[jetpackjbd]

I recently bought an abandoned electric scooter, a BladeZ XTR SE, and have been working on restoring it. After replacing the batteries and chain, and sanding down half of the scooter’s weight in rust, it drives! Unfortunately, I’ve noticed the speed randomly changes sometimes and I occasionally have to kick the motor to make it work. After about 15 minutes of mostly full throttle, the motor shuts off and the power light blinks green. That seems to indicate overheating, and I can confirm the motor feels quite toasty.
It’s a 24V 450W brushed motor that’s proprietary to the brand, and I can only find old stock for sale for over $100 from the manufacturer. I’d like to repair the motor, or at least find a way to make it less spicy. I’ve taken the motor apart and nothing appears too bad. I replaced a bearing before I started riding it, so I don’t think that’s the issue. It gets especially hot where the drive gear connects to the shaft, but the chain is barely above ambient temperature so I doubt that’s part of the problem. The brushes still have a fair bit of life in them, although I may have them pushing too hard on the commutator as it was quite black and the brushed looked a bit more worn after riding for a few miles. Maybe the brush positioning is part of the problem? That could explain why I have to hit the motor sometimes to make it work. There’s not much grease or lubrication inside the motor, which could also be a big part of it. From the smaller motors I’ve worked on though, they tend to have little to no grease inside and do just fine.
There is a cooling fan connected to one end of the motor on the brush side; no idea if it’s providing the amount of cooling it’s meant to. I could try installing a computer fan against side of the motor but I doubt it’ll do much. The motor magnet-holder-part is painted black which may be absorbing too much of the Floridian summer sun, so I could try sanding it or painting it white if anyone thinks that’ll do something.

Appreciate any help given, thanks!

[jetpackjbd]

UPDATE: I had oiled up the motor and adjusted the brushes, and it was finally working fine! With a fan pointed at it as well, the overheating was gone and it seemed roadworthy!
The next day, it was running very slow, and when I got back home I noticed this happened… No idea why, but something caused the brush card to burn up.

I saw the bearing I replaced had gotten rather stiff, but it was still able to turn by hand. I’ve just about finished making a new brush card from scratch, as parts aren’t available and I’m not spending $150 on an old stock motor for a $20 scooter. I bought proper grease this time and I’ll be covering every spinning bit with it in hopes of reducing as much friction as possible. Currently trying to get the bearing out but it’s in really good.

Any thoughts on what caused this would be greatly appreciated! It was sitting outside for a long time prior to being picked up which I’m sure is a major factor.

EDIT: See that poorly installed loose brush on the right? It exploded. Ground it down too thin and it fell out; shorting itself to another brush. Ugh.

[jetpackjbd]

Good news! The manufacturer may have the part! I didn’t think to just call and ask, but sure enough someone picked up and offered to check if they could get the part off an old motor in the warehouse! Hopefully they can find it, and won’t ask for too much for it. As long as it’s cheaper than a new motor I’ll be happy.

[jetpackjbd]

I bought a different motor, an MY1020 500w 24v motor, and created a retrofit mount for it. I finally have a working scooter again! Might change sprockets at some point though, it’s quite torquey but only goes about 15MPH. For now it’s still a blast to ride around on!