circuit in your carburetor is running the engine at idle. If that circuit is plugged, the engine will not stay running once it warms up.

Why do carburetors need to be cleaned? Fuel evaporates over time and leaves behind a dirty residue. Think of it like a bottle of nail polish remover (acetone) that you leave the cap off and when you come back to use it, it is gone. Fuel behaves the same way but it is much dirtier. It spoils or “goes bad” after a while and evaporates. What is left is a film that plugs the tiny jets and orifices in your carburetor.

On Chinese scooters, we typically replace the carburetor since it is cheaper, faster, and easier to do. Plus, a lot of the Chinese carburetors come with anti-tamper screws in the float chamber that make it near impossible to clean without breaking something. On name brand scooters with more expensive carburetors, we take them apart and clean them piece by piece so that the inside of the carburetor looks clean enough to eat out of. We also blow through and inspect all the jets and orifices to make sure there is no blockage. Under extreme conditions on scooters that have been sitting for many, many years, we sometimes have no choice but to replace them as they are just too far gone.

How can I prevent this from happening?

• 1.Use ethanol-free gasoline if it is available in your area. Ethanol-free (non-oxygenated) gas breaks down much slower than gas with ethanol in it.
• 2.Drain your carburetor float bowl before you put your scooter into long term storage. The float bowl on a scooter holds about ¼ cup of gasoline and draining that out will prevent any issues in the spring
• 3.Clamp your fuel line if you can’t drain the float bowl or getting to it is too difficult, purchase a fuel line clamp. Clamp your fuel line before the carburetor and run the scooter until it dies. This is not quite as fool proof as draining the float bowl but we have found it to be extremely effective in preventing runnability issues in the spring.
• 4.Treat your gas with a fuel stabilizer. This WILL NOT prevent you from needing to clean your carburetor in the spring if you failed to do steps 2 or 3. It only makes your gas ok to run when spring rolls around.

If you need batteries, carburetors or carburetor parts, Piston Ported stocks what you need to get your scooter running again!