Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

I stopped using my spree a couple years back when it became quite difficult to start it. There was a delay in when I would twist the throttle and the engine would respond.

I recently replaced the fuse and it has started okay, but after about a second it will die out. I typically need to use starter fluid in order to get it started, but this has always been the case for this particular scooter (i have a second spree which had the same issue of delay in throttle, which I haven't checked out. If anyone has ideas on what causes this, that would be helpful as well). Any ideas on how to keep it running?

Clean clean clean the carb, do a plug chop, instructions for both in tech docs.

Would a dirty carb cause the delay between twisting the throttle and the engine reving?

I cleaned the carb, but apparently not enough. It still does the same thing where it starts for a couple seconds and then dies. Does this mean I should clean the carb again?

I have a second spree that has the exact same issue, and currently am soaking its carb in cleaner. It seemed quite a bit dirtier. Is there any good way to get rid of what appears to be crystals in the bowl and around the outside of the jet, and whatever tube is next to the jet, other than just letting it soak in cleaner?

The delay is either due to dirty carb, specifically the emulsion tube where the needle seats, or that the cable is not adjusted properly. There is an adjuster right under the right handgrip that can be adjusted for play in the cable. If you have the cable set proper, when you turn the throttle, the piston and needle should move upward bringing in more air/fuel mix. There is no other reason I can think of that opening the throttle would not result in the motor immediately speeding up. Since you have two bikes that are doing the same very odd thing, I can't help but wonder what you are doing that nobody else is doing...are you dumping something weird in the gas tank or something like that?

-aseigler

Both of them ran without air filters for about a month, and both had holes in the tube from the air filter box to the carb. I've put in air filters, and am working on getting the holes patched (they are pretty small, anyways). Both have had starter fluid sprayed into the carb through said holes. Other than that, I think those are the only things that were done improperly on both of them.

When i start them up for the one or two seconds, there doesn't seem to be any issues between twisting the throttle and the engine responding.

My spree was also dieing soon after starting regardless of what kind of throttle position I tried.

I cleaned the carb (blew it out with compressed air so I know all the ports are clear) and fiddled with idle and mixture screws and now it will idle but acts like it is starving for fuel when I wind it up. If I wind it up slowly, the rpm will increase but then it stahls out right after it hits peak rpm. I have clear fuel lines so I know the bowl is full.

I am concerned that the electric choke has something to do with the the problem because I can only get it to idle with the choke wires disconnected

any help will be appreciated.

He is not the only one with the bike starting and then dying. I just bought an '86 Spree with 99.7 miles on it. Needless to say it hasn't been ran for some time. I cleaned the tank, carb, needle and all of the jets (all I could find), blew them out or ran wire through the holes. New petcock and battery.

The Spree started the first time and ran really fast spewing oily exhaust for a couple of minutes. Now the bike will start right up but only run for a few seconds and then dies. If I give it any throttle, it dies immediately. The gas line is about 3/4 full of gas.

Any suggestions???

well sounds like it ant adjusted right for one... what kind of oil did you put in it?
you have to use 2 cycle injector oil

Put Yamalube 2S in it. Since the last post I looked at the Clean The Carb article and have removed the carb and cleaned the tube under the jet that is screwed in (I forget the name of it). I haven't put the carb back on yet. I think I dropped a little needle jet and can't find it. I was about 1/2 inch long and had a c-clip on the end (I think). I came in to look at the carb manual to find where it went but could not find the needle in the manual.

That goes in the end of the throttle cable, the piston that moves up and down in the top of the carb with the needle on the end.

-aseigler

I didn't take that spring apart from the slide. This spring is about 5/8 inch long and 1/8 inch around. I am pretty sure it goes on the needle in the by-starter(?).

OK, I think I found the problem with mine. It is running fine and idles good. The problem was the tube under the throttle needle was slightly plugged up. I looked at the Clean The Carb write up and saw the tube. When I cleaned my carb before I didn't know the tube was there.

The throttle needle goes down into a brass looking tube which has very little holes in the sides of it. You have to take the float bowl off and push the tube out from the top. The article says not to use anything metal to do this. I sanded a small wooden dowel to push it out. The tube has about eight little holes on the sides I pushed a small wire through. A couple of them were plugged up even though when I cleaned the carb before the carb was in a bucket of carb cleaner overnight. After pushing the wire through, I sprayed with carb cleaner.

Whoopee, it is running like a champ. Now has 102 miles on it.

I forgot to thank you guys for a great forum and for the help.

Thanks guys. Keep up the good work.

Shame on you for using wire on a brass carb part. That is a bad, bad idea. Go punish yourself accordingly, then go forth and sin no more.

Glad to hear that it's working though, especially since it was the emulsion tube clogged for you. That's at least twice in the past couple of weeks that new bit of info has completely fixed someone's bike.

-aseigler