How to start a scooter with a dead battery

Scooters and mopeds are increasingly popular means of transportation in the United States. These light and fuel efficient commuters are great alternatives to driving vehicles when you need to make trips around town. Modern scooters have electric starters along with other electronic components designed to make the scooter easier to operate. Overtime, a scooter’s battery can fail; causing major issues for a rider when it comes to travelling back home or making an appointment.

Locate the centre stand on the bottom of your scooter. Stand on the left side of the scooter and hold the left leg of the centre stand on the ground using your foot. Grip the handle bars on both sides with your hands and forcefully pull back and up to place the scooter on its centre stand.

Locate the kick-start lever located on the left side of the transmission case. Fold out the foot peg on the kick-start lever. Turn your ignition key to the “ON” position, stand beside the left side of the scooter near the rear and depress the left brake lever on the handle bar with your left hand.

Use your right foot to swiftly push down on the kick-starter peg and allow the lever to rise back up to its original position. Repeat the process until the engine starts running. Remember to keep the left brake lever depressed while kick starting the engine as the left brake lever contains a safety switch that will prevent the engine from starting if it is not actuated.

Locate the battery if you have a damaged kick-starting mechanism or if the kick-starting method proves unsuccessful. Most China-manufactured scooters have the battery mounted underneath the footrest area while other makes and models have the battery mounted underneath the seat, near the fuel tank.

Lift up the rubber mat located on the footrest area of the scooter. The battery is located underneath the plastic cover.

Remove the recessed cover screws with a Phillips head screwdriver and pry the cover off to expose the battery. The battery terminals are marked appropriately with negative (black) and positive (red) colour-coding.

Attach the corresponding negative and positive terminals of a battery jump pack to your scooters battery. Make sure the jump pack is set to 12-volt operation before connecting it to your battery.

Turn on the jump pack, depress the left brake lever and press the scooter’s starter button to engage the electric starter on your scooter.

Turn off the jump pack once the scooter starts running. Remove the negative and positive cables of the jump pack from your scooter's battery. Replace the battery cover, reinstall the screws using a Phillips head screwdriver and reposition the rubber mat.

Turn the vehicle off, open the bonnet, connect the positive jump lead directly to the vehicle’s positive battery post and connect the negative jump lead to a suitable metal ground on the vehicle.

Connect the corresponding negative and positive leads of the jump lead to the appropriate terminals on your scooter’s battery. Quickly depress and hold the left brake lever and press the starter button.

Remove the jump leads from your scooter’s battery as soon as the engine starts successfully. Do not keep the jump leads connected from the vehicle’s battery to the scooter battery for long periods as damage to the scooter could occur.

Replace the scooter’s battery cover and reinstall the screws with a Phillips head screwdriver. Fold the rubber mat back down on to the foot rest area of the scooter.