Maintenance Information

(Some day I'll have pics here...)

Honda vs. Yamaha scooters

Honda scooters are generally quite reliable, but they have their own personalities. I'm not looking to get into a religious war here :>), but in general, the Hondas seem to hold up better than the Yamahas and they definitely have fewer starting problems than the bigger Yamahas. The Hondas require a little more maintenance, due to the water cooling and need for valve adjustments. New parts are more easily available from your local Honda dealer. Also, new Service Manuals are available from www.helminc.com .

Elite 80 exhaust pipe

The header design on this pipe is somewhat poor. The pipe will crack near the exhaust port on the engine, where the pipe bends. It can be straightened out and welded with a little work. If I was going to do this, I'd reinforce the joint by welding on some extra material

That centerstand problem on the Elite 125/150's

These scooters have a poorly designed centerstand (the "H" shaped stand that holds the rear wheel off the ground) and the metal is too soft around the top of the centerstand and at the frame joint. The main supports on the frame under the engine are weak, and after a while they tend to bend. They will especially tend to bend if you sit on the scooter while it's on the centerstand. There is no easy fix. You'll have to remove the centerstand, and probably cut and re-weld the supports. If I was going through this much trouble, I'd definitely beef up the joint by welding on some more metal.

Retractable headlight on the Elite 125/150 Deluxe

The pop-up headlight is generally reliable, but after ~15 years it may stop working. The headlight has a fairly complex circuit. Some day I'll have the diagrams up on the web site :>) There is the headlight motor, headlight relay, limit switch, and headlight timer. In my experience the most likely problems are a bad timer or bad motor. The motor is in the black box next to the headlight. The motor is suprisingly small - like the type you get in a model set. There are several plastic gears in the case, some of which wear out over time. There is some good info in the Service Manual, which I'll post here as soon as I can.

Elite 125/150 engine swap

The Elite 125 (made in 1984) and the Elite 150 Deluxe (made in 1985-1986) are virtually identical. In addition, the '85 and the '87 Elite 150's look different, but underneath the plastic body panels they are also the same as the other models just mentioned. The engines will swap just fine, which can give you a bit of a performance boost if you're going from the 125 -> 150.

Elite (80, 125, 150, 250) engine oil changes

These four stroke scooters need to have periodic oil changes. The Elite 50's (and most of the Honda 50cc scooters) are two stroke. Their engine oil is injected, so you never have to change it. Unlike the big Yamaha Rivas, unfortunately the Elites do not have an oil filter. They have a metal mesh screen that should be cleaned when changing the oil. This is located on the lower left side of the engine. The Elite 250 has a butter soft 17mm cap over the screen. Be very careful (and use good quality tools) when removing this cap or you'll round off the edges. The Elite 150 has a better designed 22mm cap. Drain the oil from the bottom drain plug. Refill with a great quality synthetic oil (I use Mobil-1 or Castrol synthetic) or a great quality petroleum oil (Castrol GTX, Honda motorcycle oil, Kendall).

Elite 250 muffler/rear wheel removal (use similar procedure for the other scooters)

This rather easy process. There are 5 12mm bolts/nuts holding the muffler on. First remove the 2 nuts at the exhaust manifolt. Then remove the three other bolts on the muffler. You want to remove the two nuts first because you don't want the muffler hanging from the tip of the exhaust pipe. It will put a lot of stress on the tip of the exhaust pipe and the exhaust port. Remove the muffler and lay it aside. There will be a copper O-ring inside the exhaust port. This O-ring should be replaced with a new one so that you'll have a good seal when you re-install the pipe. To remove the rear wheel, remove the two 12mm bolts holding the shock and remove the shock. Remove the 10mm bolt holding the fender bracket. Next, remove the 24mm nut on the axle. An easy way to do this is with an impact driver. If you don't have one, just use a 24mm socket/ratchet or a 24mm box end wrench (a 15/16" socket should also work, but it might be a little small). Depress the rear brake pedal with your right foot and give the ratchet or wrench a wap with a rubber mallet or small piece of 2 X 4. When reinstalling, torque the 24mm nut to 60-65 ft-lbs, and torque the 12mm bolts on the muffler to 20-24 ft-lbs.