Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Hi Everyone

I am new to this site. I recently inherited my grandpas 1989 honda spree. It has not been ran for 5 or so years but used to run great from what I remember. I have been working on this Spree for a few days to get it going but am having no luck. It starts up and idles forever. When it is on the stand it will accelerate and run fast, smokes real bad though. Soon as i put my weight on the bike it bogs down and wont go over 10-15mph. Any help would be great.

What I Have tried:

-taken apart carb, soaked and cleaned, cleared all jets etc
-new spark plug
-drained gas and oil
-cleaned petcock, diaphragm- vacuum functioning properly from what i tested
-airbox is clean and no leaks

Likely a flow issue. Remove the pipe and burn in in a hot fire. Repaint it with BBQ paint and reinstall. Sounds like something isn't breathing right. Since you say you have checked the intake side that is where I would go. By the way Sprees were made 84-87 no such thing as a 89...

You are right it is an 87 my bad. Thanks for the help! I will give it a try

Having kinda same problem. Have 86 Spree that hasn't been running for about a year or so. Was able to get running, but idol very fast when on stand, but as soon as I apply throttle even while still on stand, bogs down and dies out. 1st time post and don't pretend to be a mechanic by any sense of the word, so please reply in simple layman's terms. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Marty

Took the pipe off. Still dies as soon as I give it gas. It will only start if I spray carb cleaner In the intake. Any suggestions would be great! I am at a loss!!!

Well if the fire didn't help, it's on the intake side. Check connections and clean that carb again. Also, did you get the crush ring back on the exhaust?

Ruuunutz wrote:Having kinda same problem. Have 86 Spree that hasn't been running for about a year or so. Was able to get running, but idol very fast when on stand, but as soon as I apply throttle even while still on stand, bogs down and dies out. 1st time post and don't pretend to be a mechanic by any sense of the word, so please reply in simple layman's terms. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

That is textbook air leak spree lean there. The air box must be intact, connected, with a properly oiled filter and the lid must have the gasket and the lid must be snugged down properly. A spree can idle real nice with no air box but it will bog like that if you try and put it under load. Layman's terms it has not enough fuel to match the amount of air entering the system is the issue. The air box and filter allow a precise amount of air in to match what the jets in the carb delivers for fuel. Any deviation in that airflow even a missing or rotten or not oiled filter throws a monkey wrench in the works.

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Having a sort of similar problem.
'85 Spree 50

Previous owner replaced the carb and could never get it to run.
Starts and idles really fast. No adjustment matters. Will run and rev fine.
30 seconds later starts to bog and die.
Can keep it alive by feathering the throttle but, it eventually fizzles and dies.
Wait a few minutes, starts and repeats fast idle until death again.
Have tried to make adjustments to air screw with no luck. Idle screw is back all the way out.

A couple of points:

Carb is brand new repro.
Has a hose on the inboard side hanging down with a sort of metal orifice in it.
The outboard side has a "piggyback" hose. It comes out of a port which is plugged on the original by a brass plug, to a port which does not exist on the original.

Can you post the pics of the ofending carb? Have you checked the furl ine to see if the petcok allows fuel to flow to th carb while cranking. Im wondering if the vent to allow air in to the carb is plugged up with one of the hoses you mentioned. Did you check all of the air box and connections yet? And is the airfilter properly oiled? Im wondering if the extra port on the carb is for an oil line or vacum line. So if its not plugged its and air leak to the carb.

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patthesoundguy wrote:Can you post the pics of the ofending carb? Have you checked the furl ine to see if the petcok allows fuel to flow to th carb while cranking. Im wondering if the vent to allow air in to the carb is plugged up with one of the hoses you mentioned. Did you check all of the air box and connections yet? And is the airfilter properly oiled? Im wondering if the extra port on the carb is for an oil line or vacum line. So if its not plugged its and air leak to the carb.

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I will take pics of the replacement carb and post up within the next day or two. I was planning on digging into the airbox as well

Right on, checking the air box is real easy. Make sure the hose is connected and tight to the carb with no cracks, then pull the cover and make sure there is a gasket in the groove. Then check the filter. Then snug the cover down using socket not screw driver. Just don't go too tight but snug enough to squat the gasket a little.

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I didn't get a chance to monkey with the airbox. Take a look at the two carbs and tell me what you think. Not shown is a hose on the other side which hangs free and appears to have a brass orifice in it.

I bet the extra inlet on the oposit side could be an oil line for oil injection on a different setup. Hence a brass fitting in likely to block it off. After you get the airbix on the go I'd open the float bowl up and pull the main jet and verify the main jet size. Maybe its not the correct size and just lean.

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Finally got aroung to pulling the carb. After talking with the previous owner, I decided to use the old carb body and frankenstein the two. The float on the original was the primary issue. I cleaned the jets, swapped in the fresh seals off of the new carb, and put in the new float. I also checked out the airbox. The lid was overtightened causing the edges to lift up. The filter inside was pristine. I fixed the lid. I discovered the tube coming from the box to the intake of the carb was not installed incorrectly. Took care of that as well. Now, it seems the bolt holding the carb body to the engine intake is a bit gummy. I was reluctant to snug it down. So, I will pull the carb again, check the threads. Hopefully the carb body is not stripped. But, I have a feeling that I have gotten through some of the major issues. We'll see tonight.

Carb body is stripped/weak on the inboard side. The bolt passes through so, I will attempt to use a longer bolt and cinch it down with a nut. If that fails, I will have to helicoil the carb body. If I end up doing that, at least I know it won't strip again! But, a bit of a pain either way. Starts and run but an obvious air leak at intake side of carb. Almost there.