Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

I bought a 1994 Elite 50 that wasn't running. Good idea so far right?

I managed to get it to start by shear persistant kick starting but it would die if i gave it any throttle and even if i didn't it would slow down and stop.

I gave the carb a good cleaning ( it didn't look too bad ) and put it back in and tried to start it without the air filter on. No good. On a whim I covered the air hole on the carb while kicking it and got gas on my fingers, then i let it back open and it started up and it ran. When it started to die like before i covered the airhole again and it reved back up from death! Every time the idle would start to slow if i covered the hole for a sec or two it would run ok. I drove it around and after it warmed up it ran totally fine and wouldn't die.
Is my autochoke bad? I did that test where i pull it out a bit and try to start with no luck so that would indicate thats not the problem. Since its obviously not getting enough gas - is it the petcock? I know you have to have the air filter and box on too.

Also when I went to drain the fuel line by disconnecting it from the carb it slowly came out for a bit and then stopped completely with lots of gas still in the tank. Is that right - or again - is the petcock clogged?

Thanks guys for the awesome site - after i get her running well its time for performance mods right?

i would say the autobystarter is broke. that is the auto choke. and the tank could be rusty and it is cloging the petcock

I took off the petcock and drained the tank - the gas does look kinda brownish. How do you clean it out and how can you tell if its clean or need to be replaced? Is there a fuel filter on the bike? If so where is it? When the bike was turned off and i disconnected the gas line from the carb should gas have poured out until the tank was empty?

Thanks for the quick reply too!

if your draining the fuel line, gas wont go through because the petcock isnt open. the vacuum from they carb causes the petcock to open and let fuel flow. Only way to drain is take off petcock. so no gas shouldnt have poured out when you disconnected the lines.

there is a fuel filter inside the petock. if its old it might be stuck inside the tank. try cleaning it or replace it.

Clean the tank first then then clean the carb, when you put your hand over the back of the carb and it spits fuel it means your main jet is plugged, check float bowl for dirt, replace the fuel valve which is the petcockthe bladder inside maybe dry rotted, you can add an inline filter.

Tank cleaning procedure is in Tech Docs. I'd run an inline filter on that one.

Do you have the stock aircleaner set up on that? Have you checked the air filter integrity?

Maddog is going to be geeked if you get that going; the '94+ models have a lot more performance potential than other models we discuss here.

Ok I'm gonna do the tank cleaning thing too tomorrow. The main jet is definately clean. Something you said though - the air box has a intact albeit dirty filter but it doesn't have the seal/gasket thing inside the box. Thats probably not good right?

Thats cool that my year can take some good mods. I thought essentially it was just a spree with fatter body panels

Go to vtcycles.com and look around at what's available. The Dio models (what you have) have a large bore and short stroke. You can get a longer throw crank and larger piston and bump the displacement up significantly, or just enlarge the piston. Spend more = go faster.

Get a new air filter and get it sealed up. I'm betting that's a lot of your problem.

A basic derestricted elite with stock bore will do 55mph with a 9 to 1 gear ratio.

wow thats insane! 55mph? man my eyes dry out and im blind at like 35!


Well nothing helped so I guess im gonna have to break down and buy a bystarter. My battery is dead - that wouldn't affect the bystarter right?

How can you check if the bystarter is bad? Hover it above the hole or something I read? I wish I could invent a manual choke, my gf is a mech engineer maybe i'll see what she will do for me...

Whats the cheapest place to get parts? any suggestions?

Your bystarter is probably fine. Procedure to check is in tech docs. What have you tried so far?

As far as the bystarter i read on ScooterBBS to unscrew it and pull it out a little then try to start it. That didn't work. In the tech docs does it say i need a vacuum pump to test it? Ive never even heard of one of those .

I didn't think it was the bystarter either, it was supposed to have ran fine before it was put away and not ridden for a while. However I take this info with a grain of salt...

It will always run for 1-10 secs if i kickstart when ive left it alone for a while. It starts up great then just dies like it runs out of gas. Any follow up trys will do nothing until its been left alone.

Priming it by covering the hole where the airbox goes while kickstarting it seems to be the only way i can get it started.

Any other ideas?

I'd check your idle jet; I'm betting it's plugged with rust.

You said you fixed the aircleaner...?

What and where exactly is the idle jet? I don't see it listed in the tech docs..

When you look on your carberator their will be two gold screws. They only take a flat head screw driver. I believe the top on is the idle screw and it has a spring on the end of it.