Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Hey guys,

When I start up the spree and take it for a little spin, it wants to idle at about 15-20 mph. I've tried changing the idle and air screw without any noticeable changes. I replaced the throttle cable and is working fine now. I cleaned the carb out and looked good.

The previous owner drilled about 8 holes in the top of the air element lid and drilled more holes in the air element. I have a new air element on its way and I just gorilla glued the holes on the lid shut.

Any ideas of what I can do to bring this idle speed way down?

Youre getting extra air from somewhere. First see if the carb barrel isnt fully seated. Take off the airbox and boot, have a look into the carb to see the barrel height. There should only be a small sliver of opening at the bottom of the barrel at zero throttle position. This tiny gap allows just enough air for idle and the idle screw adjusts the barrel up/down ever so slightly. If theres a huge gap…thats your “extra air” problem.

If the barrel looks fully seated at zero throttle and has a nice tiny gap…your problem is elsewhere. Look for air leaks at every connection from carb, intake, base and head gasket, crank seals, etc….FIND THAT LEAK!

Good work on covering the drilled holes. Duct tape works just fine too. The stock Spree needs the back-pressure of a sealed airbox lid to be happy. Extra holes are for those that monkey with big bore kits which I DO NOT recommend on the Spree motor. Big can-o-worms there. Get a new filter, oil it, seal the box lid, fix the air leak and she’ll probably sing like jay bird for ya!

I appreciate your comments!

Took a couple pics so you'd get a better idea of what I'm looking at.

Here is inside the carb where the air boot attaches. I'm guessing based on your comment that my barrel is set too high and should be nudged down a bit.

Here is the airbox lid. The factory drilled hole in the middle is ok? It doesnt have a screw or anything with it.

Mystery solved. That barrel be backwards….either that or its a throttle cable issue. Too short, massive kink, etc. Also when you unscrew the carb cap there should be a long spring between the barrel and cap. That spring is what forces the barrel back down to idle position when you let the grip go. If that spring isnt there, you’ll twist the grip and revv the motor and it will stay there….yay, cruise control!

Awesome. Thanks for the help guys. I'm away from home right now so I can't make the change and test it but when I do, I'll report back either way.

Side note: the hole in the middle of the airbox lid needs a screw. If you run without it, the lid will fly off and probably be gone forever. Find a random coarse thread screw and put it in….FYI, airbox lids are getting hard to come by these days and when you do find one, they arent cheap.

Alright, I had some time to work on it. Couldn't get anything much better to happen with the idle.

Example video of my spree's idle being super high. Tire spinning fast with no pull on the throttle. AND both idle adjustment screws are fully seated.

Screwing them in and out (starting with the air screw (right below the throttle cable), the service manual says start 1 7/8 turns out and the other screw fully seated then going from there. Playing with the screw settings doesn't seem to help the idle speed at all.
https://youtu.be/awjDiVdKbsk

I tried to rotate the throttle barrel 180 degrees but it didn't seem to fit that way. Here are a couple of pictures to help show the orientation of the barrel. The first picture shows the way I have the barrel going in, there is a long slot on the other side of the barrel that seems to line up with the little groove inside the carb. The second picture shows how deep the barrel goes when 'fully seated'. The throttle, when pulled, moves the barrel up out of the way and seems to be working correctly.
I know motormike said my barrel is backwards, any idea of why I couldn't get it to flip around/do you still think I have it backwards. Thank you for the help. I'm a noob.

The idle adjustment screw is the one with the spring on it, right? I tried pulling that screw out and just starting to screw it in and I'm still idling super high. No noticable difference. Is my throttle barrel not far enough down? So it's almost half * the whole time.

The other screw (air screw? The one without the spring) I have turned 1 7/8 turns out from lightly seated, as per the manual.

I did buy a throttle cable because the one that was on it was seized. Perhaps it's just a little short? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-NQ50-NQ- ... 632-2357-0

Thats the one I have

Messing with it a bit more. I think the issue is how I have the throttle at the handlebars setup. It's not letting enough cable through the casing to let the barrel fully sit within the carb. More tinkering.

That did the trick.. took apart the throttle assembly at the handlebars and played with it till I felt like putting it back together for a try. Now the idle adjustment screw actually does something.

Phew. Thanks for the help.

BOTH screws should have a spring on them.