Modern Vespa

I love my GTS 250 but have been chasing electrical gremlins for ages. The under seat 3 phase stator connector fried on me awhile back. I did a bush fix on it then had my dealership clean it up after they diagnosed that the battery wasn't charging correctly. They were happy with the battery once it showed it could hold a charge but it's an older Motobatt gel battery that I may want to replace anyway.

Seemed like the GTS was struggling on start up on some of the early season rides that I've done so I started probing the battery with my multimeter. Once started I'm seeing over 16v across the terminals, which is obviously too high. Is this most likely a voltage regulator, a stator, or a wiring issue? My guess is voltage regulator but don't want to spend $100 and find out I'm wrong.

Givi top cases look sexy btw

Thoughts, prayers?

w.

The most likely culprit is the VR.

I'll throw a hearty +1 on a VR

but electrical demons? not hardly. the junction block in the main harness in a known entity and hardly that big of a deal. and VR can go bad, we're talking about a 16yr old bike here.

I say "gremlins" because the previous owner installed some aftermarket crap that made spaghetti out of all the rear end wiring, all related to a light modulator kit. If I had the time and the skill set I'd rip out the entire wiring harness and just start over.

As far as accessing the VR, is there a definitive thread here or a Robot video that nails the step by step for replacement?

Thanks

w.

Try this...

GTS 250 Voltage regulator replacement

Thanks!

there really isn't a lot that goes into wiring a brake light modulation unit, or the lighting harness that services the rear of the bike.

a cheap multimeter, some jump wire, and a test light should sort all that out. throw down for some decent crimpers, a soldering iron and heat shrink and you'd sort all that out with the shop manual in an afternoon and less than $100 in tools and supplies.

just think of it like a 3D puzzle!

the VR replacement is straightforward but tedious because you have to remove the bodywork.