Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

I recently took my moms 86 honda spree out of our shed and tried to start it up since it had not worked in two years. I tried to start it with the electric starter and the kick start and neither worked. So I stripped her down cleaned the carb, checked the muffler for excess carbon, cleaned off the spark plug, drained out the gas and put in new gas. And when I tried to start it It will start up and run OK at idle for about 4 seconds and then sputter out within 2 seconds. If I give it gas at startup it will run for about 6 seconds no matter how much throttle I give it and then die out within 2 or 3 seconds. Any diagnosis or reccomendations?

clean the carb again..and again..and again..and again.

and again and again and again and keep doing it until it runs.

and then a few more times just for the * of it.

Alright haha, sounds like a plan, tonight was the second clean and I'm out of carb cleaner so I will pick up some more tommorow, clean it a few more times and let all of you know how it goes. Thanks for the help. What is it in the carb that would cause this?

chevyguyjay wrote:make sure the idle jet is cleaned to. thats why it wont idle.

The idle jet is so small when clean you can only see a pinprick of light through it with a really bright light.

chevyguyjay wrote:make sure the idle jet is cleaned to. thats why it wont idle.

is there a pic or diagram of the idle jet? taking my carb apart for the first time tonight...wish me luck

I have an 86 that I haven't been able to get started yet

Be extremely careful when pulling the emulsion tube out (brass idle tube). If it is clogged you can soak it in a coke bottle for a while (day or more), then use a sewing needle if you need to poke out the varnish that is left. You will want to soak it again after that b/c it will not be open totally with a sewing needle. There is also another brass tube after the main jet(make sure main jet is clean too) that can be pushed out from the top of the carb body. This has airmixture holes that can also get crap in them. Push it out with something small that won't mar the brass up, b/c your throttle needle needs to go where you are pushing. If those two are out and cleaned perfectly, you shouldn't have any carb problems as long as your float and needle are good. Then you just have to tune it. Good luck.

once all of those tubes are out, just make sure air flows well throughout the body in all holes, there are three on the air intake side that meet up with fuel, make sure it flows free.

My bad, the emulsion tube is the one that the main jet screws into. Sorry for the bad terminology.