Modern Vespa

The other day I was installing a USB socket in the left legshield cover of my GTS and, after removing the cover, I noticed a seemingly random screw just sitting there.

Then today, I was checking my tire pressure and noticed another seemingly random screw just sticking out of the underside of the scooter to the right of the front wheel. It's not attached to anything and I'm pretty sure I could wiggle it out if I tried.

A quick forum search seems to indicate that these are "just" loose screws, but…why? How does a vehicle reach a customer with loose screws (not to be confused with a customer who has a few loose screws, which is a different issue)?

Don't know about the top one, but the bottom one is a common error. When you are removing/replacing the screw under the headlight it is very easy to drop it down into the body. I'e done it a few times. The screw then eventually finds that hole and hangs out of it. I've developed a technique of grabbing it with a set of tweezers as I screw it out.

I slip an old tea towel in to the gap (really needs a photo to explain). Saved me many times.

I just finished replacing the engine coolant hose that requires removing the glovebox and the floor boards. Found 3 screws and 3 speed nuts/spring clips/tinneman clips doodads under the floorboard. Not bad over the course of 10 years of working on the scooter.

First time I've had screws left over after a job and been totally okay with it!

Funny that, I removed the right glovebox cover yesterday and there was an exact replica of the screw I had just undone there inside the cover!

Free spares... and you are complaining?

I know, right?

looks like the one that fits the cover over the brake fluid reservoir 🙃👍

Hi there. New to the boards.

Just got my first Vespa in 20 years. 2023 GTS SuperTech. Loving it so far.

I've also found loose screws hanging out the bottom (3 so far). All three seem to be in the right floorboard area.

What I'm curious about is whether or not it's worth pulling the glovebox and floorboards to remove them or not.

I'm mostly wondering if them bouncing around in there could cause an issue down the road (short out a relay, scratch up the body and create corrosion spots, etc…)

It sounds like it's a common thing so just curious what others in here think.

Thanks

Sounds like Guiseppe "Shakes" Bertolliirotini is still gainfully employed at Piaggio. He's 92, blind in one eye, and gets the DTs if he doesn't have his bottle of chianti for lunch. That's when he really starts dropping things. Hopefully Mario "Hammer," Capripantsi wasn't working the other side of the assembly line when your bike went through. He breaks a lot of plastic tabs.

I would open it up and do an inspection for sure.

You have got to love those good folks in Italia. FIAT stands for "Fix It Again Tony". Despite this mild quality control issue, they definitely have an eye for design.

Bob Copeland

Ha ha
Yeah, I lived in Italy for two years and the usual answer for when anything would be ready at the auto shops was "Domani" (tomorrow). They'd say it should be ready tomorrow for weeks. I guess on my bike, it shipped before domani came. Ha ha

Sounds like it will be a good idea to pull the panels and clean out all the loose stuff bouncing around in there. Thank you Robot for the walk throughs. Guess I have a weekend project ahead of me.

Maybe they should add this to the official maintenance schedule lol:

150km - pull body panels and remove all trash from the assembly line


Thanks for the insight everyone. 👍🏼

-Mike

Update. Pulled the floorboard and found all 3 screws that I saw, a washer and a cut zip tie end.

I don't see anything missing screws, so I think it's safe to chalk it up to dropped screws during assembly.