Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

I've been working on my 1987 Elite SE50 over the last few days and I'm moving in the right direction. When I started, the throttle was pretty much unresponsive and the engine bogged whenever I gave it gas. I've found that the problem went away when I moved the needle valve to the top notch AND removed the airbox cover. It now runs fairly well (to my standards) and has much more torque at the rear wheel. Now my question: What should I do to make it run the same way with the airbox cover installed? I've cleaned the carb once and I'm sure a second time wouldn't hurt. I don't know what size main jet it has installed. I know I'm headed somewhat in the right direction, but somebody help me out... Thanks.

Is there any reason that the main jet would be different from the stock jet? Did you change carbs, or just not sure? If you're not sure, it's the first thing you need to check.

Is this a stock bike or a modified one? If it's modified we need more info on what's different before we can start suggesting solutions.

Bogging usually implies that it's a very hollow sound where the engine is usually running too lean possibly causing a lot of harsh mechanical * symptoms under load which is a dead-on sign that's it's too lean.

Sputtering sounds like more of a spitting noise where the engine sounds like it's drowning, which is the sign of it being overly rich.

Removing the air filter makes it run leaner also.

Moving the clip to the top on the needle makes it leaner, the bottom makes it richer. Since you moved it to the top, it's running very lean in that power range. If the carb is stock, I'd start looking into checking the choke first then moving on towards checking for obstructions in the path of air which may indicate why you are perhaps running too rich.

Was there a jet in it? Don't know if it would run without one but just a thought. Check to make sure the bystarter is working properly and also check to make sure that your float is working properly. Check your air filter and replace if it is bad.

To my knowledge, the engine is totally stock. I'll buy a carb rebuild kit and clean it again. That will let me check out the float and main jet more closely. It has always idled well, but the engine wanted to die when I gave it gas. I'm not well versed in carb tuning, but I believe it was running too rich because the problem essentially went away when I removed the airbox. I'll post an update once I'm able to tear into the carb to check things out. Thank you.

You don't need a rebuild kit, you do need to tear into the carb and see what's going on inside.

Sounds just like the prob my 86 has and i have took carb apart 2 times..