Issue with getting into gear

[Shay HTFC]

I've been struggling to get my 1989 CG125 working for a couple of days and yesterday had a look at the spark plug.

It was sooty black which suggests that the mixture is too rich I think. I still thought it might be a flooded engine, so I just went and gave it some really good kicks on the kickstart and it started giving some sounds of life.

Gave it some more and played with the choke a little with a bit of throttle and sure enough it fired up. As soon as I released the throttle it just died again though.

So I turned the choke off and tried again. It seemed to want to start, but only by giving it some throttle did it actually start to tick over.
I also had to give it a few revs for a bit till it would idle normally with the throttle closed. (If I just released the throttle straight away it would just slow down to a stop)

Anyhow - I got it idling after a bit and tried going into first. Clutch lever in, throttle released, knock into first and slowly release the clutch and engage the throttle like normal, but it just stalled (Didn't even feel like a normal stall. There was no sudden jerk or anything).


I'm guessing this is a fuel issue, but I'm also worried that I may have damaged something in the engine and the grunt has been lost. If I put my finger over the spark plug hole, it gets thrown off with the force (then sucked back in again as the piston goes down?) and I can hear puffs of air coming out of the exhaust when I use the kickstart.

Also - The breather pipe. I'm not sure as I pushed it over some rough ground, but I have what I think is the breather pipe (i.e. quite a thick pipe coming out of the top-back of the crankcase), but it just goes down and then the other end is just open and hanging down towards the floor? Has this been ripped away from anything when I was pushing it?
Also, next to that are 2 thinner tubes - that are just dangling open. This REALLY worries me as I think they might be oil pipes, but I have no idea and I can't fully tell where they're coming from in the dark. (I'll try and get pics uploaded when I get home from work!)


I'm going to replace the oil, change the spark plug and look at the air filter before I do anything else, but I'm worried about my gear box / engine / clutch.
Can anyone try to diagnose the problem with what I've said above? I know its been a stupidly long post for what it is, but I'm just a tad worried right now