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Hi all,

New to this forum. Thought I could get some advice on a problem that I have.

Have recently bought a brand new Piaggio MP3 300 HPE sport (Oct 2021).

Has been riding fine until the last few days where intermittently the engine would just stall. It usually happens at a traffic light, when I am slowing down and I only realise that i can't move when the lights go green. Its pretty dangerous. Its only done 1k on the clock and has had the 600 mile service. It did this twice in the first week that i had it but none since yesterday and today.

I spoke to my dealer and they said they had no idea and may need to look at the fuel injector (advice from Piaggio directly). I then told them I use super unleaded sometimes if unleaded is out of stock. He immediately said that this was the problem and that this was the cause of it....I did fill up with super unleaded a few days back.

Not sure if this is the case and wondering if anyone else has had the same problem. Can using super unleaded damage the MP3?
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I think it is just the opposite. The MP3 requires the highest octane available.
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This is caused by bad idle (or how is it in UK? Tick-somewhat I guess)/
Bad idle can be caused by:
- Lack of air (because of over-oiled air filter or bad idle valve in ECU)
- Lack of gasoline (because of bad injector or bad fuel pump or dirty filter or bad hose)
- Bad spark (because of bad plug, cable or cap)

Or bad mapping (which returns us to ECU).
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This happened to me. Turned out I was slipping too far forward on seat and consequently the seat sensor did its job: when i twisted throttle- nothing!
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Thanks. I dont think its the seat seonsor. The engine conpletely stalls. I dont think thats the job of the seat sensor. I have to manually restart the engine…..
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Does it do it when the engine is fully warm or only when it is coming up to temp?
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Varies. The three times it did it in the last two days was when it was fully warm after a 30 minute ride. Previously it did it after about 2 minutes. I am not sure how much to believe with regards to the super unleaded fuel… My coleague have an MP3 and both of them use super unleaded without any problems…
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You should ONLY be using super unleaded, per Piaggio and owners manual.
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Thanks drawnon. Thats exactly what i thought reading the manual. My dealer tells me apparently the ECU settings on an MP3 are based on normal unleaded petrol and that by using super unleaded may cause this to happen and he is adamant that this is the cause of the stalling when coming to stop.... Just a bit suspiciou as it has not happened to any of my colleagues who bought the same bike at the same time as me brand new.

I guess I can try using normal unleaded but I don't think the problem will go away. Piaggio have been very unhelpful and were asking for the bike to be stripped to inspect the fuel injector/pump which will require it to be in the garage for a week or so!
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I've been running my MP3 exclusively on Shell V-Power (98RON) since I bought it with 24km (15 miles) on the clock. Never an issue.

Of course Piaggio is not very helpful. They're about as helpful as getting a actual resolution at the Apple "genius bar" without them charging an arm and a leg or the usual spiel "it might not be economically feasible to repair, so can we interest you in a new model?".

The Japanese don't have worry about a thing in regards to Piaggio becoming a real competitor. Sloppy service and sloppy practices make for sloppy products.
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ahuss wrote:
Varies. The three times it did it in the last two days was when it was fully warm after a 30 minute ride. Previously it did it after about 2 minutes. I am not sure how much to believe with regards to the super unleaded fuel… My coleague have an MP3 and both of them use super unleaded without any problems…
Yeah the higher octane is not the issue.

So what could be happening is when the engine starts it runs richer until it is warmed up. Then it should run leaner. This could be an indication that a sensor is not working or the ECU needs a look. Maybe someone could speak to this who knows more than I about the details.

But before I would do anything like that I would, even though you have low miles, clean and or replace the air filter. Most times this happened to me it was due to lack of air from a dirty filter. Also if you change the filter observe how much oil is in the air filter box.
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Quote:
The Japanese don't have worry about a thing in regards to Piaggio becoming a real competitor. Sloppy service and sloppy practices make for sloppy products.
. . .and yet, you bought an Italian made scooter, why is that? Look, I'm Italian born and raised and I'm the first one to bitch and moan about Italians sometimes. I was the Bids and Proposal Manager for their passenger rail transit subsidiary for 8 yrs here in NYC and I can tell you that Customer Service is still a foreign concept to them. Some of their Engineers had the attitude that they were doing a favor to the Clients by selling them their trains. Clients keep coming back because contrary to your what you think the product is still more reliable than the Japanese, enough so to overcompensate for the lack of CS.
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In reference to the theory of an ECU or Injector issue.

Does the bike behave differently in ECO vs Performance mode?

The air filter is easy to check, the cover comes off and its something to check regularly even if its not a root cause of this stalling issue.
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gwopny wrote:
. . .and yet, you bought an Italian made scooter, why is that?...
Cause it was cheap and nothing else. Bought the bike from the 1st owner who had it 6 months. He paid 12.5K in the midst of summer. I got it for 5K less after 8 months in the middle of winter and 15 miles later.

I've had Italian vehicles as well and the similarities are there. Customer care is indifferent and next to non existent and their socialistic attitude i.e. "the factory is shut down for the whole of August for summer holiday" is something that is out of step in the current world economy model.

They simply follow the Alitalia business model. Oh yeah, those guys just went bust after the government refused to keep them on life support after so many decades. The shape of things to come.

No wonder French and Italian makes simply do not exist or manage to survive in the US, except for the exotic stuff like Ferrari and Lambo. Fiat's gigantic failure in its reintroduction to the US is a great example.

Lancia? Dead as a doornail except for a single model and only available in Italy (a rebadged Fiat 500)
Alfa? 2 models, the Giulia and Stelvio, and the brand is yet again on life support
Maserati? Still sucking on the Fiat tit and gasping for air with models that simply do not sell due to lousy build quality, and the introduction of their first diesel car after diesel became the new taboo word on the level of Chernobyl.

And what do they all have in common? Oh yeah, they're all Italian.

And oddly enough, the best selling scooter in Italy is . . . . wait for it . . . . a Honda SH125. Hmmm, I wonder why. Better, cheaper, and more reliable. Sounds like a winning combination in my book.

And ironically enough, I picked my new (to me) Honda today. And even though it is older than the Piaggio it feels a lot younger and tight as a drum.
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The air filter was cleaned 400 miles ago, or around 6 weeks ago. This problem was there before that (when it was brand new and done only 100 miles) then stopped for about 2-3 months and now started again. Have always used super unleaded.

I havent tried to switch between eco and performance mode ( didnt realise there was an option) but can try that this week.

Its very difficult to replicate this problem to the dealer as it is very intermittent. Its as though someone presses the emergency off button on the bike. The dashboard stays on and the engine oil light comes on (as it should) - no warning lights or anything else. I then just restart the bike by pressing the ignition and everything seems fine.

The only other thing that i have noticed is that the idle rev count is around 1.8-2 and it does fluctuate constantly from about 1.7-2 - I know this may be normal but for some reason I expected a new bike to have a much smoother idle…
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Just as I said, you have a problem with idle revs.
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Let's hope it's not another case of badly adjusted valves.
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drawnon wrote:
You should ONLY be using super unleaded, per Piaggio and owners manual.
Sorry to hijack the thread - my 300 HPE manual only specifies 95 octane, which is normal unleaded here in the UK. Is there some other document which suggests that you have to use 98 and above?

Thanks
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In the US, premium or super unleaded is usually 92 or 93 octane, but I think our measurement system is different from the European system.
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drawnon wrote:
In the US, premium or super unleaded is usually 92 or 93 octane, but I think our measurement system is different from the European system.
The names vary, which is why it is best to use "92 RON" or other quantified property.
"Premium" in the US is a misnomer, just like "synthetic oil".
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US a proprietary measuring method (again). Facepalm emoticon For gasoline this is measured in (Ron + Mon) /2

The rest of the world uses RON exclusively.

Can't we just stick with Metric? If you can count the number of fingers on both hands you've just graduated Metric 101.

Cups are for measuring bras. Pints are for measuring your beer intake.
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sbaert wrote:
US a proprietary measuring method (again). Facepalm emoticon For gasoline this is measured in (Ron + Mon) /2

The rest of the world uses RON exclusively.

Can't we just stick with Metric? If you can count the number of fingers on both hands you've just graduated Metric 101.

Cups are for measuring bras. Pints are for measuring your beer intake.
I'd bet that no, we're not going to suddenly all just stick to metric. You may or may not have noticed, but what the rest of the world does matters little to most of those in the US (right, wrong, or indifferent, I'm not making a judgement just a statement, and not even including my own opinion here).
I'd even bet that we won't use units any more than currently, which, if we all did, we could all translate into each others' units.
Bras and beers are very important in my world, by the way. As are feet.
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I'll just take comfort in knowing that the US healthcare system uses metric.

I can only imagine the lawsuits if it had opted for that "other" wretched system of weights and measurements.
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sbaert wrote:
I'll just take comfort in knowing that the US healthcare system uses metric.

I can only imagine the lawsuits if it had opted for that "other" wretched system of weights and measurements.
Wondering why you have big feelings on this and why it matters to you at all.
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Because the US has the tradition of being a world leader that establishes world standards, yet it is acting like a child throwing a tantrum and playing a continual day out in history by sticking with this archaic and medieval system of weights and measures.

And you wonder why the US can't really compete? Well, this is one of the primary reasons.
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sbaert wrote:
Cause it was cheap and nothing else. Bought the bike from the 1st owner who had it 6 months. He paid 12.5K in the midst of summer. I got it for 5K less after 8 months in the middle of winter and 15 miles later.

I've had Italian vehicles as well and the similarities are there. Customer care is indifferent and next to non existent and their socialistic attitude i.e. "the factory is shut down for the whole of August for summer holiday" is something that is out of step in the current world economy model.

They simply follow the Alitalia business model. Oh yeah, those guys just went bust after the government refused to keep them on life support after so many decades. The shape of things to come.

No wonder French and Italian makes simply do not exist or manage to survive in the US, except for the exotic stuff like Ferrari and Lambo. Fiat's gigantic failure in its reintroduction to the US is a great example.

Lancia? Dead as a doornail except for a single model and only available in Italy (a rebadged Fiat 500)
Alfa? 2 models, the Giulia and Stelvio, and the brand is yet again on life support
Maserati? Still sucking on the Fiat tit and gasping for air with models that simply do not sell due to lousy build quality, and the introduction of their first diesel car after diesel became the new taboo word on the level of Chernobyl.

And what do they all have in common? Oh yeah, they're all Italian.

And oddly enough, the best selling scooter in Italy is . . . . wait for it . . . . a Honda SH125. Hmmm, I wonder why. Better, cheaper, and more reliable. Sounds like a winning combination in my book.

And ironically enough, I picked my new (to me) Honda today. And even though it is older than the Piaggio it feels a lot younger and tight as a drum.
Gotta agree on all counts.

I worked for an Italian firm for a while, the first overseas division of a large family business, they couldn't seem to grasp Canadian labour laws or accounting principles. To shorten a long and painful tail, I left because I didn't like the idea of going to jail.
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sbaert wrote:
Because the US has the tradition of being a world leader that establishes world standards, yet it is acting like a child throwing a tantrum and playing a continual day out in history by sticking with this archaic and medieval system of weights and measures.

And you wonder why the US can't really compete? Well, this is one of the primary reasons.
So basically it seems that you dislike the United States then. Well everyone is entitled to an opinion and it is not an uncommon opinion. It seems though that your dislike of the US is more deep seated than what units of measure it uses. At least I hope it is if that is true.

You also might want to read up on why the US didn't switch to metric in the 19th century like much of Europe did. There are more reasons other than Americans didn't/don't want to. The industrial revolution played a major role. After that our entire infrastructure was and is based on our current units and any push to change would have been costly and many did not see that any advantages was worth the cost. Labor unions opposed the Metric Conversion act of 1975 because they feared it would drive jobs oversees (which happened anyway) and of course most industries did.

But it is changing, slowly, but changing. Most products here are marked using both systems. Alcoholic products are almost exclusively using ml. It is now use extensively in many industries, science, medicine, electronics, automobile production and even the military. Many of our measuring instruments have graduations in both systems. Even in public life we run 5k, 10k and 15k road races and students are taught both systems. We are really a dual-measurement country.

Will the US ever convert completely? In my opinion probably but not in my lifetime. There have been acts passed in the 20th century that make the metric system the preferred system for commerce and there have been more pushes in the 21st century, but until we start having speed limits marked with both more widely in use and other visuals it will be even slower. I think we may eventually become a true dual measurement society with both systems officially adopted. That might be as far as it goes here.
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Although I'm all for metric for day to day measurement, there is some huge benefit to teaching Imperial units. It teaches calculating in many number bases, not just base 10.

But please use weights for cooking recipes, even if Imperial - not volumes!
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stickyfrog wrote:
So basically it seems that you dislike the United States then. Well everyone is entitled to an opinion and it is not an uncommon opinion. It seems though that your dislike of the US is more deep seated than what units of measure it uses....
WTF? What drew you to that conclusion? Simply because I think metric is a better system for weights and measures??? Puhleez. I am an American citizen, and I do believe it is still the greatest country on earth not counting the circus of the last 5 years.

My point is that sometimes the US is stubborn and boneheaded, and often reluctant to submit to change even if change is for the better.

Anyway, as far as Metric over Imperial, here is a classic case that could have saved a lot of taxpayer money.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-01-mn-17288-story.html

Imagine if the US had its own timekeeping standard (let's say 5 days in a week consisting of 27 hours to a day) vs. the rest of world accepted standard of 24 hours to a day and 7 days in a week, that would be a real sh!tshow
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sbaert wrote:
And you wonder why the US can't really compete?
I think this line might have influenced Sticky's conclusion. It certainly did mine.
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sbaert wrote:
WTF? What drew you to that conclusion? Simply because I think metric is a better system for weights and measures??? Puhleez. I am an American citizen, and I do believe it is still the greatest country on earth not counting the circus of the last 5 years.

My point is that sometimes the US is stubborn and boneheaded, and often reluctant to submit to change even if change is for the better.

Anyway, as far as Metric over Imperial, here is a classic case that could have saved a lot of taxpayer money.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-01-mn-17288-story.html

Imagine if the US had its own timekeeping standard (let's say 5 days in a week consisting of 27 hours to a day) vs. the rest of world accepted standard of 24 hours to a day and 7 days in a week, that would be a real sh!tshow
Sorry I forgot the question mark on the first sentence. Was asking a question because you seem to have big feelings about the fact that we use mixed systems. Seems like a silly thing to worry about.
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sbaert wrote:
My point is that sometimes the US is stubborn and boneheaded, and often reluctant to submit to change even if change is for the better.


And that is only one of many factors involved. See my post on the subject.
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Was ahuss idle issue solved? It appears the thread is on a tangent.

You folks are awesome trouble shooters and this forum is a massive help to those learning about the quirks and subtle solutions inherent to Piaggios.

It would be great to hear from ahuss if the issue was solved at a dealer or of more digging is needed. Given many Vespa and Piaggio riders aren't near convenient dealerships the only thing keeping them all going is community support forums.

Best.

Pinhead.
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Jah wrote:
This is caused by bad idle (or how is it in UK? Tick-somewhat I guess)/
Bad idle can be caused by:
- Lack of air (because of over-oiled air filter or bad idle valve in ECU)
- Lack of gasoline (because of bad injector or bad fuel pump or dirty filter or bad hose)
- Bad spark (because of bad plug, cable or cap)

Or bad mapping (which returns us to ECU).
I agree.
Check the condition of the air filter. Check high voltage wire and spark plugs. Check valve adjustment.
⬆️    About 5 months elapsed    ⬇️
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Hi guys,

Just a quick update on the situation.

Dealer initially told me to stop using super unleaded and use normal unleaded.Did that for a few weeks and then the same thing happened at 1.8k miles and then at 2k miles.

Have ridden it for another 1k miles using normal unleaded with no problems.

The dealership said they had a similar Piaggio Mp3 doing a similar thing and they resolved it by changing the wire harness (whatever that means). They took my bike in last week and changed the wire harness.

There was no change in the dodgy idle - it was still there.

Yesterday night on the way to work came to a junction and the bike did the same thing. Cut out at the traffic. However this time the bike would not restart!! It always does immediately.

I was in a vulnerable position at a busy junction and had to manually push the bike to a place of safety. I tried to restart with no luck for an hour. The dashboard would work fine but the engine just wouldnt tick over. Called RAC and they said it could take them 5-6 hours.

I arranged for the bike to be taken straight to the dealers this morning after my night shift. Surprise surprise the bike started this morning but with an engine management light. I was not going to ride this bike anymore. Got recovery to take it to the dealer and he started the bike fine. It then randomly cut out. He started it again and was fine.

He put the diagnostics on and it said something along the lines of a throttle pressure sensor…

I am just completely pissed off with the whole situation and not sure what to do. This reliability issue and more inportantly the safety issue is really concerning especially after yesterday night in anramd new bike.

Am i within my rights to request a new replacement? I bought it through finance (Black Horse). My issue is that no one knows what the problem is and i cannot have this problem happen again on a busy road. Its just not worth the risk.
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Location: Germany
 
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@new200guy avatar
2019 MP3 500hpe Sport
Joined: UTC
Posts: 504
Location: Germany
UTC quote
Do you store you MP3 outside uncovered?

Just a suggestion or idea to try, but fiddle around with your run stop switch. Don't completely press it to off, but just touch it while the bike is running. I had an issue with mine acting up but just pushing it while it was in the run position. In the run position, pushing down on it would shut the bike off. Flipping it back and forth to stop and then run a few times alleviated the problem, but I will be ordering a new one soon, as that switch did leave me stranded one time.

Just a thought. You ride is pretty new, so I wouldn't see that being the case, but it could have been faulty from the factory.
@old_as_dirt avatar
UTC

Veni, Vidi, Posti
2007 GTS
Joined: UTC
Posts: 22412
Location: Harriman, Tennessee, Tn
 
Veni, Vidi, Posti
@old_as_dirt avatar
2007 GTS
Joined: UTC
Posts: 22412
Location: Harriman, Tennessee, Tn
UTC quote
ahuss wrote:
Hi guys,

Just a quick update on the situation.

Dealer initially told me to stop using super unleaded and use normal unleaded.Did that for a few weeks and then the same thing happened at 1.8k miles and then at 2k miles.

Have ridden it for another 1k miles using normal unleaded with no problems.

The dealership said they had a similar Piaggio Mp3 doing a similar thing and they resolved it by changing the wire harness (whatever that means). They took my bike in last week and changed the wire harness.

There was no change in the dodgy idle - it was still there.

Yesterday night on the way to work came to a junction and the bike did the same thing. Cut out at the traffic. However this time the bike would not restart!! It always does immediately.

I was in a vulnerable position at a busy junction and had to manually push the bike to a place of safety. I tried to restart with no luck for an hour. The dashboard would work fine but the engine just wouldnt tick over. Called RAC and they said it could take them 5-6 hours.

I arranged for the bike to be taken straight to the dealers this morning after my night shift. Surprise surprise the bike started this morning but with an engine management light. I was not going to ride this bike anymore. Got recovery to take it to the dealer and he started the bike fine. It then randomly cut out. He started it again and was fine.

He put the diagnostics on and it said something along the lines of a throttle pressure sensor…

I am just completely pissed off with the whole situation and not sure what to do. This reliability issue and more inportantly the safety issue is really concerning especially after yesterday night in anramd new bike.

Am i within my rights to request a new replacement? I bought it through finance (Black Horse). My issue is that no one knows what the problem is and i cannot have this problem happen again on a busy road. Its just not worth the risk.
I would demand a new scoot, based on safety issue.
OP
UTC

Member
MP3 300 HPE Sport
Joined: UTC
Posts: 8
Location: London
 
Member
MP3 300 HPE Sport
Joined: UTC
Posts: 8
Location: London
UTC quote
Apparently there is going to be a recall on the fuel pumps for some models (mine included).

Thats what the dealer said and I confirmed with Piaggio on the phone…

Not sure this will fix this problem though…
UTC

Hooked
MP3 500 HPE 2019
Joined: UTC
Posts: 109
 
Hooked
MP3 500 HPE 2019
Joined: UTC
Posts: 109
UTC quote
probably same as this recall they done before

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/defective-fuel-pump-triggers-piaggio-and-vespa-recall-92510.html
ahuss wrote:
Apparently there is going to be a recall on the fuel pumps for some models (mine included).

Thats what the dealer said and I confirmed with Piaggio on the phone…

Not sure this will fix this problem though…
OP
UTC

Member
MP3 300 HPE Sport
Joined: UTC
Posts: 8
Location: London
 
Member
MP3 300 HPE Sport
Joined: UTC
Posts: 8
Location: London
UTC quote
Just an update for those interested.

Both of my colleagues MP3 300 bought at the same time as me in October 2021 engines no longer start and have stalled.

Looks like this problem appears at around 2-3k miles. They have both had their MP3s recovered back to the dealer.

All three of us bought them brand new.
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