the last 24 hours have turned my hands BLACK.

Yesterday the scooter decided it didn't want to work at 8 o'clock in the morning. I had to be somewhere at 8:30. I rethought "have to," rescheduled, and spent the entire day working on this new toy turned 'project.' The engine turned over a few times in the morning, but after about 4 x's it was only clicking with the ignition. It seemed like an easy power issue so I took the battery out first...

I put it in my purse, hopped on my bike and pedaled down Ventura Blvd. to 'Big O Tires.' I started talking to one of the guys in the garage and he offered to charge it for me. I left it there for a few hours. When I got it back, I thought I had the problem handled... 

That wasn't the problem :(

So today I took it apart, determined to get to the bottom of this! 70 mpg-- two days ago I had the open road at my fingertips, I want it back please, thank you... 

So I did ALOT of research, called some folks, and set out to check my starter selenoid. It's below in the picture. The positive and negative wires from the battery connect into it-- and then this big fatty black encased wire comes out of it and careens into the bottom of this engine and attaches to the starter motor, so hard to see! I go to Auto Zone and pick up a test light hoping it will tell me the engines NOT getting power, this will help narrow down the problem... too bad the selenoid was working fine...

The next thing I need to check is the starter motor. So I take the body of the scooter off to get closer, but this proves to be a mission in itself considering I didn't have a socket wrench to save my life at this point. Once I'm in there it's still difficult because there's this huge Air Box in the way.

 Anyways so I take it out and take it Firestone on Ventura Blvd., they test it, it works, F*ck, um what else could it be...? It's not turning over so it can't be my CDI or engine coils, I have oil, gas and power... power? One of the guys at firestone says it may be the battery, I tell him I just got it charged, "It doesn't matter, if it's old it will show a charge when you test it, but that doesn't mean it's enough to power the engine." He offers to test it so I go home and grab it... Their machines unfortunately couldn't test it accurately because they're meant for batteries with higher amps, or something, so I go to PepBoys, I almost cry when the guy tells me it's a bad battery. I buy a new one, I've spent over 24 hours on this thing, I'm ready to ride it already jeeeeeze. I go home and put it in the engine. It turns over a little, but not fully :( ahhhhh what is this, imobilize Portia month? Good god, I got my car towed last week and now my new wheels are failing me?

I find out you have to charge it before you use it... I asked the guy at PepBoys before I left, he said he didn't think so. I call him and he says "Oh yeah, I guess you do. We don't sell battery chargers, but I know for a fact AutoZone does.." Back to AutoZone, the fourth time in two days!

Now I have to wait ten point five hours... it's been like five, I'm still so happy at the thought that I might be able to ride it tomorrow.... And to be honest-- I learned so much about this engine, it's a 150 cc, and every shop I went to said it's pretty much a motorcycle engine. This is fantastic news because motorcycles are looking sexier everyday. The only draw back about all of this is that my hands appear permanently grease tinted.... But it's cool, I'm getting a manicure tomorrow :)