Hissy Fits and Hiccups

After having Razzo worked on last week, valve adjustment, new intake manifold and carburetor tuning, I thought it would be a good break from moving to take the 7 Bridges ride to Flagler Beach to dine at Hidden Treasures Raw Bar and Grill.

I was late arriving, so no say in the route, but Russ announced that we would ride down US-1 to St. Augustine to pick up two more riders, adding to the ten or so leaving from Bojangles.

I was hoping that we would take either A1A along the coast or State Road 13 along the river.  So, once I heard that it would be US-1, a federal highway that gets worse every time I go down it, I decided that I would peel off at Greenland Road to ride solo along the river on 13.

Razzo was running great so we ran quickly through 13, but it stumbled as we accelerated from a stop turning onto 207.  That is what it was doing last week before taking it in for repairs.

It stumbled worse at a stoplight in Hastings and stalled completely after stopping at 17 in East Palatka.  It took three or more tries to restart at the light.  I decided that I would push on to the lunch engagement, even after a serious sputter and backfire while accelerating after turning off of 17 onto 100.  100 is a long, straight stretch where I was running 60 to 65 mph.  I could feel Razzo stumble every now and then, or was it the wind?  Hard to tell but when I stopped in Bunnell, it stalled completely and wouldn't start.

Where she would run ok at speed, stopping was turning into a stalling nightmare.

I pushed her into a gas station, 62 miles from home.

My AMA towing only covers the cost of towing 30 miles, so, if I couldn't get her closer, it was going to be an expensive day.  So I abandoned lunch plans and headed north on US-1 (the road I was trying to avoid)  I got caught by one light a few miles into the trip and Razzo stalled again.  It didn't want to start either.  So I determined that, since it started after letting it rest a while at the gas station, that resting here was in order.  So I pushed it to a safe place and let a few cycles of the light go through.  Then it started, reluctantly, and I headed out again.

I thought the only way to avoid lights from here to home was to take I-95.  Luckily, there were no lights at the big intersection, so I could get onto the interstate highway without stopping.  We then accelerated to 65 mph and stayed in the slow lane, far enough behind a truck to keep the turbulence down.  We were running between 65 and 75 mph until a rental moving truck came into the lane running 50 for a while.  As we tried to accelerate from that to highway speed, Razzo again stumbled and would only go faster if I managed the throttle very carefully.

Coming into Jacksonville, I decided to stay on I-95 to McDuff or Randall Street.  The light was red at McDuff so I got into the turn lane and Razzo stalled again.  When it went green, I pushed it to the other side, then a little farther so I could let it rest, thenget it started so I could ride to the office to swap the ailing machine for the Miata.  Rain was coming so that would be good anyway.  It stalled two more times in the last mile to the office, then was put into the garage there until I can get it to ACE for further repairs.  This time it will be new vacuum fuel pump, fuel filter and petcock.  If that doesn't work, a new carburetor may be purchased.

I was pleased to be able to nurse Razzo home.  I hope that the boys can get it running right again soon.

It was nice to make it back to the office.

It is a pretty scooter, but not much use to me if it doesn't run well.