Modern Vespa

I have reason to get rid of it soon now. Next project started: First full restoration project.. 1980 P200E

wow that is amazing work congratulations!

Haven't had time to list this online yet with my garage rearrange and starting the p200 project, but I've noticed that if i leave this scooter unplugged from the tender for a couple days it won't start. Plug it into tender for 15 min and it will start fine. This battery is new and working fine. Just wondering if there is something that i can check to see if there is a drain on the battery when off, it if there are known electrical parts that go bad and cause this issue?

I had my scooters in front of garage all day yesterday and some guy stopped to ask if they were for sale and when i was showing him this bike, it wouldn't start. Wasn't actively trying to sell it but if someone wants it, ideally i need it to start every time!

Sounds like your regulator is going out. That would be the first place I start.


Good luck!

I've tested the current when idling and when revving. Everything is as it should. But you did get me looking at those circuits. I think it may be a bad cutout relay. Looking into that it seems a bad one would not function properly by preventing a fully charged battery from draining over time, also irregular starting signals which work sometimes but not others. This is a cheap part so i will try replacing that.

I also noticed today that the gas gauge only works when the battery is fully charged.

I couldn't get it to start for a few weeks and thought it was the starter switch, so I ordered that. Before it could arrive, I woke up in middle of night this week with a really dumb thought about why it wouldn't start. Went to test that dumb idea out today and that was it... kill switch was on! Hahahaha. I was overcomplicating things during the day but took a sleep induced thought to realize it was probably something I completely forgot existed on this bike, cause my other one has it disconnected. Starts up fine after charging on battery for days.

You might be right though about the regulator as despite testing with a meter when revving and idling showing good results, I see symptoms that make me wonder if it really is charging the battery when running. For example, the fuel gauge only works when the battery has been on tender for at least a night and is fully charged. First start up after overnight charged the fuel gauge goes to full as it should. Once I rev it up and take off, the gauge goes to empty. For the first 10 minutes or so of riding around city traffic with constant stops for lights, the gauge will go back to full when stopped at a red light. As soon as I take off again, drops to empty. After 10 minutes or more of riding around, the fuel gauge stays at empty. Same for battery, once I shut it down and let it sit, it won't start again without being on tender.

The 4 pin regulator for this cvt is out of stock at every place i search, so i purchased the 5 connector rms regulator for Stella 2t and Vespas with ac/dc battery system.

Just wondering if anyone has an idea what pins should match up between original 4 pin and the more common 5 pin regulator? I'll update with wiring diagram for them both tonight.

Do you have a multimeter? Disconnect it from the tender and let it sit 30 minutes or so. Check DC voltage on the battery in the scooter, everything turned off. Disconnect the battery from the harness and measure again. Voltage shouldnt change more than a tenth of a volt or so. If you notice a difference something is shorting in the scoot causing that drain.

If your battery is over 3 years old it might be done. 3-5 max is all ive ever gotten out of the lead acid batteries.

As far as the regulators, please post some pics of what youre looking at/ what the new regulator looks like. Usually its an AC in, AC out, Ground, DC out. Occasionally theres an extra AC.

Battery is almost a year old. I have multimeter and used to test voltages when running. I will try to test this to see if there is a shortage drain. Also will post pics of regulators later this week.

Here are photos of the correct LML regulator with 4 pins for the CVT auto... ripped from google (couldn't get to garage tonight), and photos of the 5 pin RMS regulator (in hand from SIP) for the 2 stroke stella and vespas with battery system.

Seems the 5 pin regulator for 2 strokes connects:
-black to ground
-purple to flasher/buzzer/ignition on/headlight/taillight
-orange to ignition off/fuse and cutout relay to starter motor
-grey to headlight switch middle position/speedo fuel gauge/prd relay/stop light switch/blinker switch
-yellow to the magneto blue wire

4 pin CVT regulator connects:
-blue-white magneto wire to grey connector on regulator which connects to auto choke/speedo fuel gauge and lights/high-low switch center pos/daytime running lamp/tail light
-red wire on regulator to batt positive/ignition switch
-green on regulator to green on magneto
-black on regulator to black on regulator/horn/float unit/all speedo lights/kill switch
-yellow on the back of the regulator (not sure if this is literal or paired with one of the four connectors) to ECU VAR? switch (cant read this document text.. too small resolution)
-blue-white on back of regulator to ECU ground power

Examining these wiring diagrams might be confirming on paper (at least) to me that it is a faulty regulator.. as symptom of this scoot is a fuel gauge that shows empty on first start even on fully charged battery. Once warmed up, the fuel gauge creeps up to full as it should. then when driving it creeps back down to empty until at red light where it creeps back up to full for the first 10 minutes until battery drains a bit.

I noticed the grey wire from regulator that connects to blue-white wire on the magneto also connects to both the speedo fuel gauge and the auto choke. So I am gathering the auto choke being on when it first starts uses more energy than can provide for the fuel gauge to meet its correct resistance. This symptom goes away when the auto choke is disengaged after warmed up, bringing the fuel gauge back to correct reading. Driving the scooter then affects the fuel gauge resistance.

So i just checked this to see if there was a short leaking the battery. Nope.

I charged battery till full, unplugged charger for half an hour. Tested voltage with harness connected. 12.93 volts. Then unplugged ground from battery by removing everything from that battery terminal including the screw that mounts into the battery holding the terminal prong, this battery has removable terminals so you can mount in different directions. Then immediately checked battery across positive and negative and it was 12.92 volts with a little jitter up to 12.93 volts every few seconds.

I take this to mean the regulator is dying and needs replacement. So I'll do that and test it, and if that doesn't solve it then I'll swap out the cutoff relay and test it.

So the cutout relay seems to be working better than the original in that it clicks more than the original. The regulator didn't seem to help. Stumped on what is wrong with this thing cause it only starts every few days and not other days.

Wondering if it is this thing pictured... Anyone know what this is? It is strange cause the white wire connects to the pink wire that comes off the cutout switch... But the white wire isn't actually connected to anything on this capacitor? It's just crimped into the metal harness holding it.

Picture below

I'm starting to wonder if maybe it is the flywheel magneto/stator or just something so stupid like carb is not set properly. Boy I hope its not the stator/magneto. I really don't want to go through all that effort of removing the engine out of this pain in the ass frame again.

But nothing makes sense as it does start sometimes.. when battery on tender for a night. Battery reads fine as 12.93 volts when sitting off tender so I don't think it is a battery issue. Especially cause this battery is not even a year old and ran fine on my 2 stroke stella for 6 months before I swapped it onto this automatic.

I officially hate this scooter. Wont start at all now. Tried everything I could think of. Replaced battery again. checked new ht coil resistance again... etc. etc. etc.

It might be time to throw in the towel on this thing and recoup what money I put into it. It's distracting me from the real projects I care about.. stella 2t highway upgrades and a p200e complete rebuild.

EDIT.. wrong thread posted

I think you may have gotten your topics mixed up and that last post was for your other project.

Anywho, it maybe time to call a shop that deals with those bikes all the time like Cleveland Moto. They post a lot of YouTube videos about Genuine/Chicago scooter company products. Seems like a helpful group. You may need to purchase something from them to complete the project that would give them some incentive to trouble shoot on the phone.

Good luck!

My bad.. you are correct. posting from my phone leads to many autocorrect mistakes and an occasional wrong thread posting. Moved that one to the correct thread now.

I have been emailing with Nathan from Genuine about this scoot. He has been very helpful despite no reward yet from me. I am grateful. He is suggesting to now test the ECU battery positive voltage as I might have a fried ECU.. which would be a costly replacement.

I don't know what this capacitor is for but I'm pretty sure the white wire was connected on the positive leg of the capacitor and broke. Remove the heat shrink and you'll probably see the broken leg soldered to the white wire. Get a same type capacitor from an electronics store and change it...

I triple checked all 3 fuses and none were visibly broken or blown.. but on advice from Nate@Genuine Scooters, I replaced them and the damn thing started again. To summarize, I replaced the cutoff switch which was the original problem with starting, as I can hear it trying to turn over now where before it didn't. I also had a bad battery from the cutoff switch issue. When I replaced the bad battery with known working one from another bike, pos and neg got reversed accidentally cause my other stella has the wires swapped in frame. This didn't outright blow the fuses visibly, but definitely damaged them as fresh ones solved the problem for now.

I got so pissed off with this automatic taking up so much space in garage, and time away from the 2 stroke projects I have, that I couldn't think straight and was relying on visual inspection of fuses instead of just replacing them to check.

The one positive of waiting for new studs for my 2 stroke stella to install the malossi 166 kit. I could sit here and think clearly and debug this CVT starting issue to hopefully get it out of my garage! Its bad luck!

Nice job solving the starting issue. Where are the studs coming from? I've got extras if they take too long.

Studs coming from Scooter Mercato in Georgia. Already in transit and should be here Monday.

I appreciate the offer!

Sold this scoot to someone who upgraded from a broken chinese scooter. It will get used now.

That's great news to hear! Did you take any final pics before selling?

No, Sorry. I just wanted it gone and wasn't thinking about photos for updates!

Next time!

Sorry, I did take pictures of it for the listing. None of the buyer taking it off my hands.

Here are the listing photos.

Pulled up to a red light on a street I have never driven down before today. Saw a vintage red front fender to a Vespa peeking out between two cars parked on the side of road and got all excited cause I've never seen another vintage Vespa on si. Pulled up through the light and it was this automatic i sold out in the wild with a top case installed!

Glad to see it's getting used! Unfortunately didn't get a pic of it cause I was driving.

Hi, loving this post and it may have just savedy year! Like you I picked up an LML as a non runner. I have the Star Deluxe 125 4t and have been trying to get it sorted. I've been reading through your post and just wanted to ask you about the vacuum hoses that you replaced. Not sure if my engine is different from yours but there is no hose coming from the top of the rocker cover to the airbox as shown in your photo, plus the second hose from the airbox going to "I don't know where"! Any ideas? I've attached two photos to show you what I mean. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thank you for this
. I'm going to clean my carb tomorrow and this is they only post I found. All the best from the uk

This thread has been an immense blessing. Thank you so much for documenting the entire process.

Not sure if this post still gets views, but in my opinion is the best resource I can find regarding Stella 125 Auto repairs. Great job! One quick question: What are the two ports coming off the gas tank? I believe one goes to the solenoid, but any idea what the other is for? Had a "pro" shop look at this for me, and after 1.5 years I got it back in worse shape than it was dropped off. Determined to get this thing roadworthy again. Thanks!

It's been so long since I had this thing to look at, but if you are talking about the two nipples below the gas cap, I'm thinking one was for the emissions thingy, and the other was for the fuel pump overflow.

I can't tell you exactly what they are, but I would what Swiss says is probably right.

All I know is every time I fill up, I dribble a little. Doctor says it's normal for my age.

Seriously, though ... thanks for the picture. I've never pulled mine apart that far to look.

Well done Swiss 1939 on a really useful series of postings, a good reference point for any potential owner of this model. I often see them for sale in the U.K on Ebay and Gumtree, often immaculate-looking, invariably with very, very low mileages and often at what seems to be a good price. I have been tempted to add one to my stable of LML fourstroke-geared bikes, but given what looks like a rather rushed-to-market design with excessive complication, have luckily taken a pass on the idea!

I would never bother with one again. Too much pain for not enough fun.

Hey, hey, hey, now ...

That's some brave and impressive work. I wouldn't have touched it. I spent a lot of time fighting with the awful electrics on my Stella 2t, but not much of it actually makes it go.