Modern Vespa

what are the typical symtoms of a condenser that is going bad?

yep. searched already.

The symptoms that I had eneded up being my coil more than condensor.

But I was made aware that the two can be slightly the same.

My bike at the time was hard to start and keep at tick over. It would run fine at speed. I used an exterior condensor test and the result was none that I could tell.

So I ordered a new ht coil and the result was instant success.

I never had the issue again after that.

But since the condensor is directly in line with the coil it can be confusing determining the solution.

If you have a ht coil that you can borrow to test than you can see if there is a difference.

Or you can try an exterior condensor test and see if that changes anything as well.

It was not easy for to determine as both can go bad slowly as I have read.

Hope that helps a little.

Points start wearing out fast, if the condensor is shorted no spark at the point gap, if on the other hand the condensor is open excessive spark across the point gap. In the first case no spark at the plug and in the second poor running for some period of time until complete failure of the contacts.


I shall run, hide and await the cross fire........

JJ.. I just saw this.. any help to you? It looked interesting and simple.

is he grounding the ground wire from the coil? I cant really tell what is going on here...

He is connecting it in line with the stator wire to the ht coil.

You can use aligator clip wires and connect one end to the tab of the coil that goes to the stator.

The other end to a ground on the bike.

With the test condensor in the middle.

JJ look up "How to check if you condenor is bad" on Youtube. He does a little write up of what he's doing.. I can't post the link without it just popping up as the video.

so add a second condenser to the line?

i was hoping for more symtoms, but Im heading to Kyles scooter shop on Monday and pick up another condenser.

I think its intermittent spark. at least I hope it is. next would be oil seals. (already replaced the external coil) I have been trying to get the new 24e carb jetted but its running like crap and cant get any regular results changing jets out.

thanks a bunch for your help guys.

Yes/no

Most condensors come with a short black wire already solderd to one end(low tension) and a tab for screwing it to the plate.(ground)

Add a aligator clip wire to the black wire and clip the other end of said wire to the low tension tab on your ht coil.

Hold the condensor against a known good ground and that is it.

thanks Jimmy, ill try that.

went ahead and tossed in a new condenser and it ended the problem. the engine seemed to be missing firing at odd intervals. it also would not rev out fully. it took me about 20 mins to switch them out.

I also inspected the points very carefully. they were still very flat and in good shape so I left them in. Usually I would always replace both if there was a problem.

I hope this helps others.

Excellent! That's great news JJ.

yep. and I think I have the jetting done for the new 24 carb. I just want to cut open one more plug. ill post results if I can find my other thread.

This is a good thing to think about.

Many times when the condenser fails the points go quickly following. This means sometimes it is impossible to test the condenser because the points are going to behave like shit no matter what.