It will probably require removing the carb and giving it a good cleaning. Fuel stabilizers don't work well with ethanol gas, and even when they are used, the carb should be drained. There is a float bowl drain screw on the carb. The first thing I would try is removing the fuel line from the vacuum valve, draining the float bowl (it may already be empty) but open the drain screw to let anything that might be in there out, then close it. Take a tiny funnel, and attach it to the open end of the fuel line going to the carb. Fill the carb with Seafoam. Now crank the engine. This is to suck the Seafoam up into the jets. The engine may fire, even run a few seconds on the Seafoam, and make black smoke. This will not hurt anything. Seafoam contains naptha, so it will ignite in an engine. I would try this procedure several times before giving up and taking the carb apart. It has worked quite often. After the engine is running good, put some Seafoam in the gas, and run a couple tankfuls of gas with Seafoam in it through the engine. You will probably have to remove some of the bodywork to get to the carb/fuel hose. I believe I got to it by removing the left side panel, but that was a few years ago, not sure now.
I tried Jerry's method with SeaFoam and the scooter wouldn't start. I pulled the body panels, pet tray, and carburetor. The main jet and idle/emulsion jet were completely plugged. The pilot jet [hidden under the diaphram] had a little film on it. I cleaned the jets with a few strands of fine copper wire and reassembled the scooter. A couple of squirts of carb cleaner were shot into the intake to get the engine running and draw vacuum on the petcock. It didn't want to idle correctly until I rode it around the block but it now idles and runs well. Lesson learned, drain the carb every Winter.
It's a small farming community on Old Highway U.S. 80, between Gila Bend and MC85. it has a population of 194. This is an area that has not yet been devastated by developers, it remains much as it was over 50 years ago.
Granted this is a 3 year old thread, but it keeps coming up for air. I have been riding a Yamaha Vino 125 for the last month, and here are a couple of things I've observed. Cons- This thing is Slooooow. Probably could be improved with lighter rollers. Small Fuel Tank Very low ground clearance. Engine is harder to get at than most scooters in this displacement range. Not a lot of aftermarket fun parts. Pros- Solid little bike, much tighter after 5K miles than most Taiwanese scooters. Excellent fit, finish and paint quality. Headlight is part of fairing, not handlebars, better lighting at night. Exceedingly reliable. Highly maneuverable. Excellent brakes and stability while stopping. If you like to keep things stock, want to buy once and be done with it, and want something a little bigger than a 50cc bike for runs to the store and occasionally riding around downtown with a passenger, this is an excellent choice. If you are looking for something to ride back and forth twenty miles each way to work on 55 MPH+ roads, I wouldn't recommend it.
Did I mention I have 25,000 miles on mine, mostly highway (not freeway) where the speed limits were usually 55-65? Yes I got passed by everybody. I just rode to the far right and gave them room, bicycle style. It is a bit slower than the Zuma 125, but my biggest issue is that it won't climb. The rollers may have something to do with it. I replaced mine with stock. Not into modifying scooters. It keeps up just fine in town, maybe a tiny bit slow off the line, again the Zuma is faster. My biggest problems with it are the tiny tank (mine runs out of gas in about 70 miles) and the really dumb fuel filler location, making the rack pretty much worthless for anything but strapping a gas jug to, which I do on a regular basis because of the small tank. It is reliable in the extreme. In 25,000 miles, the only issue I had was the top exhaust bolt broke. Bad design. In looking at it, it was probably not originally designed that way, Yamaha likely changed the design when they added EPA emissions crap to it, without realizing how that change affected it's structural integrity. I removed the emissions crap, and modified the design. My repair has held up for over 20,000 miles. I have adjusted the valves once. I have been riding long distances on small bikes now for over 40 years. Many believe you have to have a bike that will outrun cars or it is not safe. IMO it is not safe anyway. But it's fun. But for anybody, even those who would never consider taking a long trip on it, the Vino 125 is an absolutely perfect scooter for zipping around town, and properly maintained, might very well last a lifetime.
I ended up replacing the broken stock exhaust with an NCY, and I have another Vino in the shop where someone tried to reweld the exhaust, didn't align it right, and then decided to bolt it up anyway, breaking off an exhaust stud in the head and another in the case, and then broke off an eazyout in the head. He rode it like that for months until the original belt finally broke, because if it's running, it doesn't need any service.
I bought a Vino when they first came out. I bought it on a whim. It was good-looking and a Yamaha so I figured it would be reliable and from what I've read, they are. I test rode it in a very flat city (Sierra Vista, AZ). However, I live in a mountain town and it just couldn't handle the grades. I put 5K miles on it, never had a problem of any sort. But I sold it because it was under-powered. Now I have a SYM HD 200 EVO and it goes 60 up the same grade the Vino topped out at 30. I wish they had made the Vino with larger wheels and engine. I'd probably still be driving it.
I also live just a few miles from mountains, I'm at the base of the mountains that go up to Payson. It's a great motorcycle ride, but the Vino just won't do it. I really enjoy riding in the mountains, and would love to have a scooter that would be rideable there. It's not so much the 30 mph that bothers me, but the fact that the engine is turning so slow while climbing at this speed. I connected a portable tachometer to it, and it is turning only a little more than half the RPM while climbing step grades that it is at full speed on a flat road. That has got lugging the engine like crazy. Not wanting to destroy my engine, I turned around.
I had the same experience, worrying about lugging the engine that is. Are the new Vinos still 125cc's or did they finally go to 150cc's?
They dropped the bigger Vino, all that's left is the 50cc model. The Vino had plenty of power to climb anything, the problem was in the CVT. I easily climbed those mountains on a 2 hp 50cc moped. The difference is I was able to keep the rpms up on the moped.
Last year I rode my wife's Blue 2006 in the LakeErieLoop. For those not in the know, the LEL is a race around Lake Erie for under 200cc bikes. I finished the 650 mile sprint in 14:12. I had a gas can strapped to the rear rack (1.0 gallon can) and used it several times. No big hills to worry about but had pretty crappy weather with driving rain for about 200 miles. The wind sucked as well. The scoot was fitted with a Yamaha factory windshield, a Garmin Zumo and a beaded seat cover. I was amazed at how happy my ass was after 14+ hours with that beaded seat! The 2013 LEL is coming up on June 7-9 and I'll be doing it again on the Blue Vino. My 14:12 time was good for second place in my class, first went to a Yamaha RD125 who only beat me by 15 minutes!
The Vino 125 is not the fastest 125 around, but it will get the job done, it is stone reliable, and build quality is excellent. I expect mine to easily top 50,000 miles (if I keep it that long). These scooters are an excellent buy on the used market if they have been taken care of. Parts will be available for a long time yet.
I bought mine when they first came out (2002?2003?) and had it for about a year. But, as Jerry says, it wasn't up to steep grades and I live right in the middle of a mountain range. One day I came out of the library and a shy, reclusive woman who I'd seen now and then was staring at it. "It's so beautiful," she said. Later I learned she had bought a new Vino and it was stationed in her living room. She hadn't yet ridden it. I couple of years ago I saw her (as I said, she was seldom seen) and asked how she liked riding it. "Oh, I've never ridden it," she said. I'm going to see if she still has it. Maybe buy it. However, she might consider it an object of art and a permanent living room fixture and refuse to part with it.
Strange. But I keep mine in what used to be my living room, along with my Zuma 125, Genuine Stella, and Puch moped. Since I live alone now, I didn't see any use for a living room anymore, so I converted it to my scooter room. My youngest daughter comes over once in a while, she has her own room, and does not care about the scooters in the living room. But I ride mine.
Recently I learned (from a woman who knows her) that she's simply afraid. She had this fantasy of cruising along, wind in her hair, somehow freed of the daily grind, no cares, etc. But apparently the reality of actually getting on it and learning how to ride it terrified her. Also, she's never had a driver's license and never learned how to drive a car.
That's to bad, but it's never to late. My brother in law didn't get his drivers license until 48, 3 years ago. Now he drives all over the place, and doesn't have a single ticket or accident. And that's in a manual shift truck.