Modern Buddy

Hey everyone!

I am new to the forum. My name is Federico, and I own three different scooters. A buddy 50, a Yamaha C3, and a Yamaha Vino. I previously owned a Roughhouse 50 too!

Anyway, the buddy is something I got from a friend (2006 with 6K miles) and it has a ton of problems. It originally wouldnt start as it had a blown reed valve, and now it is fixed and has vacuum again.

It has new problems though. If I let it sit overnight, it will not turn back on the next day unless I unplug the fuel line and crank it, which it will then turn on and go, then I can plug the fuel line back in.

To me, it sounds like it is flooding. I originally thought it was the petcock, but I unplugged the fuel line and put it in a jar overnight, and no fuel leaked.

Then I cleaned the carb twice. I noticed the carb is leaking where the bowl meets the top half. The seal is brittle and cracking on top, but I flipped it upside down as it is more fresh on the bottom and it helped, but it still leaks, much slower.
It also lasts longer without "flooding" after the tear down.
The float works, but i am not sure if the cone needle is stopping the gas flow.

My bigger concern is, would this actually flood it? Is the fuel level inside the carb supposed to go higher than the gasket?
If the cone leakes gas into the carb, it should take everything in the gas line until the line is empty, but the scooter will lose gas if left sitting for weeks. Not sure why. The petcock seemed to stop gas flow, but if I suck on it, it requires almost no sucking to get it flow.

It is also very sluggish, almost like it is chocking to drive once it is done. The jets are clean. Any suggestions? I could use as much help as possible.

Anyone? It would be highly appreciated!

Sounds to me like either there's dirt on the float needle sealing surfaces or the float needle needs replacement. The sealing portion of the float needle is rubber so it can dry rot, get damaged by debris in the gas, or rot due to the wonderful gas we must endure these days. If the bowl gasket is rotted and cracked, chances are the sealing surface of the float needle is also rotted. If cleaning doesn't fix it, then a carb rebuild kit will be your next step. The rebuild kit will come with a new float needle along with new bowl gasket.
Also, don't forget to check the float level as a too high setting will cause flooding, hard starting, and leaks.

That's what I am suspecting!

However, I can't find a rebuild kit. I fear I have to buy a new carburetor. Is there a rebuild kit I don't know about?

www.scooterloungeonline.com has the individual parts available, but I didn't see an entire kit. You might want to contact them to see if a kit is available.

I purchased the bowl gasket to stop the leaking and the needle, hopefully those work.

I tested the float on a mug and it floats easily. My question is, it's there an adjustment for the float?
It doesn't seem to have one. Remember this is a 50!

So I fixed the flooding by changing out the bowl gasket and the fuel flow plug. It absolutely doesn't flood anymore and I am very happy about that.

However, an issue remains. It is VERY sluggish. When you rev it on the stand, it doesn't sound healthy, like it's being held back. It also shakes a lot. Spark as I can tell is fine, and it doesn't necessarily bog, it's sluggish and jittery. If I rev it to max for a couple seconds, performance improved for a bit. But only when run hard for several seconds. Then it gets sluggish again after it is turned on cold.
It's bizarre.....

Any ideas?

Did you tune the carb after cleaning it/replacing those seals?

There are 2 adjusters that must be set correctly for proper operation; the idle speed adjustment knob (Black knob) and the enrichment screw (Brass screw next to the idle speed knob) If you get those set correctly (proper instructions can be found on this forum) and you are still having issues, look at the jets next. maybe they were switched out. stock sizes are a 75 main jet and a 35 pilot jet just FYI

Yup, those are the jets the carb has.
I cleaned them as thorough as I could, even boiling them.

I believe my air box may be leaking, but I believe I've improved performance extensively by cleaning the exhaust port on the engine block.
I can't confirm until I try it again after being cold, but performance has improved significantly. It seems normal!

On my 50cc Buddy 2T the rubber boot that affixes to the carb mouth leaked at the airbox and gave me lean conditions. Upon inspection that rubber boot is removable from the airbox. My fix for this was to run a bead of silicone gasket inside the lip that goes into the airbox to create a better seal. no further issues for me on that.

So the lip that connects the airbox to the carburator? Or the tube that lets air into the airbox?

the lip that connects the airbox to the carb. that is where i had a leak on mine