Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Hey Spreesters & Elitists!

I too, have a short drive to and from work, and purchased an 86 Spree for $300. New tires, full tank of gas and oil, just needed a new battery and a seat cover. And 3119 miles on the odometer, & all plastic intact.

Got the battery on Friday, ran great until today- now only putting out 4.5 volts. Turn signals were working until just a bit ago as well. No headlight functuion- can't figure out if it's the bulb or an entire sealed beam I have to replace. And this site is a Godsend to us backporch spannermonkeys!

As for the engine, I got it going about 5 to 7 mph yesterday- little girls on bikes with training wheels were passing me! Today, I removed the muffler, torched it with a propane torch until it was smoking! Yeah- while it was cooling I fired "Ol' Red" up- sans muffler. Man,what a screamer!
Now I can it this old scooter going over 20, almost to25! But I can't get the twist grip to really control the engine. This thing wants to go fast!

One problem I found was that the wires to the auto bystarter were broken- apparently ripped apart by the kickstarter lever. A pain to put back together- but after some soldering in a small piece to the gap in the yellow wire, and reconnecting the green, I think my repair job works well.

Judging from the operation- the battery must not be charging as yesterday it was at the full 12 volts, and the turn signals and horn worked. Now, with the battery worn down- none of the electrical lighting things work....I never could get the light on the speedometer panel to function.

Any suggestions? I am seriously considering the Noiseguy Speed Muffler!

Doc

test the bystarter.

Just what exactly does this bystarter do? This was one of the first things I had to repair on this wee beastie- and could not find any real description of it's function.

Doc

its an automatic choke when there is no power applied to it (motor not running) its in choke mode. When you start it up it slowly unchokes the bike.

I'll head out and give it a tweak tonight. As for my battery, it's on my "automatic charger", however that deosn't seem to be doing any good.
It just shows "CHARGED", where as VOM meter shows the volts at less than 5. If I could only figure out there my trickle charger was...

Any other ideas on these probels- like the headlight? It appears that this entire thing is a sealed beam, and a major pain in the * to replace!

make sure your getting power to the headlight remember the headlight only works when the bike is running.

Okay- here's what's happening so far.
1- HEADLIGHT: I made some jumper cbales with alligator clips, and found that both Hi & Lo beam work. But, now while the beastie is running. Kinda.
At least I know the bulb is good.

2- CARB: I put fresh gasoline in the tank, and had to spray carb cleaner directly into it while cranking the engine. Finally, after a lot of coughing and sputtering, it would run and idle without me holding the throttle wide open. This doesn't mean much, as when I road-tested it- I started out getting up to 15 mph, then it couldn't make it up the hill (perhaps15 degrees?) back home. I stopped it and walked it home- only 1/2 block.
(Some kid on a 2 stroke dirt bike kept zipping past me- and staring. Probably laughing like *... )

I did pull the throttle cable, and cleaned the jet/needle and made sure I put it back properly. But for some reason, there really isn't alot of difference now between throttle closed/idle and wide open. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Now I'm considering one of the K&N air filters- a circular type, connected directly to the carb mouth- as it seems to like lots of air, versus coming thru the air box. BTW- the scoot came with a cheap, crappy piece of foam sheet (a poor idea) and I replaced it with a piece of fine foam, more like a normal filter (can't afford a Honda replacement yet...)that I oiled before placing it into the airbox. It seemed to run pretty decent last weekend...until the battery ran dead.

As for the muffler, I really want a Spree Speed Pipe- just can't spring the cash right now- I already can tell the difference without the muffler....I just can't stand the screaming from the engine or the neighbors!

PRIME ELECTRICAL SUSPECT: The generator/magneto. At least the battery isn't run down, I checked prior to riding it today- 12.78 volts before ride, and 11.89 after ride. (My automatic charger indicates "FULL CHARGE", and I can't find my trickle charger...) And still trying to figure out where the connector for it is...not celarly shown in the Service Manual.
But- hey, I love challenges!

As for electrical checking, I'm clueless as to what the readings from the rectifier and CDI should be on my multimeter. The Auto Bystarter showed 4 ohms...book says 10 ohms max, so it should be good. As for turn signals, they are all in working order, even after my ride to the end of the street and back. Just no juice to the headlight. This I really need as I do work late somethimes.

This site is a GODSEND to those of us who want to save money from the corporate bastards and Oil Mudslimes, as well as beating "The Man" with a vehicle that doesn't need registration or plates...at least in Missouri.

Doc Tiffy

If the throttle's not dropping shut, replace the throttle cable. Otherwise it the throttle should work.

As for slow running, first check compression. If you're reading much below 100 PSI (or 90 PSI on the cheaper/more common testers) replace the rings on the scoot now to avoid problems later.

If the pipe was that choked up, look at your exhaust port (from cylinder to the pipe,) I'm betting it's clogged up too.

Make sure you're running injector oil, and not nasty premix, which gums up heads and mufflers. If you're not sure, dump it all now and replace with known oil (that includes flushing the line from the oil pump to the manifold.)

I have bad omens here.

1- Before I started it today, I checked the battery: 11.98 volts. Took a while to get it started- however I pukled the sparkplug and whoever gapped it must have used a 10-penny nail! So I regapped it to the spec and restarted it- had to spray some carb cleaner into the the carb to get it to fire up. It did, and I let it run for about 10 minutes. Still no headlight function (I know it works- tested it) but turnsignals blinking.

I checked the turnsignals after 10 minutes and they would not blink. BAD OMEN! I checked the battery and the volts are now at 9.5 v. REALLY BAD OMEN!

I'm suspecting either the voltage regulator/rectifier or the stator.

Now for the throttle cable and rectifier/regulator; where is the best place to get these from? I hate blowing money on overpriced stuff.

Doc

Okay...first thanks to all who have either had similar problems or had posted fixes to those problems. Much of that information has helped me quite a bit...be it directly or indirectly.

Now for the update.

I figured it had to be either the rectifier, voltage regulator and/or starter relay. So, I picked up all 3 from a nice guy in Washington State who has a store on eBay, Stewsjunk. I also picked up an actual Honda airfilter- new, in OEM package. (Seems all I had was a bunch of old foam.)

Put 'em on and it now has WORKING LIGHTS without battery drain. WOOHOO!

Now my problem is getting it to actually run right. I've adjusted the screws on the carb to 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 turn, with no apparent improvement-
it sucks fuel, and the throttle has only minimal affect at this time.
It starts super slow...and barely makes it up to 15 mph. And it seems to run stronger with direct airflow thru the filter- like I need to remove the airbox cover totally.

I'm thinking of cutting large holes in the cover and gorilla-gluing small fiberglass window screening circles in the holes. Of course this means more frequent air filter cleaning and oiling. But if it increases the performance, it's worth it.

Now...to add insult to injury- 2 of my neighbors came out on their His & Hers Harleys....as I putted (and kicked) up the hill home. As it was dark, I could barely see their faces...but I know both were having the best laugh!

Doc

Your running rich. When i had this problem i found it was a dirty airbox lid the two little holes that let in air were clogged with a mixture of oil and dirt. Does it always run this way or only when its warmed up?

Clean the carb 5-6 times...clean clean clean. I found that if you dip the carb in cleaning acid from the auto parts store works best. You also prob. have the throtle cable installed wrong, check the groves on the slider. The small grove should go towards the idle screw.

Okay...

Kenny- It always seem to run this way. I need to figure out how to lean it out. Of course, I have looked at the throttle cable and needle- as I turn it, I can watch it move freely. But it doesn't really seem to have much impact on the carb when it's running.

Gamemedic- It seems to run better after I spray carb cleaner into it.
As for the slider, I noted the grooves and make sure it is in correctly.

Having the manual online (now on my harddrive) is a plus for this site.

Doc

This evening, I gave it a good run. I got up to about 15 mph, and going uphill made it at about 7 mph. Throttle didn't seem to make a lot of difference whether it was closed or wide open.

I pulled the throttle cap at the carb, I have excellent range of movement up and down with the needle....

I really need to get this little beastie running, so I can drive it to and from work. distance is only 5 miles (to and from) and parking has just become horrible!

Doc

Have a caliper? If so ID your main jet somebody might have drilled it out or something. DONT clean the jets with a drill bit it will ruin the jet.