TaoTao 50cc scooter issues.

SkippySuzuki72 · 07-28-2018, 08:28 PM

Hello all. It’s been sometime since I’ve posted anything since I was looking for Loncin (Tank Guangzhou) enduro parts. Well, like my Loncin (which I junked), I’m absolutely at my wits end with my little TaoTao. It’s the standard 50cc (some call the Campus Scooter) and it’s a 2013 model. I purchased this scooter in 2016. That first season, it ran perfectly. In the Spring of 2017 when I went to get it ready, it wouldn’t start. That time, after a lot of tinkering, it was vacuum issues. It hardly got ridden in 2017. Well, it’s 2018 & I’ve been battling this p.o.s. for months now. First, I could get it started but, it wouldn’t stay running or idling. As long as I stayed into the throttle, it’d go down the road. Come to s stop & it’d die. Then, it would be hard to start. I had to twist the throttle all the way open to get it to start. It sat for a month or so. Then when I went back to it, it wouldn’t even stay running long enough to go down my alley. Then to accompany this issue, it started belching fuel out the bottom of the air cleaner housing. So, I took a trip to a local guy that knows the Chinese machines & he suggested one of two possibilities. The little vacuum operated fuel pump on the frame or the needle & seat (I think?). Anyway, the little pump didn’t just pour fuel when I disconnected the fuel line so, I assume the diaphragm is ok. Then I took the carb off & gave it a thorough cleaning. And an oil change of course! So, now it would go down the road much as before. So long as it was wide open & you kept the gas on at stops to keep it running. I decided for the price of a new carb, I’d just get one & put it on. Again a month or so went by & I just got back to it today. I adjusted the fuel/air mixture 1 & 1/2 turns out to start. I adjusted the throttle to where it was nice & tight, no slop. Put a new o-ring in the intake housing to eliminate the chance of a vacuum leak there. Replaced the vacuum lines again just to be on the safe side. Then gave it a go. It was a little hard starting but, once it did, it sounded promising. However, that didn’t last long enough to even get things properly adjusted. I had to adjust the idle screw almost all the way in to keep it running & that only lasted for a little bit. I think I got the mixture screw right but, who knows. It wouldn’t stay running long enough to make sure. It just got harder & harder to start till I finally ran my battery down. At that point, I parked it. As I was leaving the garage, I took one last look at it & noticed oil on the floor under the air box. I opened it up and sure enough, it was leaking back through the air box inlet hose. So, the only thing that I could think of was that I had overfilled the oil. When I checked the oil, it was overfilled alright... with gas & oil!!!! Again! WTF? What am I doing wrong? This p.o.s. is a hop, skip & a jump away from the scrap heap. Any suggestions?

tortoise · 07-29-2018, 01:25 AM

SkippySuzuki72 · 09-23-2018, 02:44 PM

Hello all,
Before I go any farther, I want to say thank you for the valuable information this forum provides & thanks to the YouTubers our there who are doing self help videos for the likes of boneheads such as myself. Now, down to business. There’s a wealth of information on the idiosyncrasies of these Chinese machines but, I’m really at my wits end. Before I can do carb adjustments or check to see if I have a vacuum leak somewhere or should even bother with a valve adjustment, I need to get the bastard thing to keep the oil and the gas separated from each other. Why is my crankcase filling up with gasoline?!!! By the time I see it come trickling out my air filter housing, it’s maxed out & it just dumps out of the oil fill hole when I pull the dipstick. Why is this happening? Can someone please explain what exactly is going on here?

07-28-2018, 08:28 PM	#1
SkippySuzuki72 Join Date: Dec 2017 Posts: 7	TaoTao 50cc scooter issues. Hello all. It’s been sometime since I’ve posted anything since I was looking for Loncin (Tank Guangzhou) enduro parts. Well, like my Loncin (which I junked), I’m absolutely at my wits end with my little TaoTao. It’s the standard 50cc (some call the Campus Scooter) and it’s a 2013 model. I purchased this scooter in 2016. That first season, it ran perfectly. In the Spring of 2017 when I went to get it ready, it wouldn’t start. That time, after a lot of tinkering, it was vacuum issues. It hardly got ridden in 2017. Well, it’s 2018 & I’ve been battling this p.o.s. for months now. First, I could get it started but, it wouldn’t stay running or idling. As long as I stayed into the throttle, it’d go down the road. Come to s stop & it’d die. Then, it would be hard to start. I had to twist the throttle all the way open to get it to start. It sat for a month or so. Then when I went back to it, it wouldn’t even stay running long enough to go down my alley. Then to accompany this issue, it started belching fuel out the bottom of the air cleaner housing. So, I took a trip to a local guy that knows the Chinese machines & he suggested one of two possibilities. The little vacuum operated fuel pump on the frame or the needle & seat (I think?). Anyway, the little pump didn’t just pour fuel when I disconnected the fuel line so, I assume the diaphragm is ok. Then I took the carb off & gave it a thorough cleaning. And an oil change of course! So, now it would go down the road much as before. So long as it was wide open & you kept the gas on at stops to keep it running. I decided for the price of a new carb, I’d just get one & put it on. Again a month or so went by & I just got back to it today. I adjusted the fuel/air mixture 1 & 1/2 turns out to start. I adjusted the throttle to where it was nice & tight, no slop. Put a new o-ring in the intake housing to eliminate the chance of a vacuum leak there. Replaced the vacuum lines again just to be on the safe side. Then gave it a go. It was a little hard starting but, once it did, it sounded promising. However, that didn’t last long enough to even get things properly adjusted. I had to adjust the idle screw almost all the way in to keep it running & that only lasted for a little bit. I think I got the mixture screw right but, who knows. It wouldn’t stay running long enough to make sure. It just got harder & harder to start till I finally ran my battery down. At that point, I parked it. As I was leaving the garage, I took one last look at it & noticed oil on the floor under the air box. I opened it up and sure enough, it was leaking back through the air box inlet hose. So, the only thing that I could think of was that I had overfilled the oil. When I checked the oil, it was overfilled alright... with gas & oil!!!! Again! WTF? What am I doing wrong? This p.o.s. is a hop, skip & a jump away from the scrap heap. Any suggestions?
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09-23-2018, 02:44 PM	#3
SkippySuzuki72 Join Date: Dec 2017 Posts: 7	TaoTao 50cc scooter issues Hello all, Before I go any farther, I want to say thank you for the valuable information this forum provides & thanks to the YouTubers our there who are doing self help videos for the likes of boneheads such as myself. Now, down to business. There’s a wealth of information on the idiosyncrasies of these Chinese machines but, I’m really at my wits end. Before I can do carb adjustments or check to see if I have a vacuum leak somewhere or should even bother with a valve adjustment, I need to get the bastard thing to keep the oil and the gas separated from each other. Why is my crankcase filling up with gasoline?!!! By the time I see it come trickling out my air filter housing, it’s maxed out & it just dumps out of the oil fill hole when I pull the dipstick. Why is this happening? Can someone please explain what exactly is going on here?
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07-29-2018, 01:25 AM	#2
tortoise Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 221
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