Modern Vespa

Purchased a cheap MP3 300ie that was involved in an accident,

The bike was driveable and I took it around the block and worked fine except for continuous blinking amber tilt lock indicator. All the front fairings where damaged so I removed and at the same time I loosened the front subframe as it was slightly mis-aligned.

My problem now is that once I start the bike I get red tilt failure light and continuous alarm. I am assuming that adjusting the subframe may have caused the new issue so wondering where I should start looking for the cause of the problem?

I cannot reset the tilt lock with the double tap method so apart from finding the original fault is there a method to reset the tilt-lock?

Grateful for any help as I only have limited time to work on the bike due to work commitments and can only work on the bike when it is dry ( great British weather!!! )

So far:
New tilt lock switch
Checked both sets of fuses
New battery

To do

Clean wheel sensors
Check and clean connections ( but which ones? )

Probably Drive-able without the Features that the Bike is known for.
You have a mess of problems to work through.
I hope you got it "Dirt Cheap"...

If I had it, I would take it all apart and examine the Sensors, the Parking Control Computer Connections, evaluate the Damage.
Decide to fix or part it out on ebay.

Keith,
Marietta, GA

Thanks Keith, bought it as a project and am in no rush so not looking to sell. I intend cleaning sensors on the wheels first as the inner rims where nearly black when I got it.

So far I have changed the tilt lock switch just in case it was faulty and checked both sets of fuses and they are all fine. I will start a little checklist in the original post as I work through possible problems but really interested in what members come up with in terms of other things to check. I feel that it could be something quite simple as it was driving fine prior to me removing all the front fairings and adjusting the front subframe.

Wondering whether the mechanism in the photo is to blame? I had a look at the one fitted to my mp3 ( sits just above the tilt lock ) and mine is in the open position where the little green micro switch is away from the plate. I hope someone can tell me if it is supposed to be open or closed when bike is stationary and sitting on the centre stand?

Just to add that as far as I am aware tilt lock has never engaged in the few days I have had the bike.

That looks like the tilt brake caliper. Has the tilt reservoir got any fluid ( DOT 4) in it. Have you checked for any bad electrical connections.

All reservoirs checked and are full. Will be cleaning all the connections with contact cleaner at the weekend. I haven't got any diagnostic tools ( apart from a multimeter ) so not sure how to check for bad connections.

Can any confirm if that switch needs to be closed or open when bike is in tilt lock position?

Only the reservoir above the tilt mastercylinder under the front plastic is related to the tilt brake caliper. This tilt brake caliper works just like any other brake caliper (clamping on to the fan shaped disc) except it is electricaly operated With the push button on the handlebars,instead of being manualy operated with a hand brake or foot lever. If the Tilt mastercylinder is full of DOT 4 then either the bowden cable running from the electric motor to the caliper is disconnected or there is a electrical problem. The bowden cable is easy to see . As the bike has been in a bump and damaged at the front end then i would go for a damaged connection , cut wire ,disconnected connection or unseen damaged wire.

Thanks for info. Bowden cable is the braided steel cable isn't it? If so then that looks looks fine so will start with electrical connectors at the weekend but don't let that stop others chipping in with their thoughts

Yes.

Typically, I know from experience...
The Parking Control Computer will get damaged from a Collision.
That's an expensive part, I have a few spares I keep around for trouble shooting. US $ is about $485.00 so not cheap. You can find on ebay from $95.00 to $150.00... Some who lists them sell for over Retail. I assume they just are Fishing and don't have a Clue?
The connecting pins to the cable will break internally, and its a sealed unit.

This project bike is something you have to try and isolate one problem at a time.

Good Luck,
Keith

bs

its a speedsensor or the cabe that operats the caliper is to tight

OK, I have checked and cleaned every cable I could see and used contact cleaner on all the connections and still nothing.

I tried turning the adjustment screw for the potentiometer thing and it would budge at all so wondering if this is connected?

I want to try to adjust the cable to to the tilt lock calliper so tips on that would be great and also is there a way to reset the tilt lock if the double tap doesn't work?

Here is a photo of the cable area at the top of the tilt lock. Should it look like this? I feel the micro switch is much to far away but I have nothing to compare it to.

no it should hit it thats why i said the cable to tight or mount wrong

just because there is fluid in the tilt lock reservoir doesn't mean there is not an air bubble in it. I would purge and refill.

The above two posts give me a lot of hope. I have packed up for the day as the football is on but will try both things tomorrow.

Still not sure how to adjust the calliper cable though as there doesn't seem to be much cable to adjust!

I have tried to adjust the cable located at A in my photo and there is not enough play so the problem is the control lever ( B) is to far to the left and needs to be over at position C.

What should I do now to adjust it?

Try taking the cable out of that bracket, and activate the tilt lock. Maybe best to remove the proximity sensor first, in case it goes too far. Point is, if there is a jam downstream this will at least show that the arm can move all the way to the prox sensor. An accident causing the cable to be bent could cause these problems....

While the cable is out, you can also move it in the cover and be sure the cable isn't binding. Then check the pads on the tilt lock arc segment to see if there is some garbage holding them away from the segment.

The brake fluid in your tilt lock reservoir looks rather brown, by the way. I'd bleed that out for sure.

Thanks, will try tomorrow. By proximity sensor I assume you mean the sensor up by the other end of the cable?

In your post from 8 this morning.

Have taken out the cable so the spring mechanism can sit on the sensor and still get the continuous beep so am assume that isn't the problem.

Can I test whether they is power to the motor in the photo?

Really wish I had a local Piaggio dealer to run a diagnostic but they are none near me

did you push the switch in ?

Which switch?

the micro swith

and for diagnostics JPdiag and the cable from lonelect.co.uk

Yes, when I released the cable the spring pulls the lever onto the switch and alarm continues to beep.

Can you check the spelling on lonelect.co.uk as that site doesn't exist and I thought jpdiag was for the engine ecu rather than the parking ecu?

Thanks for the responses all

OK, so something prevents the cable from allowing the lever to contact the switch when the cable is connected. We've gotten somewhere.

Is there a kink in the cable, or something under the brake pads on the tilt lock arc segment?

purge and bleed the system.

I think the cable is fine so think the problem is related to the gear section at the other end of the cable. Hence why I was asking about how to test is the attached motor.

Picking up brake fluid tomorrow so that is my next move. At the moment just going to bleed the tilt lock section but trying to work out if doing this will move the cable to the correct position on its own?

dirt in the system and air bubbles can give you the alarm issue your having. suggest pushing the fluid up from the bottom into the reservoir and sucking the fluid out of the reservoir with a vacuum type pump or a turkey baster. this way you can monitor the color of fluid and air bubbles easily.

Big plastic syringes and tubing can be your friend here too.

Thanks for the tips on bleeding gentlemen.

I haven't got a misty vac or similar so I have just rigged up the biggest syringe I could find in the house. It is only 20ml so could take me a while to bleed.

What would be the best method use my homemade bleeder?

Push up from below.

Seriously, suck the reservoir about empty, then use the syringe to push fluid into the bleed valve on either side, each side until what arrives to the reservoir is clear. With your little syringe it will probably take three fills.

So feed new fluid through valve indicated by arrow in this photo?

No, much further down. On each suspension unit there is a clamp that the hydraulic fluid goes to.

So this one?

Close, very close.
On top of that clamping unit there is a brake bleeding screw. That's the thing you want to hook the tubing to.

You are a very patient man😇 !!!

I happen to have a complete assy with caliper new cost for both is around $240 plus shipping per AF1 web site.