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So doing the rebuild on the lady's bike. Typical low price bike - cost way too much to get it going - Lol Anyways, did a redo on the top end- new piston, gaskets, washers, seals, etc... On reassembly, two things pop up. First the water pump cover is now leaking at the most foward bottom bolt, new gasket, standard torque and bolt, but stupid drip where there was none before. Second, had to replace the kickshaft as it was busted before. Everything was installed according to manual, but the spring does not return the kicker. Can these springs wear out? Does not seem to have any return power. Any ideas or hints would be great.
thanks

there's a plastic collar on the kickstart shaft that holds the spring into a detent on the shaft. I'm guessing it's not positioned correctly and the spring is not correctly seated in the shaft.

For the water pump, you'll have to pull the cover, clean everything up, reinstall and hope you found the problem.

In terms of the plastic collar, it is 100% slotted in. Which is why this is testing my sanity . I have got it slotted in all the way, with the cut out around the spring end, with the spring set exactly as the manual shows. Going to clean the water pump cover sealing face again and see what happens there. I swear that stupid spring is costing me sleep. Will try to get some pics if trouble continues.
thanks

pics would be helpful, yes. did you have the kickstart assembly apart? Did you notice the dots that line up the ratchet and spur gears?

Put some gasket sealer/maker stuff on the water pump cover

Yup, dots were lined up correctly.

Has anyone ever heard of the kick spring wearing out due to age or use? I understand the bike is 20yrs old, and will buy a new one if necessary.
thanks

Not really. Mine is 21 years old and still works like it should. I remember having the same problem, after several remove/replace attempts I got it working. I can't remember specifically what it was I had done wrong. Still waiting on those pictures!

Well after several attempts, finally got it right. The spring just needed more preload on it, which now seems obvious but was not really explained well in the manual (but would just be common sense, kinda felt a bit dumb on that one). Used a bit of gasket mix on the water pump and presto, no problems. So after six years of not running, 10 kicks later we have a runner Still a bit of work to do - all new bearings, bars, cables, etc... but were moving in the right direction.

Thanks for the Help

Sweet! It'll be well worth the effort, I promise!