150cc cheap mopeds

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1. Scooter Maintenance

   Scooter maintenance is pretty important. It’s even more important than on a car because the engine has to work harder and component failure can more easily lead to loss of control.

   Perhaps the most important and easiest item of maintenance is to regularly check the oil level and change the oil at frequent intervals. We suggest changing the oil at least every 1000 miles is a good idea. The oil capacity is less than 1 liter and so an oil change costs about $3 and takes about 5 minutes. It’s cheap insurance to keep your engine running for as long as possible. Most of the manual recommends changing the transmission oil every 2000 miles or 6 months. Since it only takes about 100ml of oil (which costs under $1) and takes a couple of minutes to do, don’t skimp on transmission oil changes. We recommend using Castrol 10-30W engine oil and Castrol 80/90 transmission gear oil. Which oil you use is less important than how often you change it, though you probably should avoid using pure synthetic oil in a scooter, especially during the break in period. Once you have several thousand miles on the engine, a synthetic blend may be OK, but you should still change the oil regularly.

   Checking tire pressure regularly is also very important. Unlike a car, a scooter only has two wheels and tire problems can lead more easily to a loss of control and possible injury, so making sure your tire pressures are correct makes sense.

   Though a standard maintenance schedule calls for checking bolt tightness every 1000 miles or 6 months, it certainly doesn’t hurt to do it more frequently.

   Every 250 miles or every month:

   Check engine oil level
   Check tire pressure
   Check lights and horn
   Check battery level
   Every 1000 miles or every 6 months

   Change engine oil
   Check tires for wear
   Check valve stems for splits or cracks
   Check brakes and throttle operation. Lubricate cables if required
   Check all screws nuts and bolts and tighten. Especially check muffler and exhaust fasteners and front and rear axles
   Every 2000 miles or every year

   Change the transmission oil
   Check and adjust valve clearance
   Clean air cleaner
   Check and clean (or replace) spark plug
   Check brake linings.
   Check/clean/lubricate brake and throttle cables.
   Check CVT drive belt for wear and cracks
   Check wheel and steering bearings
   Though not exactly maintenance, We’d recommend carrying a basic tool kit at all times. That would include the following items:

   3/8″ drive metric socket set
   Flat blade and Phillips head screwdrivers
   Roll of electrical tape
   Roll of duct tape
   Pair of pliers
   Pair or wire cutters
   Flashlight (LED type for long battery life)
   Short length of wire
   Set of metric wrenches
   Short length of fuel/vacuum hose
   Spark plug wrench and spare spark plug
   A few nylon cable ties

   Scooter Brake-In

   Different manufacturers recommend different break in procedures. For example most of our scooters manufacturers recommend the following:

   0-150km maximum speed 30km/hr
   151-300km maximum speed 40km/hr
   301-800km maximum speed 50km/hr
   801-1500km maximum speed 60km/hr
   Of course the speedometer is calibrated in mph and the odometer reads in miles, so some translation is needed. In round numbers these instructions correspond to:

   0-100 miles maximum speed 20 mph
   101-200 miles maximum speed 25 mph
   201-500 miles maximum speed 30 mph
   501-1000 miles maximum speed 40 mph
   What we recommend is to use the “ride it like you’ll ride it (but gently)” technique. That involves riding pretty gently for the first 25 miles (speed under 30 mph, revs under 4000 rpm), then changing the original Chinese engine and transmission oil. The original oil might be OK or it might be “cheap and nasty”. You have no real way of telling, so change it, then you’ll be sure. You may replace the original oils with Castrol GTX 10-30W in the engine and Castrol Hypoid 80/90 gear oil in the transmission. For the next 175 miles (25-200) you still should take it quite easy with no rapid acceleration, keeping the speed down below 40mph or 5000 rpm, then go ahead change the engine oil again. Since there is no real oil filter (the “filter” is just a mesh screen), changing the oil during the break-in period makes sense since it removes small metal particulates that the filter just won’t catch.

   During the break in period try to vary the engine speed as much as possible. This isn’t particularly easy with a CVT scooter since they tend to try to keep the revs pretty constant and change speed by changing the gear ratio. It is good to speed up and slow down and not ride at a constant throttle setting for long periods. Also avoid rapid starts and let the engine warm up for about a minute before moving off when you first start the scooter from cold to allow the oil to circulate. This is good advice even after the initial break-in period too.

   It’s probably not a good idea to use synthetic oil during the break in period. Good old dino (dinosaur!) oil is probably what you should use. Synthetic oil may be too slippery and not allow the parts (mainly the piston rings) to “bed in” properly. We suggest to stick with the manufacturer’s recommendation (typically 10-30W) until after the break in period of 500-1000 miles. Then you can switch to a synthetic blend if you want to. Amsoil make a synthetic oil which they claim is specially designed for scooters.

   Our break-in technique is to gradually increase speed over the next 300 miles (201-500) and at 500 miles do another oil change. After break-in, the engine oil should be changed at least every 1000 miles as part of normal routine maintenance.

   Comment by master — 05/12/2010 @ 3:15 pm

2. Scooter Oil Change

   What we are going to describe is how to change the engine and transmission oil in a 150cc Chinese scooter with a 4 stroke engine. The procedure should be pretty similar on 50cc and 250cc models with 4 stroke engines. 2 stroke engines mix gas and oil and so have no engine oil to be changed.

   We’d recommend changing the engine oil at least every 1000 miles, and the transmission oil at least every 2000 miles. Regular oil changes are the easiest and cheapest way to maximize the life of your engine. Scooters take so little oil that it should cost less than $5 to do and once you know how to do it, it should take you more than 10-15 minutes. It’s time and money well spent.

   The first thing to do is to warm up the engine. Run it for a few minutes so that the oil is warm. That way it will flow easier. If you run it until the engine is hot, or you change the oil after you come back from a trip, that’s OK, but you run the risk of burning yourself on the exhaust or with the hot oil. Be careful.

   Find some level ground and put the scooter on its center stand. If the ground isn’t level you won’t get an accurate reading of the oil level when you put the new oil in. To change the engine oil you’ll need a wrench to remove the oil drain plus, a flat dish container with a capacity of about 1/2 gallon and a funnel. First remove the “dipstick” which you use to check your oil. We’d also recommend you wear rubber gloves, or at least on? the hand you use to remove the oil drain plus. On most scooters there is a spring which will push the plug out when you have fully unscrewed it and oil will pour out of the drain hole, all over your hand. It’s just messy if the oil is cool or warm, but if the oil is really hot it will burn your hand. So wear a glove to be safe.

   Put the container for the used oil below the drain plus, loosen it with a wrench and then slowly unscrew it by hand. As it comes lose, the spring will push it down, so be prepared for that. You may drop the spring and a small wire mesh filter into the draining oil, but that’s OK, you can fish them out later! Give the oil a minute or two to drain out. Make sure the filter is clean and then put the filter, spring and drain plug back. The spring sits on the plug and the filter sits on top of the spring with the mesh basket inside the spring.

   You’ll have to compress the spring to start the drain plus screwing into the engine, but once it does start, tighten it up by hand to make sure it’s not cross-threaded. If it screws in easily, it’s OK. If it doesn’t want to tighten, you’ve probably cross threaded it, so try again. Finally tighten it up with a wrench. It should be tight, but don’t over tighten it. The seal is made with a rubber “O” ring. You just need to tighten it enough so that it doesn’t vibrate lose (which would be a disaster since all your oil would drain and the engine would seize!). The recommended torque on the drain plug is 1.4 kg.m (about 10 ft.lb)

   Now you can add the new oil. It goes into the same hole as the “dipstick” fits in. You’ll almost certainly need a small funnel to get oil into the filler hole without spilling it. Check your user manual for the recommended oil type, but on most Chinese 4 stroke scooters, regular 10-30W or 15-40W engine oil is used. You can use Castrol GTX 10-30W. You can get a 5 quart bottle for around $12 (try WalMart) which is good for at least 5 oil changes on a 150cc scooter. You can also use a synthetic oil blend if you wish, though pure synthetic oil isn’t usually recommended. On a 150cc scooter you’ll need about 0.8-0.9 liters which is just under 1qt. As you add the oil, check the level with the dipstick from time to time and fill to the recommended level. When you have the right level, screw the dipstick back in and you’re done!

   Changing the transmission oil is also very simple. Most scooters recommend changing the oil at least every 2000 miles. At the rear of the CVT on the left side of the bike there are drain and fill plugs for the transmission. Place the oil drain container under the drain plug. Now remove the filler plus first, then the drain plug and about 100 to 200cc of oil will drain out. There should be a sealing washer between the drain plus and the transmission casing. Make sure it’s there and then screw the drain plug back into the transmission case. To refill the transmission, you squirt oil into the fill hole until it runs back out. That’s your level check! Use the recommended oil, which in most cases is 80W-90 gear oil (though a few bikes may recommend using engine oil). To get it into the small hole you can use a small funnel and a short length of small diameter rubber hose. All you need is something to squirt 100-200cc of oil into the hole. You may be able to buy the oil in a plastic bottle with a long plastic tip, which you can use to directly squirt oil to the transmission fill hole. When it starts to run back out, it’s full and you can replace the fill plug (note that it too should have a thin aluminum sealing washer).

   Now run the engine for a minute or two, then check the oil level and add more if necessary. Check for any leakage around the drain plugs. If all looks OK, you’re done for another 1000 miles.

   Comment by master — 05/12/2010 @ 3:15 pm

3. The other adjustment you can make is to the low speed fuel/air (“mixture”) ratio. This is done on most scooters using a screw adjustment on the other side of the carburetor as shown below.

   This screw changes the air to fuel ratio at low speeds. It shouldn’t need much adjustment, but the way to do it is to turn the screw very slightly (1/8th turn) and see if the idle speed goes up or down. If it goes down, turn the screw back 1/8th turn to where it started, then 1/8 turn in the other direction and see if the idle speed goes up or down. If it goes down, turn it back to where you started since you didn’t need any adjustment! If the idle speed goes up, continue turning the screw in 1/8th turn steps until the idle speed is at a maximum. If it starts to go down, turn it back to get the maximum idle speed.

   You may need to go back to the idle speed screw to lower the idle speed if it’s now too fast. So the basic procedure is to set the fuel/air mixture to give you the fastest idle, then use the idle speed adjustment to set the speed to the lowest rpm that gives you smooth running.

   If the scooter idles well and runs fine at low speed, but has problems at high speed, the problem may lie inside the carburetor with the main jet. The fuel/air ratio at higher speeds is set by the jets inside the carburetor and to get at them the carburetor has to be removed and disassembled. This can be a tricky job as the parts are small and delicate. The good news is that these carburetors are quite cheap. You can get a new one for $60-$80, so if you can’t make your scooter run smoothly and you don’t like the idea of taking the carburetor apart, you can always replace it!

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