Modern Vespa

Hi everyone,

I am new to the site/vespa world.

I just bought a 98 px200e yesterday that is more of a project to keep me busy and get running for the wife to fang around on. It hasn't been started in a few years and is a little worse for wear but has potential. Motor is not seized and has compression of about 100. As i'm new to these I thought I would ask for some advice as I have no spark at all. Is there a checklist of things to go through for a bike that has just sat for quite a few years.

I have bought a new battery as it didn't have a battery installed. All that does is allow me to use the horn. I removed the green wire on the cdi as suggested somewhere but still NO SPARK!

Thanks for your help.

Cheers

I've moved this to where those who know about the not-so-modern scoots hang out.

Love these expressions ya'll come up with. Awesome.

I would first check and make sure you are turning the ignition on properly and if there is a 'on/off' switch on the throttle side to be sure that is in the 'on' position.

After that we'll have to remove the engine cover and look under there.

First check the easy stuff

Hi jimmy.

Thanks for the reply.

I have a bit of experience with bikes as I have a nsr250 and a vfr400. But if course this is a new venture.

Hopefully I have turned the key to on and flicked the kill switch to on. But that switch was on the clutch side. I have just ordered a fly wheel puller so I can have a poke around in there. But I have to wait to get that.
Is there a way to check that the CDI is working properly?

Only other note worthy things are the lights do come on a little bit as I kick it over. But still no spark on the plug. Tried other spark plugs too so it's not the plug. The white button that looks like it the electric start does not do anything at all.

What's next to try?

There should be TWO green wires going to the CDI, one from inside the motor and a second one from the harness leading to the headset to turn the motor OFF by grounding it. If you have your ignition switch and any kill switch in the correct position, no need to remove either if your wires are OK. If you are unsure, you can remove the green wire that goes to the headset. If the insulation is rotted or scraped & it touches ground, no spark no matter where the switches are and Ps are famous for that GREEN wire rotting out while the others are fine. Weird huh?

I think I may have tried this.

I put ignition on (key) kill switch on then tried to kick it over with no sparking luck. Then removed the green wire that is closest to me on the CDI with the theory that if your wires are grounding out somewhere pulling the green wire out will cancel it grounding out. Then kicking it over should then spark and if it does it means that it's grounding somewhere and that's where your problem lies.

But for me this was not the case I pulled that green wire and still no spark.

So I continue on the quest for a spark.

I'm off to the movies so I will get back yo you.

You may have to do a pick up test. Its the little black doohicky on the stator that is known to go bad on 05' and later Vespas.

The kill switch (red rocker switch on clutch side cluster) was added by the Aussie importers to satisfy an over zealous ADR compliance officer at the time. Pull the headset cover and check the insulation on the wires as they often chafe through and short out somewhere. If you mean the rectangular button added on below the right side switch block, then yes, that is the starter button. It should be red but the UV in harsh Aussie sunlight tends to bleach out the red.

I had a good look over that part but it all seems to be in pretty good condition under there.

Would pulling out the green wire on the CDI bypass the kill switches function? Or am I wrongly in thinking that?

Anywho. Waiting on this fly wheel puller to see if I can see anything that looks odd.

From what I have read so far about the no spark situation. I am having a problem with either the CDI the stator or the pick up.

Does that resonate?

I have no idea about the starter motor situation either but there just for show anyway.

The starter is just added weight at this point till you sort it out..........but damn I'd like to do a starter mod to my lammy one day.

Anyway, yea. If you have a buddy with an a known good cdi you can swap to see if thats it. The pick up can be tested, as with the starter coils(rarely go bad). The pick ups can go bad though.

All of this is weird though. The scoot doesn't sound like its been ran in the gtround from what you describe.

It's done about 20000k's I think it has just sat in a warehouse for a really long time without being touched. So much so that the tyres were flat and the front wheel is rusty. It has some rust as well but that's another future thread.

I'm just guessing that there could be some corrosion to the pick up or something along those lines. Ill know soon enough. Well when I get the puller that is.

I don't know anyone with a px200 so I can't swap the CDI to test. I could take it down to the local shop but I usually do all labour myself to save coin.

I attempted to attach a photo of the wasp in question. It's obviously been repainted. From that reddish maroon Colour.

Wow that's bright.Man if that wheel got that from sitting ,who knows what tiny bit needs cleaned up.Good news is there's only so many to check.

That duco looks like Triumph Roulette Green, same as my Speed Triple.

As has been mentioned, could be the cdi. It could also just be the lead/plug cap between the cdi and the plug as these can go bad. Another quick check would be to disconnect the lead and reattach to ensure a good connection.

In addition to the CDI and plug wire [hi squash!], the ignition has two other components on the stator:
1) the previously mentioned pickup/Hall sensor/black box doohickey and
2) the sparking coil/source coil
(yeah its confusing because no one knows what to call them)

I've heard they rarely go bad, but I've had problems with both in the last 10 years.
To test (1), pull the red and white wires from the cdi. (White is the ground.) You should get about 120 Ohms resistance i think.

To test (2), pull the green (not the kill wire, the other green) and white from the CDI. You should get about 500 ohms.

[EDIT: those values are a. from memory and b. for older P200s. I don't know if they're the same for the 98 PX.)

Alright I have tested the wires coming from the stator that goto the CDI.

Green/white = 527

Red/white = 112

Do these results give a good indication the the stator is working properly?

I assumed that they did and ordered a second hand CDI from the wreckers with the spark lead.

So again I have to wait for the post for it to get here hopefully before the weekend. I can't wait to hear it fire up for the first time.

Carbs are clean now too. So as soon as I have a spark I can try and get it running.

Cheers for all the info so far.

New projects are exciting.

I have a blast with projects too

Good suggestion.

I unscrewed the wire from each end and trimmed a little bit off each end of the wire. Plugged back in but still no love.

I thought it might work though only because I had just ordered the CDI and that's the way things always go.

Nice work buddy.

Until the cdi gets there take a look at this and go thru all your connections one at a time and clean them up and clean your grounds.......especially since its a battery bike.

http://www.scooterhelp.com/electrics/wiring/VSX1T.px200e.batt.pdf

Sounds good to me. Sounds not so good. I don't know how to test if your CDI is working properly other than to swap in another one that you know is good. "Second hand from the wreckers" doesn't quite fit that description...

Hi Tom,

Yeah I know it's not the ideal situation to buy from a wreckers but I'm not really in the know about where to buy bits in oz. I personally think we get a bit ripped off here I honestly have not called up a shop here to ask how much it would be for a new CDI, past experience tells me it will be expensive. I can get stuff from the uk through eBay which is what I normally do but then it takes at least two weeks to get here.

From what I could tell from the pictures on the wrecker site the bike was pretty bent at the front. Whether or not the CDI supplied will be off the pictured bike remains to be seen.

So I thought I would try my luck.

If it would solve my problem, I'd give it a shot...for the right price.

Unless I've run the wires myself or checked their routing, I'd try that one more time removing the OTHER green wire also. How can you know which green is NOT to the stator unless you peeked? Just another thought.

Well we have success!

Got the CDI today. Express post was very useful.

Got the CDI from the wreckers and popped it on. I was holding the spark lead when I kicked it over and got a good ol shock to the fingers. So I knew we were on like donkey kong. Swapped the lead over and did all the necessary things like put the fuel tank back on put some oil in.

Pulled the choke out and it fired up on the second kick. It eventually konked out. It flooded so pulled the plug gave it some brake cleaner pushed the choke back in and it was good to go.

Rode it up and down the drive way. The front tyre is flat. But it shifts fine. And is a lot of fun.

Only concerns are the kill switch doesn't work. But it was a huge step forward.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions and ideas. I wouldn't have been able to sort out the issue as quickly as we did.

Glad to hear it. Thats a great bike you have. See ya around.

Right on.

Kill switch does not work, as you have pulled th green wire out of it!

When I pulled the horn cast off the front the kill switch wires were not attached to anything just hanging loosely in there.

But I managed to wire it up (https://modernvespa.com/forum/topic117481) now so its all good.

Cheers

When I pulled the horn cast off the front the kill switch wires were not attached to anything just hanging loosely in there.

You have not seen under my horncast, nor under my tank! Both are a mess with all th wires I have had to replace!