KymcoForum.com
Scooters - Big Bore => Xciting 500 => Topic started by: Basri on January 12, 2020, 06:01:46 PM
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Hi all, just bought a friend's 2011 xciting 500ri at a low price because it has a starting problem. Every morning he had to jumpstart from car battery. Kymco mechanic here says it is the starter motor. I ordered a new starter motor. If it does not solve the problem, will check the decompession cam wear and valve clearances. It is not the battery for sure. Bike has 44000 kms on the clock and starts with no problem in summer. Just gambled, if it works fine I will have a very clean bike at a very low price, if not, will sell it and maybe will loose some money. Will keep you posted, best wishes from Turkey.
Basri...
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Welcome! Yes, you have a problem! The past history of these models is greatly varied, some great like most Kymcos and some not so great. We look forward to your progress.
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This model has unusually high incidence of non-start in cool to cold temps.
It is known as the record holder for no -start-in-cold of all the Kymco line-up.
Not to say you won't find a solution.
Stig
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I was blest with putting a $30 US lawn & garden battery in my UXV 500i side by side to solve the starting problem. The batteries Kymco is putting in these 500i machines is just not strong enough to do the job. I would be eager to make one of these beauties a project if the price was right like you found! Most of the fix answers are on this forum. Not all are verified because owners get weary of fixing one thing only to have another pop up!
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Just received my new original starter motor in box today (180 US$).
Pulled the bike to dealer service and they will let me know when it is fixed.
When it comes to battery issue, I removed 12v 100ah battery from my Toyota Hilux and tried to jumpstart, cranked slowly and killed that battery too rapidly..
She only starts if I jumpstart while my Toyota is idling..As I mentioned in my first post, IT IS NOT THE BATYERY..
But, if the problem persists after replacing the starter motor, I will consider to upgrade the battery..
We'll see in couple of days how she will behave with a new starter motor.
Best wishes,
Basri...
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Basri, please know that we are all wishing you the best of luck with your 500RI adventure....and we are standing with you ( well, behind you!) as you purchase more bits at the parts counter😊
These 500's are always entertaining!
Truly, good luck.
(also, I was under the impression that jumping a scooter from a running car was not advisable? )
Stig
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Basri, please know that we are all wishing you the best of luck with your 500RI adventure....and we are standing with you ( well, behind you!) as you purchase more bits at the parts counter😊
These 500's are always entertaining!
Truly, good luck.
(also, I was under the impression that jumping a scooter from a running car was not advisable? )
Stig
Yes, what Stig said and I agree, jump while donor vehicle engine running not a good idea. Has the tendency to destroy the rectifier bridges in alternators. Forbes! Is that the way you see it?
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Yes, what Stig said and I agree, jump while donor vehicle engine running not a good idea. Has the tendency to destroy the rectifier bridges in alternators. Forbes! Is that the way you see it?
To be honest with the low requirements to start a scooter, if you have a good set of cables, starting the car shouldn’t be necessary. But alas, some cables are junk. Having said that, unless the rectifiers are extremely fragile, I don’t see how it should hurt if done properly. 1. Hook the cables BEFORE starting the car. 2. Let the car idle, don’t rev it. 3. As an EXTRA precaution to prevent high voltage, turn on the headlights in the car.
But generally The voltage produced by a running car is around 13.5 volts. That’s around the same as produced by the scooter.
Most of the time when a rectifier is damaged, there was a lot of excess arching from careless cable connections or momentarily hooking the cables in reverse. Or more commonly the alternator CONSTANTLY trying to change a bad or severely discharged battery . It doesn’t usually hurt to charge a severely discharged battery once or twice, but doing so repeatedly can damage stuff because the charging system was designed to top off a battery after starting and to run the accessories. It really wasn’t designed to repeatedly charge a deeply discharged or bad battery.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Better answer than mine. Listen to Forbes!
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Thank you all for precious information shared here.
Today afternoon they called me from dealer to inform they are finished with the bike. New starter motor replaced, oil changed and few other minor maintenance. I picked the bike couple hours ago, starts and runs great. After touring around the town parked the bike outside in the cold to see if she will start tomarrow morning..
By the way it is 7:00 PM here, in this part of the world, quite happy with the bike for the moment, will have couple bottles of beer to celebrate, if she starts tomarrow morning and runs all day with no problem, will celebrate with a bottle of scotch.. :o
Basri...
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Thank you all for precious information shared here.
Today afternoon they called me from dealer to inform they are finished with the bike. New starter motor replaced, oil changed and few other minor maintenance. I picked the bike couple hours ago, starts and runs great. After touring around the town parked the bike outside in the cold to see if she will start tomarrow morning..
By the way it is 7:00 PM here, in this part of the world, quite happy with the bike for the moment, will have couple bottles of beer to celebrate, if she starts tomarrow morning and runs all day with no problem, will celebrate with a bottle of scotch.. :o
Basri...
Awaiting your report....
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It was 5 C (40 F) 11:00 AM this morning, bike stayed around 15-16 hours all night outside. She fired up 3 seconds after I hit the start button, auto choke was on for 10-15 second until I sligtly twist the throttle, than droped to normal rev, heated up while I am puting on my helmet and gloves on and hit the road. Temperature indicator raised up to operation heat (middle point) in less than 30 seconds and stayed there during entire ride, droped to zero after 20 minutes coffee break, and jumped to the middle after 20 seconds after I started the bike. This is technically inpossible, I think this is a kind of Kymco trick..
Bike is great on the highways but when it comes to bumpy country roads extremely unconfortable unless if you don't lower the speed to 30-40 km/h. That was annoying. Maybe it is because of "R" (race) type shocks. On the highway, it is the king..
Sharp corners, high speeds she has a tendency of pulling out. Not expecting cornering like a super sport or naked bike but there are many maxi scooters much more succesfull in the curves.
Overall, as price/performance ratio, it is a great bike. Very powefull.
If it does not repeat cold weather start problem I may keep it, if she start coughing in the mornings, I might sell or trade it in for a Japanise one..
Every bike is different, that was my case, but my advice to Kymco owners specially 250 & 500 RI exciting models, if bike begins hesitating to fire in cold mornings and cranking slowly, second thing to check after battery, must be the starter motor before it gets worst or probaby die like mine.
All the best,
Basri...
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Great report! Really happy to hear how well it turned out! Now RIDE!
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Super!
One in a row!
Stig
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When it comes to battery issue, I removed 12v 100ah battery from my Toyota Hilux and tried to jumpstart, cranked slowly and killed that battery too rapidly..
That sounds like a bad starter to me. I've read about Xciting cold start issues, but I keep mine garaged and it's always over 50F in there. If I don't run it for a while, it cranks slowly but hasn't failed yet.
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I have owned a Kymko 500RI for 11 years (2008 purchased in summer of 09) I had a new battery put in when I purchased and did not have to replace the Battery until the spring of 2019. Never had a starting problem as I keep it in my garage and plug it into a Deltran trickle charger whenever I am not riding. I generally do not ride between November and April as the temperatures and snow do not make for pleasant riding without wearing bulky cold weather attire,
Two years after purchasing my Kymko I decided to add a "Cosy" sidecar as my wife did not like riding seated behind me. The side car purchase and installation came in at about $1,000 less than the scooter however the wife finds it great as it has a popup cover in the event of rain and she can listen to music on her phone if she finds the ride boring.
I have not had any major repairs or maintenance issues. I do get both the oil & filter changed every spring. I use fuel stabilizer in the gas when storing for the winter and have it plugged into the battery charger all winter. So I would say that I would most definitely buy another Kymko scooter in the future should I feel the need to replace my current ride. As they say, don't fix what aint broke.
Love my ride. I would post pictures but I believe the files are too large for posting more than 1.
Tom Moy
Ontario, Canada
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Stand by for the news team to arrive at your location to interview you, her and to take pictures! The team has been looking for evidence that at least ONE OT THOSE was produced correctly! You were fortunate to get THE ONLY ONE in existence!
Ps: the team will eat anything, sleep anywhere. Do NOT be alarmed by their appearance. They are even house broken but don't look like it. Don't turn your back to the sound man 'cause he still a little squirrelly....
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Hi all, this is my first post. Cheers to all and especially those who have put forward idea’s to try and solve the “poor starting” saga of the Not so Exciting 500i starting troubles. I think I’ve read most posts on the starting issues and after 6 years of troubles myself I think Kymco have been poor in not finding their customers a solution.
I live in the land of OZ (Sydney) so cold weather starts is not the main issue for me, but early on with this problem I did try a 500 watt lamp under the sump for ½ hour which helped.
My bike labors to turn over even with a new battery and doesn’t sound like it’s going to fire up. Even putting a car battery in parallel has mixed success. Only by connecting jumper leads from my car while it is running and supplying 14.4 volts will the bike fire up first time.
I now have a separate mains 240ac to 14.4v dc 50amp supply I built which clips onto the bike battery to give it a boast on starting rather than using the car. This works without fail!
I was interested in the post from xsel777 about a German forum where a bloke fitted a voltage boast to the ecu. The fact that my bike only wants to start with 14.4v applied makes me think he might be on to something. If anyone knows how I can contact this German I’d very much appreciate it.
However, that probably a long shot so does anyone have a copy of the electrical circuit for the 500i so I can work out something along this line myself? A small on board voltage boaster to just the ecu would be a better solution than what I have now. If it works!
So if someone has the circuit it will greatly help me.
2008-9 Exciting 500i
Chris Brace
Sydney OZ
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Good day, Basri.
Please, clarify, did you solved problem with replacing starter to new?
I think, I have the same issue. My fuse from starter are melted. Also bike have electric problem twice, it was solving with battery contacts reattaching. I have no idea for cause of error.
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I put the physically largest and most powerful 14 amp battery in my 500 that I could shove in there. It did not help. I will say, however, that no matter what battery you use it had better be fully charged. My bike is an absolute bear to start in colder temps. It's not a problem for ME because I'm a fair weather rider in my old age. I still find it very annoying. It seems as tho it fires & takes off immediately when it starts. If it doesn't start on the 1st turn or two I stop & start again or I'm just cranking for no reason. In the cold it will fire exactly one time & then no more. Eventually it will fire twice, then after more tries it will fire three licks. Around there it takes off. Seems to me like as soon as it wants to fire the starter bails out so it takes off as it's ready or it just dies. It's not the old kicking out bendix feeling I am used to my whole life, the starter just leaves the game, I can't really explain. It's like the starter needs a one second delay before cutting out and it would start just fine. In warm weather it starts instantly, even after sitting long periods of a week or more.