Modern Vespa

I have had my '06 Stella since it was new and love the silly thing. A few days ago it started making a weird clicking noise, locked up, restarted, clicked, locked up. From that point it was seized, motor wouldn't budge by starter or kick.

Pulled the motor, got the cylinder head off easily , still seized up on the lower end. Started cranking on the flywheel nut and all of the sudden she moves. Now it seems to be spinning great by hand.

I need some advice, what do I do? Putting it back together without knowing why seems like a recipe for disaster. Do I do a full rebuild?

Thanks!

Oh, I should have mentioned that the engine is coated in bluck. If I were guessing, I would say that oil/gas has been leaking out of somewhere pretty well. It looks nasty. I hate to spend the money on a rebuild kit if the answer is somewhere else. Thanks again!

How many miles on the motor? What were the conditions when you were riding when it seized? Any performance parts on it? What side of the piston did it seize. Pics or little history of it please.

The gunk on the motor is normal. Thats a combination of gas, oil, rubber, dirt and whatever else has gunked on there. Get some brake parts cleaner and a brush and clean up as much as you can. If you have a pressure washer, disconnect the battery and blast as much as you can off. Mind the electronics though!

Are you wiling to do a full rebuild/ have the finances? I dont remember which year Stellas had the shitty crank and bearings in them but someone will chime in. If you go full rebuild it’d be best to replace the Indian parts with better quality.

At a minimum though, you need to clean/ hone the cylinder, get new rings and re-do the top end.

Thanks for the reply. The motor has just under 5,800 miles on it. When I first bought it 14 years ago I did change the jets, put on a Sito+, and removed the blue air thing. It's been perfect since then.

When it locked up, I had rode it about 1 mile from a cold start after sitting for a couple of days. It started out making the clicking noise. I pulled on a side road and it shut down. I got it to restart once, it shut right down and then would not turn over. When I got home, the cylinder head slide ride off. Piston doesn't look great to me, but even with that off it would not move with the kickstart. I think it was locked up somewhere in the bottom end.

Here is a link to a few photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EWJ5GozSDmxfYyjJA

Appreciate the help a lot! I'd like to get her back on the road next spring.

I'd definitely split the cases and do a full rebuild! It looks like sprapnel could have gone through your crank bearings. (perhaps that shrapnel originated from the con-rod bearing?) Like what MJRally said, remove the electronics befor you start cleaning it. I'd remove the stator and the carb, then take and pressure wash the heck out of it (bring rain gear!). Who cares if water gets inside your engine because you're just going to disassemble it right away to work on it. Budget around $500-$600+ for gaskets, seals, piston/rings, cylinder bore, bearings, new crankshaft, clutch plates and steels, crusiform, and possibly a few loose transmission gears, and a rebuild kit for the cush gear...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwXm18QpP-2aj8qvmcbmofA

If you’ve never opened up some engine cases before start watching a few of Lee’s videos. He focuses on Stellas.

Something broke off (piston ring?) and bounced around on top of the piston.... or something foreign got in there and made the trip up down and all around the cylinder.

Toasty in the top end..... the bottom end is another issue.....

Not totally sure what happened, but you should be able too apply some up and down pressure to check the big end bearings, But, yeah, you are in for a tear down at minimum. If this is your first, take your time. And good luck.

Thanks all! I definitely see the concept now that something broke off and beat everything up in there. Now I just have to decide if this is a good winter project to try and tackle. The top end seems straightforward enough. The bottom end seems like a large project but I'm going to press on for now. Appreciate all the ideas!