Modern Vespa

The tilt lock bleed procedure I found was:

Tilt lock hydraulic bleeding, works every time.
For 2008-09 MP3 250

1. Remove the windshield Y-shaped trim
2. Remove windshield 6 screws
3. Remove black plastic shield behind windshield 4 screws
4. Note tilt lock actuator, look for black plastic L-shaped door to the lower right, just above where the master cylinder bolts to the right bottom of the actuator.
5. Push left edge of the door to right pops right off, exposing the actuator to master cylinder linkage, One 5mm allen screw. Put a ratchet, extension and Allen wrench socket into the link bolt, genitally rotate counterclockwise, watch the direction the link want to move toward inside of the housing, stop find something to wedge between the link and interior housing side wall to keep link from twisting or moving. Remove screw.
6. There is a cross bar above this location where the windshield rests, stick a screwdriver downward behind and into the lower part of the master cylinder portion of the link, you will use this arrangement to pump the plunger down to create pressure just as you do with your brake master cylinder leaver.
7. Wrap a rag around the tilt lock next to the front shock, note brake bleeder on top 10mm.
8. Very carefully push down keeping the master cylinder link moving in a straight direction. When it gets to the bottom of the stroke hold pressure as you loosen the bleeder, continue to hold as the air/brake fluid #4 brake fluid bleeds out, it will go further than you think, tighten bleeder, release pressure on master cylinder link.
9. Do above till clear fluid comes out without air in both sides, KEEP THE RESERVOIR FULL AT ALL TIMES, you will note the height of the master cylinder will eventually rest at a higher position and be firm when pressed.
10. Reinstall the master cylinder tilt actuator link screw, careful to block it's movement, do not let it twist.
11. Turn on ignition, you should now be able to engage and disengage at will with only the ignition on. NO LOUD NASTY HORN BLOWING. Reassemble in reverse order.

Any thoughts?

I was looking at a youtube post on replacing the wheel bearings, do any of you have a thought about pulling the wheel and re-packing the bearings with new grease?

Sealed bearing, can't grease them.

Don't. Far, far, FAR easier doing the reverse bleed as Web-Tech outlined.

I agree. In principal it should work, but messing with the tilt-lock linkage seems like asking for trouble.

Reverse bleed from the bottom can be done without disassembling anything.

Front wheel bearings are all or nothing. Do check them. One of mine was bad at relatively low mileage and needed to be replaced. Front wheel hub is another one of those Italian "what were they thinking?" designs. The outer bearing is captured with the axle nut and takes vertical and horizontal loads, the inner bearing just sort of floats on the spindle to handle vertical loads. Also be gentle with the front wheels bolts (lug nuts?). They're very brittle. I snapped one off way too easy.

I'm pretty sure my scoot had a separate fuel filter. Then again maybe that was the generator. Too many different projects going on in the garage.

Apologies if I missed it but those tires are very old and all three should be replaced if you haven't yet. They may look OK but they are dried out and will fail catastrophically at speed which, as you can imagine, is not fun.

Happy riding.

HI again
OK, started the MP3 and it started like it wanted to run... WOW. I rode it for about two miles and the check engine light came on. Checked engine oil, trans oil, and coolant and all ok. Then I waited about 5 minutes and re-started the bike and it was hard to start and needed a little throttle to stay on. However, the check engine light did not come on.

Anyone have any ideas, a dealer is about 40 miles away and really do not want to ride that far with the check engine light on.

Highly possible that it can't hold idle because of dirty idle bypass.

I agree. I haven't had to deal with it yet but that's apparently "a thing" with these engines. Something in the throttle body gets clogged and you can spray it with some sort of cleaner.

A little searching of the subject will get you the info you need.

OK, cleaned the carburetor and burped the coolant a little more and all is well!! This thing is a blast to ride! Not my Victory, but great fun for around the neighborhood.

FTFY.

Awesome! Happy to hear you got it sorted.

You might want to have the dealer check with Piaggio using their computerized diagnostic system to see if there are updates and patches to the firmware running things. I did that on a 2008 500 and cured every running issue.