Modern Vespa

Hi guys,

Looking to see if anyone knows whether the electronic parking unit needs any air flow to it.

I bought a Piaggio MP3 300 yourban in February and after a couple of weeks it started to stutter at the lights.

Taking it to a scooter shop that has a lot of experience with mp3's, the mechanic said that the E.P.U was covered in grit and water because of its positioning. He cleaned it all out and put Vaseline on the wires to give them some sort of protection.

It was fine and then when it last rained the little stutter started back up.

Looking at the mud guard housing which is in front of the E.P.U, there is a little vent which is allowing all this crap to cover it when the weather is bad.

To me it looks like a design fault to have such an open area in front of such an important unit.

I was just wondering if it needs some sort of air flow in which I may put an air filter in front of the unit to block the heavy grit and water or could I block it off altogether with a piece of plastic.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Mark

A few points-

1) Vaseline isn't really the best dielectric grease to use. The mechanic should have put actual dielectric grease on/in the connectors themselves and covered the wires with liquid tape where they meet the connector. (Although dielectric grease looks an awful lot like Vaseline, so he might have done this and I'm blowing smoke.)

2) It's possible that another connector is causing the problem, and it isn't related to the EPU unit or its environs. A completely different connector could have gotten wet, then dried out while the mechanic was doing his ministrations, then gotten wet again. The dielectric grease/ liquid tape method should be applied to all the connectors on the bike.

3) From the symptoms it sounds like the battery terminals are loose or the battery is beginning to fail.

But I agree- having electrical components exposed to road grit is a bad thing. I'm not sure how the EPU would affect the running of the engine, though, but I'm not an expert on interaction of the signals that run in and out of the different components of the MP3.

I know the early 250's, mine included, has a massive issue with voltage variations. Most bikes can handle a semi-good battery, but when an early MP3 has a bad or slightly discharged battery its has an insane amount of electrical issues.

The stuttering you described happened to mine too, among other issues as non working tilt lock, randomly activated alarm, seats sensor out of whack etc. Mine would even randomly turn off at stop lights.

I dont know if this was fixed in the Yourban, but it has the same Quasar engine as my 250, so there is a risk.

Personally, i would either try another battery, or charge your current one and try it.

EDIT: I cant find anything in the schematics so i think its supposed to be open like that.

the mechanic was screwing you using VASELINE.

vaseline is conductive as its an oil base product.

dielectic grease is non conductive

by using vaseline the unit could have shorted out.

Airflow? No !

Vaseline? Will cause a Short across the pins... Very Bad Idea...

Keith,
Marietta, GA

Thanks guys for the replies.

It seems that my bike has the same symptoms as Marshaldans 250 as I had problems with the seat sensor when sitting on the bike and the warning light of no weight would come up on the dash.

I replaced the battery with a motobatt so it can't be the battery and I have tightened up all the terminals and used one of the raisers that came with it so the battery is wedged tightly so it doesn't have any movement like my old battery.

I also cleaned the speed sensors and out white lithium grease on them and cleaned out the wires with a contact cleaner.

I used contact cleaner on all the switches on the handlebars especially the killswitch. This was done before the last stutter after the rain.

The seat sensor no longer comes on so either cleaning the sensors or tightening the battery has sorted that out.

I'll strip the bike again when I get home from holiday and block off the vent from the inside and see if that helps.

I know the mechanic said he used Vaseline but that could be on the outside of the wiring. I'll have a look at the unit and see if there is vaseline and clean it off if there is and use dielectic grease instead.

Don't block the vent it needs cooling

Maksor, thanks for that. Do you think if I made an air filter system with a thin sponge that this would be sufficient enough to give the EPU enough air flow.

Don't you think Piaggio Engineers thought this out in the Design
Unnecessary Modifications to Bike...

Keith,
Marietta, GA

You would think that but looking at the placement of the vent on other models and my memory of it on my previous 125, this vent fully exposes the EPU.

Looking at the placement of the EPU on the other models, it seems to be positioned differently so less exposure.

The fact it is an expensive part to replace without labour shows that this is a design flaw that piaggio have overlooked.

Reading through posts on the steering notch since before purchasing the 125, members of this forum didn't think that an integral part of the design such as bearings would have poor reliabity after such a short space of time.

The fact piaggio only reacted to this after so many complaints shows it's possible for design faults in these bikes.

I'm guessing piaggio focus more on the other models with the yourban having a niche market across Europe. They seem to be aware of the problem as they're are happy to replace the part if under the two years but anything over and the owner is left with an expensive problem.

To try and help the longevity of the EPU, I have bought a small vent that has a wire mesh inside to help block the grit whilst giving airflow to the EPU. Hopefully this works.

Been on this site since 2008 and and first post I have seen this complaint, so it is not a common problem.

I didn't mention it was a common problem, I said it's a problem that piaggio are aware of hence why they have been happy to replace the EPU within the 2 years.

Having been quoted by two different dealers a price of £2000 minimum to fix the problem, I've been left a little sceptical especially when these dealers have dealt with 5 MP3 Yourbans over the past year with the same problem.

Scooter has a 2 year warranty, they are obligated by law to replace failed parts.

Yeah I guessed that would be the warranty but I wouldn't expect a parts failure like that for a 3 year old bike with 5000 miles on the clock.

welll Piaggio stopped producing the 125cc ie in 2010 so old stock