Modern Vespa

Hi All,

Purchased a 2012 GTS 300ie about a month back and glad to have found this forum for much useful reading, reviews, etc. I had a problem start last week and wondered if anyone could offer any suggestions please? I've searched the forums already and have found a few threads with some useful pointers to potential causes, but the symptoms were slightly different to mine and no-one came back with answers when their problems were fixed. So here goes...

The scooter has no problems starting, idling or anything around town. But on the highway, the engine warning light (aka injection system warning light, telltale light, etc) comes on at higher speed. This is the amber light on the far left of the dash, not the red oil pressure light which only comes on with the ignition until the engine is started.

The light comes on at around 85kpm and goes back off when you ease of the throttle and the bike slows to 80kph. Accelerating hard at any lower speeds doesn't seem to cause the problem, but if I'm riding along at 80kph and then try to accelerate, the light comes on. However if the road is downhill and speed creeps up to 90-95 without additional throttle, the light doesn't seem to come on (based upon one stretch of road only). The light doesn't come on at lower speed and goes off as soon as speed reduces.

So the bike is currently at the garage having the fault codes read and they called yesterday to say that it was a fault with the injector and that they were replacing it. Has anyone else ever needed an injector replacing? I have a slight language barrier here as an Englishman in Hong Kong, and I'm not yet sure how clued-up the service centre is here, so just trying to gain as much info as possible for when I go back.

I read in other posts that faulty voltage regulators could be the cause, but I left it for the service centre to diagnose initially by plugging into the computer. Maybe I should have checked the battery voltages first?...

Any other thoughts, suggestions or similar experiences please?

Thanks, James

Oh, and one other potentially useful bit of info is that the bike got knocked over the day before the problems started. It was parked in a row of bikes at the side of the road on the centre stand and there appeared to be some sort of domino-rally of bikes overnight as the next day I found teh bike leaning against another bike with a big scratch and couple of dents in the shiny paintwork of the other side (but not talking about that though at the moment )

The bike was probably at about a 45 degree angle on its left side if that's significant at all. It didn't fall right over to the floor thankfully.

Could this have loosened, broken or leaked something critical do you think?

Sounds very much like the regulator to me. The difficulty in confirming it is that the voltage across the battery has to be measured with the engine revving at high rpm.

Thanks John. That's what I wondered from having read other posts on a similar topic. Guess I wait to see what the service shop comes up with, but apparently it's too rainy at the moment for them to test drive it.

So for measuring the voltage, were talking about connecting a multimeter to the battery (under the cover in the footwell right?) and taking it for a spin down the highway? With the meter suitably attached of course.

Any other potential causes or experiences anyone please?

Cheers, James

You can test it when it's on the centre stand, just be aware the scooter will tend to 'walk' when revved up. A helper is useful.

Thanks, that's useful to know. I'll take along my multimeter when I go to collect the bike then. I wasn't sure whether the rear wheel was completely clear of the ground when on the centre stand, hence my comment about testing on the highway. Cheers

That funky little light was the beginning of the end for my Voltage Regulator Seems to be a very annoying and somewhat expensive Vespa flaw

So I picked the bike up from the service centre on Monday and the problem appears to have been fixed, fingers crossed! The fault code pointed to a problem with the fuel injection module. They apparently tried wiggling the injector (presumably to see if it was a lose connection issue?) and found that this affected the light coming on and off. So I guess something is lose, but not the external connectors and so they replaced it. Not had chance to do many miles on it yet at higher speed, but all seemed well on the way home. I asked if this was a common fault and the guy looked on the computer and said that it was the first one of these they had ever sold, although there's not exactly many of the Vespas in HK.

Fingers crossed the problem is now fixed!

Very good! Sounds like you may have found yourself a good mechanic...

I have the same experience with my 2010 GTS. I am concern if its going to have long term consequence if not fixed. To be honest I have been riding it and I don't notice any loss in power she runs great just like the first time I got her. I even took her to Amerivespa this year and had 0 issues.

I hate spending cash if I don't need to, a good example is my Audi 2010 A4 convertible, my engine check light came on and after $600 dollars later just doing diagnostics(no repair), they said there was nothing wrong. I also searched the Audi forums and have other owners in same issues.

Anyways can I get your feedback if its ok to leave it alone????

Thanks

Possibly - are you feeling lucky? The orange light coming on at higher revs is a classic symptom of a failed regulator - so check your charging system. If it is that, your battery will get cooked to death...

can you give me an idea how much this is going to cost me? I have never had any problems with the lady and I just want to know so I can be prepared.

Also if there's a link so I can kind have an idea what work is involved

Thanks again

It's been a while ago now since the fuel injector was replaced on my Vespa. The good news is that the replacement of the fuel injector solved the problem and the warning lamp has stayed off ever since (apart from when it should come on when starting the engine etc.). I can't remember how much the new injector cost, but I do remember that I was pleasantly surprised how inexpensive it was; I had been bracing myself for a much larger bill! That was in Hong Kong though where labour charges are relatively cheap.

Hope this helps, James