Modern Vespa

Was driving on the highway and suddenly a loud bang, the engine completely died on my 2005 et4. I went to pull over and there was an excessive amount of white smoke pouring out of the exhaust. Now when I try to start it all that I hear is the little fan next to the exhaust kick on, the engine seems completely dead. I checked the oil and it's half full.

Any idea what this could be?

Doesn't sound good. The white smoke being particularly bothersome. Do you have compression? It sounds like you don't. Try kicking it with the kickstand pedal. If you don't get much resistance, that's a sign of no compression.

-Craig

I am sorry.

A compression test might be telling of the mechanical state of the engine, perhaps even the spark-plug too.

Any oil leaks? Or do you think the oil was burned?

It sounds suspiciously like the magic smoke has escaped from your engine. Without this our Vespa's cannot run. You made need to contact a mechanic and get them to inject the smoke back in.

No expert but sounds suspiciously like another thread... Turned out they blew a hole through the piston! Like others have said, it sounds nasty. Best leave it and get a mechanic to look, if something g has come away you don't want to do more damage. Well at 8000rpm the damage may well be truely done....

I hope it turns out to be good news! Hey, might be a perfect time for the 190 kit

Hope all goes well!

ET4 125 Piston/valve shot?

They too were driving down the highway and got a bang and loads of white smoke. Holing it's not this! Not saying it is this though, could be a number of things.

Yeah. This was my first thought too. Dropped a valve and blew a hole in the piston. I hope we're wrong.

-Craig

By compression you mean does the engine attempt to go on? Nope. The only sound is the little fan next to the motor that goes on, maybe that is the starter? The engine seems completely dead. I haven't tried the kickstand starter though, I will do that later.

Sorry. Autocorrect changed "kick start" to "kickstand". See if there is resistance when you push the kick start pedal.

-Craig

No oil leaks at all, no flames out, no oil looks burned.

Hope it's just a coincidence! Would be odd.for two.et4's to do the same thing pretty.much at the same time..what's the milage on the scoot?

-Craig[/quote]

By compression you mean does the engine attempt to go on? Nope. The only sound is the little fan next to the motor that goes on, maybe that is the starter? The engine seems completely dead. I haven't tried the kickstand starter though, I will do that later.[/quote]

Sorry. Autocorrect changed "kick start" to "kickstand". See if there is resistance when you push the kick start pedal.

-Craig[/quote]

Okay I tried the kick starter and it seems like it is trying to start a tiny little bit- in the slightest. What's weird is that the oil light goes on and off as I perform an attempt to kickstart it.

Then when I try to start it with the regular starter button after performing an attempt to kickstart it- it again in the slightest little bit seems like it is almost trying to turn on - but doesn't come close. Then when I push the starter button again, it's back to entirely dead.

Does this make any sense?

The odometer stopped working a few months ago but I'd estimate the mileage to be roughly between 9000-10000 miles

Doesn't really make sense. This sounds like the diagnosis is a bit above your ability. I don't mean that in a snarky way. But from what you've described the problem sounds serious. Probably need a mechanic to look at it.

-Craig

Does this make any sense? No offense taken.. Sadly I cannot afford a mechanic at the moment. Man I really loved my little ET4 but I think it's days are over. It's custom painted and everything.

I think my biggest mistake was that I was using this as my main form of transportation. This is NOT a vehicle to use as your main source of transportation.

You may be able to pick up an engine from a wrecked/salvage scoot. Good luck.

Nooo! There's always a way!

Second on the engine idea, you can find them cheap enough if you look hard enough

Man I wouldn't even have the first idea of clue of what to do with it, I'm pretty much retarded when it comes to cars and scooters and that kind of thing. I'm not even sure it IS the motor, although it surely seems like that is the case.

Well I understand when money's a struggle it's horrible when something goes wrong.

I hope by some miracle something comes through for you and your vespa lives on.

And don't worry about not being good at mechanics, I've only just started to volunteer and honestly a diagnosis like this is far beyond me too.