Modern Buddy

My 2009 Buddy 125 with 6800 miles, starts up fine, goes into a very fast idle and then just cuts out after about 20 seconds of fast idling. After it cuts out, I can start her back up with no problem, but it just dies again after a few seconds. The gas tank has plenty of gas, I have set the valve clearances to spec, the carb and jets are spotless and clear of any debris, verified fuel flow and good spark and just about everything else I can think of, but nothing seems to help the problem. Does it sound like an air leak somewhere? I'm stumped and ready to throw in the towel. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Let me look at a Buddy 125 carb I have. I saw this same problem on a 2T and it was the pilot jet. I cleaned the jet several times, them replaced it. Problem never returned with the new jet.

I had a similar problem w/ my 125. Wen't through my carb 3 times, replaced the petcock & spark plug and checked my valves. Ended up being a bad spark plug cap. Ran fine at high rpms, at idle it would die.

You’re getting those first 20 seconds because the engine is running rich due to the auto choke, which shuts off after about that much time. So the engine stalls after running lean. That’s probably due to a clogged idle jet, as mentioned. If you jump on the scoot and drive off at full throttle during those 20 seconds, does it run more or less normally? Again a sign that the idle jet is clogged.

Does it idle properly after being run at high speed for several minutes? If that’s the case, it may be that colder fall/winter temperatures require a slightly higher idle speed to maintain idle on a cold engine. That is an easy adjustment of the carb…or, just put up with a slightly finicky cold engine during these months.

Thanks for the advice! I’ll open the carb and check the idle jet again.