Modern Vespa

My 2018 300 has the muffler pluged by mice. took it off but no way to clear it.Need to buy new one where is the best place to buy one? I dont want to buy used as the scooter only has 900 miles on it and if I buy used I will have to replace it again sooner then later.I forgot to plug the muffler before puting it away for the winter. Can I reuse the chrome shield on the new one?
Thanks OlderGuy

Are you only looking for a factory replacement or aftermarket? I would say check out AF1 for either factory or aftermarket. I'm sure the stock muffler isn't cheap by any means though.

Mufflers aren't cheap. I'd spend some time and effort clearing what you have. I don't think it should be hard to do with the muffler off.

Geeze, that didn't take long. Little buggers are industrious.

Put the muffler in a tub with several gallons of extra strength white vinegar. Leave at room temperature for about a week, agitating daily. Will eat the mice out of there. When finished, let muffler set in several gallons of warm water with a box or two of baking soda to neutralize the acidity.

I guarantee this will work and will cost about $15 to accomplish. Good luck!

You could also take off the shiny bits and grill it for a couple of hours.
Muffler BBQ....

since you have the muffler off try a pressure washer from each end?

I had a mouse nest in a transmission bell housing - turned out to be made of small scraps of paper, grass, and rag - it came out quite easily.

the pressure washer attempt seems like a no brainer - take it to a do it yourself car wash if you don't have one.

I had a Honda Goldwing 1800 a few years back that was kept in a garage. Every spring when I would fire it up, it would spit dozens of acorns out of the pipes. It was funny at first. Then, I learned that rodents like to chew on and nest in the air filter which was accessible only by having to disassemble the whole top end of the bike. Several hours work.

I never looked into it. I let the next owner worry about it.

At the an of the original costs, it is better to buy an after market muffler...it's must beaty,best of original...
The remedy for mice is simple, I have some cats and I put their food in different places such as garages or agricultural vehicles storage.
The presence (smell?) of cats can suffice; better females (sterilized), males piss on walls and other objects.

The problem is quite common. My cat "Jack" kills about a mouse every two months. My house backs up to a forest - everyone has an occasional mouse.

Good luck,

Bob Copeland
Minnesota

... I have two huge cats, a male called Birillo and a norwegian breed female called Grigina ...

interesting dilemma. they do need to come out alive. there are chambers in the muffler. a dead mouse would stink for a very long time??

Highly doubt the little buggers are still there. Could have raised the young 'uns and taken them off to hockey practice by now. Unfortunately they don't take the bedding along with them.

Good point. Use someone else's grill.

Are you in the tropics? I always put some steel wool at the end of my muffler in the winter.

Take it for a spirited ride and bake them

Just around the corner and this wintry weather.

True, but the stench wouldn't be as severe

I have been known to put my silencer in the oven for curing. Never really thought to put it on the grill.

... I'm breaking up me with a big laugh.
The other curious thing is that the term "mice", in italian is almost equivalent to word "micio" (kitty in english).

If it runs OK ride it?

My 1st approach would lean towards a torch flame directed into the tip outlet, or:
high pressure air? Water? Poison gas?lay in a fire? shop vacuum?
feed them poison? extreme cold? as in water then frozen? poison pellets?
How about setting off firecrackers inside the inlet?
They like to nest on top of my engine or battery not in the muffler guts.
The last thing I'd do is buy another muffler!
They are currently eating the engine cover on my new Lincoln unless they are they goodies I left there?

...maybe buying a Fiat they don't eat it, it tastes bad ...

I always have a coupe of bait blocks (De-Con, I think) in the garage where I believe rodents might congregate. Have never found dead ones in there, nor evidence of live ones causing problems. Usually put out fresh ones in the fall, when they want to come inside where it is warm. A next-door neighbor had a rodent infestation when she got sloppy with her dog food, but none came to visit. Or at least they went outside to die.

I found that the local hardware store sells rubber crutch/cane tips in various sizes, can be used to plug any exhausts that are large enough for rodents to enter. Just need to remember to take them off in the spring, as it makes it tough to start the bikes. Work equally well for slipping over the outsides, or just jamming into holes.

So long as you don't have a catalytic convertor in the muffler, I'd be tempted to fill it with spray oven cleaner, let it work for a while, and flush it out. That stuff seems to dissolve almost everything, except metal. Although, if the obstruction is largely paper and fiber, a propane torch applied to the inlet should work.

... yes but you have to remove the muffler ...

This old post shows what the inside of the muffler looks like .......without any mouse mods

A look inside the GT muffler : "CRAZY"

Why was that thread locked?

probably because someone revived a 13 year old thread with talk of roadkill

I got it. It's the necro factor!

On 2 strokes, when the muffler gets plugged up with oily crud, the solution is to pour some gas into the muffler, slosh it around a bit, wait a min or so for the fumes to clean, then using a long stick, light it on fire and let it burn till it goes out. Then a few taps with a rubber mallet to loosen the ash and debris, then shake it out. I usually use diesel fuel myself, less tendency to go "BOOM" when you light it off. Does the same thing once you get it burning. I would try that or after removing the chrome trim, setting the muffler in a camp fire/fire pit and letting it burn for awhile. That should turn anything inside that isnt steel into ash, then using the mallet, tap it a bit, shake it out. The remount and go for a "spirited" ride to "blow out" the remains/ash. Replacing, unless your shopping for an aftermarket pipe, would be my last choice. The GT200 I am getting has a pipe, and I may be looking for the stock muffler depending on how my ears like or hate the pipe. I prefer quiet, very quiet over most pipes I have heard. Mike

When I was riding trials, the importer had an adapter that necked the end of a heat gun down to the head pipe size. We would insert this into the muffler, lay the muffler on the ground and turn on the heat gun which did an amazing job of defouling. The muffler would start to smoke and then a flame would start wicking from the end of the muffler. This worked great.

I always thought, if you had a problem with your 2-stroke muffler fouling, you weren't spending enough time at wide-open throttle.

Although I must say, it was a challenge on my YZ490.

Never seemed to have issue with most 2 stroke bikes. Trials bikes aren't made to run at high RPM for sustained time, and make their power off the bottom. Muffler fouling is more common on these bikes. I used to take one trail riding often. You need to up the main to keep them running a little cooler.