Friday, September 12, 2008
Throttle
So my throttle cable had in fact broken inside the housing. It is in quite rusty and dead-looking in many places. What this means is there probably never was any oil put on it, even though it should have been lubricated at the factory. Any king of initial lubrication should have lasted to this point. Because the throttle never felt too stiff, I never got to lubricating the cable myself, though probably should have. The lesson here is obviously to lubricate your cable before it's too late.
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9 comments:
i check your blog every couple days. thanks so much for the useful info.
i'm sort of a mechanical moron, so you may have to forgive this question.
but, why does my baron not want to start on cold damp mornings? i keep it in the garage. it is an 05 150-R.
i usually just keep "cranking" it until it starts up. it has done it the past two mornings. the temp at night has been down to 50ish...
Yeah, mine does the same thing - difficult to start frequently. I've thought that increasing the idle might help - but the idle speed seems alright otherwise so I really don't want to mess with it.
I wanted to ask you though - What type of lubricant would one use to lubricate the cable to avoid this problem?
I hope you're able to get the Baron up and running again soon!
Justin: my friend recommended something called "Cable Life". I have found it online, but I want to just pop into a B&M for it.
Ah, here it is: http://www.protectall.com/cable_life.htm
@Leslie
Thanks for the advice. I'll see if I can find that locallaly for sure.
I got the ipression that you think this is my blog. I wish I could say it was, but I'm just another reader like yourself. The blog owner is "yl" - He really should make that more apparent and turn on his profile :)
Cheers,
Justin
LOL yes Justin I should do that! That also means getting it in order. I am in fact posting from two different accounts!
The cable lubricant that Leslie found is what most people seem to be using. It is sold in any bike shop for about $10. The special thing about it the aluminum bracket that goes around the cable so you can force the lubricant between the jacket and the cable (cable fits quite snugly).
I used to think that you had to take apart the throttle bracket (or at least get to it) to lubricate the cable, but it appears that undoing the nut on the bent brass tube that goes down from the throttle into a kind of rubber jacket should do it. This is where the cable housing starts - it is free cable about that point upward and so you can just spray up the tube. I would have to check to make sure my memory does not betray me.
To the person with the comment at the top - my scoot sometimes seems crankier after the rain as well, but it always starts. Most likely the issue is your battery. Any battery looses capacity in the cold and it may discharge a little from the moisture in the air. You can check the voltage but it will not tell you anything about the max current that the (cold) battery can output. I've also heard of people having to change their batteries right after buying a new scooter!
Yarko
Thanks Yarko!
Hey I just had an idea about the starting issue as well.
My scooter has a pop-cock(?) - a little plastic vessel that lives in between 2 sections of the fuel line and holds a small amount of fuel. It leaks very slowly, and my understanding is that vacuum pressure is responsible for operating the valve that allows fuel to flow into it.
Could it be that sitting overnight allows time for a significant amount of fuel to leak out? It seems like there should be enough fuel left in the line to supply the engine for startup, but I dunno...
I think I'm going to replace that thing either way ;)
@Yarko
I did get some "Penetrating Graphite Oil" and am working on a post in the style taken from your blog. I've got lots of pictures and am working on capping them before I post the blog on how I lubbed up my rear brake and throttle cables.
On another somewhat different topic. I had my own first "break-down", and have just written a post about it. You should have a look at my scooter category:
http://justin-hopkins.com/category/scooting
I'd appreciate any advice you or your readers might offer :)
@Justin: Sorry; I was a bit unclear. I can see how my talking to two different people in the same comment might be confusing. :)
The first statement was meant for YL; the second one was in answer to your comment.
I need to track down some of that lubricant myself. Stiff throttle over here; bleh.
I search out your blog in google and very useful information is there on your blog.
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