Chinascooter

Parallel to all the fun I'm having with the 750, I am also fixing a plastic craptastic no-name Chinese scooter.

This thing really is all plastic. There is staggeringly little metal in it. The motor is a two-stroke with an oil tank. I was very surprised to find a "made in japan" carburetor and an actual NGK plug in it.

There are also some seriously bizarre things about it. Like, the fact that it beeps like a garbage truck backing up when you turn on the turn flasher. Or, the fact that it has what looks like an alarm module. Which you can unplug, and with it unplugged you can start it perfectly fine, but you cannot shut it down.

I've replaced the leaky hoses, put in a fresh plug and battery, gave jets a rinse, and that got it to start and run.

Trouble is, it only runs with no load. Soon as you give it gas to make it go, it dies.

The intake is a thin rubber hose, and I'm wondering if it isn't leaking and allowing too much air in.

 

Ohhh I hate those things so much, anyone asks me to fix one of them now I just say they're not for the road, they're for comedy value only (things such as the "reverse immobiliser" on your example for instance, or the single-use kickstarts that start the engine on a flat battery just fine..... Once, and rip out of the casing in the process)

I'd imagine the intake could well be leaky.

Also, where's the fuel tank, under the floor? the nasty fuel "pumps" can go bad too and not work under load.

 

Underbutt. Tank is in the upper rear of the "toilet bowl" and there is no fuel pump, just gravity feed.

 

I believe that's the "Instant Karma" theft prosecution device.

 

Oh, not seen that before (mind you, as hinted in my first reply I try to avoid these things a bit now :? ). What about petrooster/flow/filter? Tank breather and float bowl breather not blocked?

 

What happened with this, you find the problem?

I've also recently heard of "new" ones of these things having blocked carbs needing cleaned from the factory... The Chinese may have an industrial revolution on the go, but "quality" and "control" are 2 words I don't think they have in those funny squiggles they call writing yet...

Had some great cheap/replica stuff from there at knockdown prices (pazzo style levers for £25, 48 LED brake/tail bulbs £1.50 a pair, CB-1 gasket set £10, Fluke replica multimeter £15 etc etc) and so far all good except one faulty bulb that they sent 2 replacements for free You got to buy carefully as there's a lot of crap but they're getting better for sure (never thought I'd be happy to knowingly buy stuff "Made In China" a year ago!)... When they invent Q.C. they're my tip for being the next big power in manufacturing...

 

"I don't think they have in those funny squiggles they call writing yet"

8O ahem...

Their "funny squiggles" have been around a lot longer than your funny squiggles old boy :lol:

http://www.ancientscripts.com/chinese.html

 

I don't work on those thing either. Won't accept them in my shop. Scooters and those kids 4 wheelers. Junk. Worse than a Kawasaki

 

I think there is a crack in the rubber intake.

I haven't pulled it off yet, I've had some other stuff some up and it's backburnered for a bit.

 

You're taking me out of context there sport, the meaning was more to do with the fact that they don't seem to grasp the concept of checking products as they leave the line (to see if they actually work before shipping), not that the language itself was in any way to blame. 顺便说一句，我可以讲一点点中文。你能吗？

 

They actually know the concept quite well. A brief glance at one of the products of their small arms industry will illustrate that.

China is fully capable of producing quality products. However, were they to do so, those products would cost like other quality products. People aren't willing to pay for that and get the crap they ordered and paid for.

 

I disagree, inasmuch as the cheap "crap" I've received has been overall very impressive for the money. However if I bought the same products again they could well be DOA. That's what I mean by quality control (does the product function before we send it out?)

Some of the stuff is great, other stuff does not work from the get-go. If they applied a basic QC to the items no doubt the cost would go up (maybe 1-2pence per item?) but at least the items would all arrive known-good & their products would rise further in my (and other peoples) estimations

 

Some of us old guys can remember when the same was true of Japan. "Made in Japan" meant junk. By the 80's that had completely reversed.

China will probably do the same one day. But probably never in cheap internet order powersports equipment.

 

That's pretty much exactly where I'm coming from, if they start QC'ing then in a short time most people will be as happy to buy Chinese as they are to buy Jap nowadays or Brit waaaay back when we actually HAD a manufacturing industry to speak of :?

Prices will inevitably rise, but until then shrewd/careful purchasing can yield some fantastic bargains, maybe India or Africa will be the next ones to "pick up the baton" when that happens, maybe the Koreans will blow us all to kingdom come before they get a chance to. Either way, I'm all for Chinese ebay specials like I've bought. Just avoid their scooters like the plague haha :?

 

One of the major tools the Japanese used was continuous improvement: where the workers are empowered to identify and resolve problems. Not sure the Chinese bureaucracy can allow that.

I was involved in training some Chinese Engineers at McDonnell Douglas in the late 80s. They were like cattle, they all did the same thing at exactly the same time. At 5:00 sharp there was a stampede for the exit so they could get on their bus and back to their handlers. If that's how they still do things no one is going to speak up and improve anything.

 

I dunno, there may be some free spirits (or at least free thinkers lol) there, because when some LED bulbs turned up damaged in the post (wrapped in half a turn of bubble wrap for the 5000mile? journey!) the replacements did come in a good deal more bubble wrap

It's an oppressive regime they live under for sure & I don't envy the people at all, but I think that things are changing.... slowly...

 

"At 5:00 sharp there was a stampede for the exit so they could get on their bus and back to their handlers"

Sounds like where I work! :lol: :lol:

Oh and apolgies for thread hijack OP!

 

OK, confirmed an intake manifold crack. Trying to silicone it up now...

 

Also, while I can't find anything worthwhile on the Chongquing Huasong scooter itself, pictures and general technical info are leading me to believe this thing might be a clone of an older Yamaha Vino.

 

Chongquing Huasong.... Got to love the names of these things, don't quite trip of the tongue the same as Yamaha or Suzuki though lol

They're doing a good deal of copying so I'd not be surprised if it is something like. Not sure what a Vino is in Euro language though, maybe an Aerox?