Spree Stalls when I sit on it

[gfisher99]

Hey guys,

Purchashed a 1986 Spree today from a local seller. He said he had done quite a bit of work to it, but upon teardown inspection, there is a lot of work to do. Whomever performed the work for him didnt do the best job either.

Anyways, as the title states, I can get this scoot to start, however, if I lean it over, or sit on it, it stalls immediately. I have cleaned the carb (but would like further explanation on the pilot hole and what I should be looking for. Does this issue seem carb related? Could I be losing vaccum in the crankcase?

For the life of me though, I cannot figure out why sitting on the scoot (which changes the angle of the engine) would cause the bike to stall/not run. Have any of you experienced anything like this? If its on the kickstand, it runs fine. Once I take it off, it stalls. If I start it off the kickstand, it stalls when moved pretty much in any direction.

I have checked petcock and it seems fine. There's fuel in the bowl (its cold). I got it up to about 25MPH via WOT for about 100 yards, I presume I could have kept going, but I had to slow down to turn. Once I turned, it did the "whaaaaaaaaaaa, stall"...

Please let me know if you have any ideas where I could start to troubleshoot this, I would greatly appreciate it.

Greg

[martynkim]

Dear god man! what do you weigh??? Just kidding. Sounds like an electrical short to me. check the coil see if it is on all the way. loose wires etc... pictures???

[gfisher99]

Haha, I wish it was just my weight Im only 175...

To test for electrical issues, I had it idling on the kicker and started touching/moving all of the harnesses near the crankcase pivot, the coil, the rectifier, etc. Nothing killed it. I agree, it seems like something is grounding out, but those tests showed nothing wrong.

I will take some pictures in the morning - this thing aint real pretty right now

Please keep the ideas coming!

Thanks
Greg

[Bear45-70]

Sounds like a carb float level issue, either way low or way high.

[gfisher99]

Is there a good way to test the float level?

[martynkim]

Open up the carb and inspect it. make sure the needle is connected to the float. I've seen a couple carbs where someone just dropped in the needle and didn't connect it. Won't allow the float to rise.

[gfisher99]

Yeah, I had it open twice today making sure it was clean/cleaning it. The float needle is correctly inserted into the float.

I did notice the float needle's rubber tip isnt "perfect". Hard to explain, but appears to have a burr on the tip (with the naked eye, anyways). I would think I would be getting overflow if it wasnt sealing correctly, though.

I appreciate you guys' willingness to help! Not going to be able to sleep tonight, dang it! lol

[martynkim]

Is there anything else consistent when it dies? I mean will it die when you put weight on it every time or will it run sometimes and sometimes not?

[gfisher99]

Dies everytime, but if I give it some throttle as I sit, it will almost stall out, chugg along for a few seconds, then somtimes still die, sometimes come up to speed (thats how I got it up to 25mph the ONE time).

[martynkim]

Perhaps a cracked fuel line? Sit down and the crack expands? IDK

[desperado]

Sit down and the crack expands

LOL

sorry, carry on

[martynkim]

Sit down and the crack expands

LOL

sorry, carry on

Nice, Didn't think about it when I typed it

[gfisher99]

Did a little more "see what makes it die" just now. It appears that it will only die when sat on, or when leaned to the left (carb side).

I leaned it to the left while straddling it, not sitting to rule out pinched wiring/moving wiring - it still died. I guess we can rule out electrical unless these things have a tip sensor? I doubt they do - but my CBR600RR had one...

If I lean it to the exhaust side, it stays running nicely.

What could cause that??? Petcock? I tested the petcock with it vertical, and tipped, and the flow looked the same.

[martynkim]

At this point I would begin disconnecting wiring. checking plugs, connections,grounds 1 by 1 and reconnecting it.

[Bear45-70]

A cracked fuel line would leak and not shout the motor off instantly, same applies to a vacuum line. Again check your float level.