"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
11/23/2018 at 11:55 • Filed to: Two Wheels Good, wrenching
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"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
11/23/2018 at 11:55 • Filed to: Two Wheels Good, wrenching | 4
| 7 |
The saga of the dead CF Moto ends today and Phoenix will rise!
(I finally found the second Oppo Trans decal I bought from Dusty a couple years ago. )
This morning I installed the new battery and gave the electrics a try. Perfect, everything’s working.
Gave it a hit of the start button and nothing. Hmmm...
Up until this point I was searching Google for “CF Moto Fashion [problem].” However, this time around I kept striking out. I couldn’t figure out why the dash clicked but the scooter wouldn’t even bother to engage the starter.
Frustrated, I shorted the start solenoid and the starter came to life!
It was then I stepped back and looked at the scooter.
Wait, this thing is basically a near perfect clone of a Honda Helix, right? Well maybe we should be searching for “Honda Helix [problem].”
Sure enough, I looked up the Helix starting procedure and found my issue.
Myself and the most recent previous owner tried to start it like a Chinese bike: Lightly h old the rear brake then start.
However, this one starts like the Honda it copies: Kickstand up, rear brake fully down. Within seconds I heard the sweet sounds of a starter motor.
At this point all I have to do is see if I can convert the bad petrol into the tank into something useful then get the engine going. With only 850 miles on the clock it should be road ready with just an oil change.
I also finally figured out the radio.
In 2008s and older they had a cassette deck in the boot. Of course this made it impossible to change radio channels or cassettes on the road, so for my little 2009 and newer they tried something new.
This doohickey on the bars changes radio station and volume...of course no screen so LOL i f you want to know what station you’re listening to. The USB port in the glovebox is actually for a USB drive filled with MP3s. Think I’ll end up replacing this sound system for something more functional.
To summarize, this scooter wasn’t actually dead, but everyone tasked with taking care of it sucked at that job. At 850 miles the starter solenoid failed on the original owner. The person who replaced it installed it backwards, creating a mysterious issue where there’s a faint sizzling sound but the scooter is otherwise dead. Since nobody could figure it out, OG owner sold it. The scooter passed through two subsequent owners who couldn’t solve the issue before it ended up in my hands. And now with like $40 invested I will have it running.
Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Mercedes Streeter
11/23/2018 at 11:58 |
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Shit, it has a RADIO?!
winterlegacy, here 'till the end
> Mercedes Streeter
11/23/2018 at 12:00 |
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God, the seat on that thing looks like it’d be amazing to just sit on for hours on end, even if you’re not moving.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/23/2018 at 12:06 |
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I’ve ridden a Helix
It’s the most comfortable thing on wheels.
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
11/23/2018 at 12:11 |
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Honda Helix - made when the goldwing engineers are told to prepare for a fuel crisis.
Kiltedpadre
> Mercedes Streeter
11/23/2018 at 12:22 |
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That’s a fine job of sleuthing that you’ve done there. I bet it felt great to hear it fire up when so many before you missed the issue.
How hard would it be to drain or suck out the old gas? If you can get enough out it’d be easier to dilute it with fresh gas and make it usable. Of course that all depends on how much bad gas you’re dealing with.
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Mercedes Streeter
> Kiltedpadre
11/23/2018 at 15:12 |
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About a quarter tank of really brown gas. That said, I did what I did with the Gambler scooter and made the rest of the tank consisting of premium fuel plus every fuel additive from the dollar store with a fire and e xplosion warning symbol on it.
Current top speed is about 75! Once I finish replacing missing body panels and doing more tuning I could probably get it to hit 85 or maybe even more.
shop-teacher
> Mercedes Streeter
11/24/2018 at 09:21 |
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Good work!
I moved my Helix yesterday from Bill's to another buddy's place who's going to dig into it.