Modern Vespa

I recently purchased a 2009 GTS 250.
I flushed and replaced the antifreeze. Nasty.
Now the engine gets hot fairly quickly, and yesterday it would not start till it got cold. The dash indicator was at the 1/2 mark, had to wait till it went down to 1 bar.

Pic

Pic3

was all that orange on the inside of the glovebox when you took it apart or is that just collateral damage from the flush?

after flushing, did you bleed the air from the system?

did it run hot and have problems starting before the flush?

No, it was orange when I took it apart before the flush.

I did bleed it, but now it leaks a little

Don't know, I did the flush after purchasing it.

Could it be a stuck thermostat valve?

that's a sign it was overheated, probably several times and severely at that.

if it's leaking at the bleeder you more than likely over tightened the bleed screw and stripped of cracked the housing. it's possible that you just rolled the o-ring, but more than likely it's the housing.

the thermostat could certainly be stuck. if the fluid was that funky I'd almost put money on it. I'd flush it again and replace the t-stat and housing.

as to the overheating, there's a number of things it could be. just a funked up system with a bad t-stat will do that. a system that bad could compromise the water pump, a bad reservoir cap. my money is on a blown head gasket. so I'd be looking at the head and barrel to see any tell-tale signs there.

fixing the overheating issue may or may not solve your starting issue, but it's a step in the right direction.

Thanks.

Pic of the reservoir when I 1st got it

What model thermostat? At the auto part store?

Thermostat

House

*laughs*

no, man, that's Piaggio specific.

order up a fresh one along with a housing. I'd probably do a new cap as well.

if it was that bad, the pump might be next in line.

We've got a low temperature thermostat that does well in warmer weather to keep the engine cool.
I agree with Greasy, there's a lot that needs to be replaced, and the system definitely needs a good flush. To eliminate the head gasket before you fix everything that might not be the problem, drop the thermostat in water and heat it up, see if it opens. If it does, put the bike back together and fill it with distilled water, then ride it. Get it warm and ride it hard, like on the interstate as fast as it will go. If it warms up and starts spewing water out the reservoir cap, there's probably a head gasket in your future. If it doesn't, replace all the parts he recommends, and fill it with the correct coolant.

my sentiments exactly on a double flush with just plain distilled before going to coolant.

with how awful that looks I'd suspect that any head gasket or waterpump issue would rear it's head rather quickly, even with just around town riding.

curious, why just plain distilled? just as it's cheaper? or cause with distilled it's easier to see how dirty? or ...?

distilled won't react with anything if you get lazy and forget to drain it out. regular tap has a bunch of junk in it you don't really want in there.

if I was doing it, I'd just run plain because I'd only be running it around that afternoon and then changing it out.

I didn't mean distilled vs tap, I meant distilled vs coolant

you're just flushing it, so you don't waste the money on coolant.

I had a moment and didn't realize that was your question. so, yes. correct.

But it's so much more dramatic when a big blast of scalding water hits your right knee...

Double-check the fuel pump was replaced under the recall - 2009 250's were among those prone to not starting when hot. All down to duff materials in the fuel pump expanding too much...

The fuel pump, was replaced in 2018.
I replaced the thermostat, the thermostat housing, temp sensor and reservoir cap. So far, so good.
Thanks
4235 miles on the engine