First Gas Engine Kit from Staton

[Steve M.]

Hi. I just got my friction drive kit installed on my bike and can't get any spark. It's one of the Staton kits w/ the Mitsubishi TLE43 2 stroke engines. It's the weekend and I can't get anyone on the phone at Staton, so I thought I would give the forum a shot.

Everything went pretty well w/ the installation, but the instructions(such as they are) supplied w/ the kit are less than vague and seem to be a one size fits all for many different engine models. There are two electrical wires running from the engine casing, one w/ a female end and one w/ a male. The kit is supplied w/ what appears to be a kill switch (red button), but there's only one wire on it. I tried hooking it to the engine's wires, first into the male, then the female. No spark at the plug. I then plugged the two wires from the engine into each other. Still no start. I'm still trying to figure out how a one wire kill switch is going to work when there's two wires from the motor, but that's a moot point since the engine won't fire. Is there some hidden ON/OFF switch I'm not seeing on the motor? And any idea how this kill switch is supposed to work assuming I eventually get the thing to run? Thanks.

 

[loquin]

The intro forum really isn't the best place for answers to a problem... It's a forum to say 'HI'. I moved this thread to the two stroke forum. When you get a moment, drop into the introductions forum & say hi...

Anyway, to your issue. You say that you've plugged the male into the female, and the engine didn't start? When you did this, do you have spark?

There is (at least on my TLE43) a kill-switch button on the side of the engine. But, it's a momentary switch - it only acts while you hold it in. And, it did not have the two wires coming out of the engine - I had to add a kill-switch wire myself.

As far as wiring two wires from the motor to a single wire switch, the pushbutton shorts to ground when you hold it in. The frame of the bike is the return path - so, you'll need to connect one of the two motor wires to the bike frame. What color are the two wires coming from the motor?

 

[Steve M.]

Thanks Lou. I'll get over to the introduction thread as soon as I actually can ride my bike. I appreciate your moving the thread and the feedback on the problem.

My motor doesn't seem to have a kill switch on the motor, and from what you've said it shouldn't matter anyway as it needs to be pressed in. No, I can't get any spark no matter what I do w/ the wires. I will go to Malwart today and buy another spark plug in the off chance I got a bad one w/ the motor. If that doesn't do it I'll have to wait till tomorrow and talk to David. It's frustrating having everything all put together but no-go from the motor.

On the positive side the Staton kit is well made and the engine is wonderfully compact (though not having a below-the-motor gas tank means having to mount the tank up high, which takes away from the stealth factor). The instructions need to be spell checked and written in a clearer manner though.

I just noticed that you asked about the wire colors. They're both black, but one has a white stripe on it. I am guessing that it goes to the kill switch and the solid black one goes to the frame? Will try it and see. Thanks again for the help.

 

[Steve M.]

Well, who knows? All of a sudden, w/o doing anything w/ those two wires, it started up and I ran it around the block. Plenty of power, but OMG is it loud! Was totally unprepared for that. Vibration is big too but I could live w/ that, but not the noise part. Looks like my membership to the forum is over before it got started. There is no way I'm riding something so loud, so keep your eyes on eBay because it's going to be listed there next week and off it goes to the highest bidder.

Funny, everyone talks about how quiet this Mistsubishi engine is, and I would love to know what they are comparing to. Maybe a sonic boom? It's an annoying loud too that screams Look At Me. Fortunately I still have the electric components I can put back on the bike (I had used one of those Walmart EZIP cheap-o electric bikes as a donor for the gas engine setup). While the electric drive lacked the power and range of a gas engine it was whisper quiet, relatively, compared to this screaming mimi. Thanks, and adios from Las Cruces guys.

 

[loquin]

Is the muffler loose, or the gasket broken? My TLE43 was slightly louder than my wife's Honda GX25, bot not by a lot. (Higher pitched, though, with some two-stroke 'popping')

Also, the TLE43 has a diaphram fuel-pump carb, which means that the gas tank can be installed lower than the engine.

 

[eastwoodo4]

Well, who knows? All of a sudden, w/o doing anything w/ those two wires, it started up and I ran it around the block. Plenty of power, but OMG is it loud! Was totally unprepared for that. Vibration is big too but I could live w/ that, but not the noise part. Looks like my membership to the forum is over before it got started. There is no way I'm riding something so loud, so keep your eyes on eBay because it's going to be listed there next week and off it goes to the highest bidder.

Funny, everyone talks about how quiet this Mistsubishi engine is, and I would love to know what they are comparing to. Maybe a sonic boom? It's an annoying loud too that screams Look At Me. Fortunately I still have the electric components I can put back on the bike (I had used one of those Walmart EZIP cheap-o electric bikes as a donor for the gas engine setup). While the electric drive lacked the power and range of a gas engine it was whisper quiet, relatively, compared to this screaming mimi. Thanks, and adios from Las Cruces guys.

wow you gave up quick!you can buy an under motor gas tank for that.the noise might be a loose muffler or something but i doubt it.but there is other things you can do to make it even quieter.if your lucking for something thats as quite as an electric motor,your on the wrong forum.

one of them wires form the motor is just screwed to the motor for a ground.the other one goes to the coil.when you touch the two together,the spark in the coil goes thru them instead of going to your spark plug,which makes the motor die.

the wire that goes to the coil needs to run all the way to the kill switch.you shouldnt even need the other wire.

hope that helps out some.if not hope i get it cheap on ebay!

 

[cpuaid]

if you're moving from an electric motor to 2-stroke then i can see how you would think the TLE43 is loud. i've had (7) not-so Happy Time generic chinese, (2) Huashengs, (1) Komatsu 2-strokes and the Mitsubishi TLE43 is by far the most quiet. yes, sometimes it's a little bit hard to start up after storage but if you prime the bulb a few times and close off the choke until you get it started then it's not so bad. for really hard to start problems, prime the bulb, remove the air filter cover and give it a couple of squirts of starting fluid in the carb and it will start right up. believe me, it is one of the best and most reliable 2-strokes out there. haven't had a tanaka YET so i can't compare it to that one. i use the kill button on the engine only. my other kit has a handle bar mounted cheapie looking kill button that i refuse to use. i'd unplug that thing just to rule out you have a bad switch.

 

[Steve M.]

It's not a question of giving up, it's a question of correcting a mistake. I thought about adding another muffler, which would probably help, but to me the problem is it's a 2 stroke. The only other bike engine I've really listened to was one of the Honda 4 strokes and it wasn't nearly as loud as this one. 2 strokes just have an annoying chain saw noise, and that erratic popping at part throttle doesn't help. I never in my wildest dreams thought it would be as quiet as my electric setup, but I've heard Vespas and other scooters that are really, really quiet. I may go for a 4 stroke later and add another muffler to it and get where I want to be. It's all about trial and error. The irritating thing is I fell for that claim on Staton's web site that a customer posted, saying that when he's going down the road w/ this engine all he hears is the wind. Ha! I'd like to meet the character that dreamed that up, and it doesn't speak well of Staton that he put it on his website. A little truth in advertising guys! I've been around engines all my life and worked for many, many years as a certified mechanic, so I know what's overly noisy and what isn't. This thing is too loud.

Thanks for the tips on starting it cpuaid. It is definitely a cranky starter. I never got it to fire by holding the throttle open, it seems to like to start w/o any throttle at all. After it's sat, about 6 or 7 pulls gets it going, then when it's warm 1 or 2 pulls does the trick.

 

[Member 5549]

One thing to keep in mind

Once you get that TLE broke in it will quite down a bit.
My Tanaka is about 1/2 a loud as it was new.. Around 500 miles it got better, or maybe I just lost some hearing HA !! HA !!!

 

[loquin]

The vespa's also have much larger mufflers, designed for their specific engine.

The TLEs were designed for hand-held motorized devices - string trimmers/blowers, etc, so they have to be both light, and very, very small - hence the tiny mufflers.