Aprilia Habana (Mojito) 50CC Starting Issues?

Question

My wife has a 50cc Habana, she was travelling home the other day when it broke down, she wasn't able to start it again at the time as the Battery seemingly died, we have charged the battery and replaced the Spark Plugs and its now starting (with the electric starter) but you can't kickstart it, when it starts it runs a lot slower than normal even with the accelorator fully turned and occasionally it will get to normal speed but often stalls, any ideas what is causing this as we can't really afford to take it to the mechanics so i want to try and do the work myself, i am going to check the air filter tonight and am presuming it might be the Carburetor but if anyone can verify this and advise i'd be grateful. Thanks Jan

if it is a blocked exhaust how do i go about unblocking it?

I've added some engine cleaner solution to see if that helps and it does seem to have, engine now starts and revs up to full speed tho it still stalls when you release the accelorator, will replace the plugs tonight but as i'm unsure where the air filter and carb are i've been unable to do anything with those (didn't want to dismantle the whole scooter just yet) so any one know where they are located (i have a rough idea but too many panels in the way for me to take a quick look)

I've added some engine cleaner solution to see if that helps and it does seem to have, engine now starts and revs up to full speed tho it still stalls when you release the accelorator, will replace the plugs tonight but as i'm unsure where the air filter and carb are i've been unable to do anything with those (didn't want to dismantle the whole scooter just yet) so any one know where they are located (i have a rough idea but too many panels in the way for me to take a quick look)

Answer 1

If it has a 2 stroke engine -
Clogged exhaust pipe - common problem.
Needs piston & rings - check the compression.

Answer 2

It does sound like an electrical problem. The battery could be knackered even if it takes a charge. Does it turn the engine over fast on the electric start? The CDI unit could be playing up, its a common problem on 50's and can make the electrics do funny thinks? If you think it's the carb, try taking out the screw at the bottom of the float chamber and draining all the petrol from it into a tin. Sometimes this is enough to clear out any dirt that's got in. In regard to cleaning out the exhaust - remove exhaust then - big cork in one end, caustic soda in the other and wait til it does its stuff. Watch out though its dangerous stuff and it doesn't like skin or eyes. It is unlikely that that is the problem though, decoking a pipe is not as common as say 15-20 years ago. ??I guess because petrol is cleaner & engines more efficient???? If the rings are gone and the pistons done as per other answer there will be lots of nice white smoke from the exhaust and as you've not mentioned that I doubt that's the problem. If it was me I'd get the battery checked out first or buy a new one off ebay. Hope that helps.