Modern Vespa

Ok, First let me state that yes, I'm a bad scooter owner.

After I bought my truck in August 2021, I tried to sell the BV350 to the dealership, but they declined to buy it, stating that their mechanic says it has an exhaust leak. I don't think it does, because its performance was the same the entire time I owned it, and I bought it with 8 miles on it. I think he just didn't realize that if you rev the engine while it's on the center stand that the ASR will kick in and not sound "normal."

So anyway, I rode it home and parked it in the back of the garage, with the battery plugged into a battery tender. It has sat there ever since. At the time I parked it, the fuel level was near empty. It was so low that I was concerned that I wasn't going to make it home. My point is that there isn't much gas in the tank.

With the way gas prices are going, and the fact that we need to take my wife's car in to have the catalytic converter replaced, and the fact that the Hyundai dealership has limited loaner vehicle availability, I thought I'd get the BV back on the road.

I figure I can commute on it, and my wife can use my truck while her car is being repaired. Then once she gets it back, I'll continue commuting on the BV. Premium is currently running $4.39/gallon in our area. I was averaging 55 mpg on the BV, so I figure I'll end up spending about $12/week on gas with it, vs the $24/week I'd spend on the truck.

So my question is this:

What issues will I most likely run into when attempting to revive the BV?
I know the fuel that's in it is probably not in any kind of combustible condition. One tip I saw recommended running Sea Foam through it. Is this a good starting point? (I'm assuming that I simply add the Sea Foam to the fuel when I top off the tank and run it.)

Any other things I need to check/do?

So it's been sitting since August 2021?

I would simply add some fresh gas to the tank and give it a try. Seafoam probably won't help much, but it won't do any harm either. You may need a new battery. Again, that's to be determined after you try starting the BV. Good luck!

Oh, before I tried to start it I would check the oil and coolant levels. And go through the usual checklist before riding.

I start my snowblower and Kymco scooter with old gas every year, and always get them to start.

I'd check that battery! If it's been on a battery tender all this time, I'd make a very large bet the battery is kaput.

I had a f/i Ducati stored in a barn for 5 years. Literally dusted it off, cleared out mice nests, drained the little bit of fuel left, threw in a bit of fresh fuel, connected 12v supply and it started up. For two to three tanks, I ran a 1/2 bottle of liqui moly jectron through each time.

For your BV, I would expect it to be just fine. Drain any existing fuel (can do it with a turkey baster if you don't want to get into it). Can also try to 'rinse' a little by draining, putting a little fresh fuel in, rock it around, drain again. A dose of sea foam along with a partial fill of fresh fuel would help also.

Check oil level, connect to 12v supply or new battery, start it up outdoors with the expectation of some soot. After that, continue with Seafoam or fuel system cleaner for a few tanks and you are back in business.

As for what else is needed after it starts.
1) You'll want to change out the tires as they'll be "expired."
2)Check your fork seals that may have dry rotted (look at the front fork for signs of oil leakage)
3) Fresh coolant, oil change, axle oil, air filter (might not need to but should anyway)
4) Drive belt, you should probably do also.
Essentially a complete service.

JKJ-FZ6: No, it's been sitting since early September 2021, when I rode it back from the dealership, but essentially, yes.

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So last night when I got home I got the key to see what condition the BV is in.

When I inserted the key and turned it to On, a bunch of lights flashed on the dash, then the ASR light came on and started flashing, and I saw the CEL came on. When I attempted to start it, nothing happened.

I looked at the battery tender's plug and saw the status light was red. When I unplugged it and plugged it back in, the light went to green (yellow?) and I can't remember if it went back to red or not. I think the assessment that the battery is dead is correct. It was getting dark and my wife was arriving home and we were hungry for dinner, so I closed it back up to look at it later, probably this week.

I think if the battery is truly dead, the ASR will need to be reset. I was looking in both the owner's manual and the shop manual yesterday to look for information and saw something about resetting the ASR after getting new tires, and it might have been affected by a dead battery after sitting for so long.

Some additional information: It currently has ~13,500 miles on it. I had a new front tire (Pirelli Angel Scoot) installed at 11k miles, and a new rear (Pirelli Angel Scoot) installed at 12,800 miles, which is also when I had the 20,000 km (12,500 mi) service done. (I initially replaced both tires at 11k miles, but had to replace the rear again due to running over a nail or something.) So it's only had 700 miles put on it since that last big service.

It's been stored in the garage this entire time, so it hasn't been exposed to the elements, other than temperature fluctuations. The coldest it's gotten in that time has been the mid-20°s (F). The hottest has been 110°F+.

I know there are squirrels that come in & out of the garage, so I'll need to check to make sure none have gotten into it.

I probably won't work on it much until this weekend, so I'll update next week.

Thanks for the recommendations.

After re-reading some of these comments, I've come up with another question:

How would I drain the fuel tank?

I checked the Workshop Manual (I have it in PDF), and didn't see anything about it there.

Ok, nevermind.

Before posting I decided to do a Google search, and it recommended either siphening it from the filler opening (preferred method), or disconnecting the fuel line at the injector and then cycle the power on/off to pump the gas out (advanced method).

I'm thinking siphoning will be best.

Try not to drink too much gas while starting the syphon

I figured I'd pick up one of these.

They work pretty well. Just pop the plunger end off the pump once you're done siphoning. The ethanol will dry the plunger seal and bind up the pump if you don't. I know it's a cheap pump, but it's nice if you can use it more than once.

Yeah. It's more expensive than scotch these days.

On the positive side of things, last night when I got gas for the truck the price was $0.10 less/gallon than it had been at the beginning of the week.

Still gonna get the BV on the road to commute on it, though.

If there isn't much fuel in the tank, I would not bother with siphoning out. If there is a fair amount, go ahead with the siphoning, store the old gas in an appropriate container and use it for your lawn mower. Skip the Seafoam - it was developed for old 2-stroke marine engines, so in this case it is useless. Yeah, it will burn, but not like gas. Replace the battery with a good one, check the oil, coolant and tire pressure. Fire it up and go for a ride.

The old gas isn't doing anybody any good - get as much of it out as possible. I don't recommend doing this, but I use very small amounts of old gas, like a shot at a time, to help start firepit fires.

Agree that Seafoam cannot chemically or physically do the things people might want it to do. If it cleans "the fuel system," it is first going to drag anything in the fuel tank right along with it. This contains many times the volume of the old fuel "in the system," and will clog things downstream. The fact that this generally doesn't happen means that Seafoam does not dissolve anything at all. And, it cannot magically convert old fuel to fresh fuel. It MIGHT preserve good fuel for longer than it would last on its own, but it isn't really advertised for that and products like Sta-Bil are. Plus, your old fuel is past that point anyway.

You bring up a good point that I hadn't considered regarding draining/siphoning the gas - how to dispose of it.

All of my lawn equipment is electric, so I can't use it there. All the neighbors that I'm on speaking/waving terms with also all have electric lawn equipment.

I just spoke with the Solid Waste Services department of the city I live in. They'll take it on June 13 on their Hazardous Waste Collection Day.

Or I can take it to the county Home Chemical Collection Center any time they're open. They're only open on Tuesdays from 9a-7:30p, Wednesday & Thursday from 8:30a-5p, and every 2nd and 4th Saturday from 9a-3p.

If I siphon it, I'll probably hold on to it until June.

OP, some autoparts stores (autozone, advanced, napa) will accept it.

A couple of times I have just brought the container to the mechanic shop I frequent and they pour it into their giant oil waste tank, so that may be an option too if you don't want to sit on it till special disposal day.

Some shops around here burn the waste oil for heat. I have no idea how they deal with the emissions, but I do know they use special equipment.

Status Update:

tl;dr: I got it running. It's almost 100% roadworthy.

Had to make multiple trips to O'Reilly, plus Harbor Freight, Home Depot, QuikTrip, and Kroger to get everything needed to get it running.

Items Purchased:
Battery (Amazon - got the same one I got in April 2020. I researched it and it got better ratings than the Duracell version and was 1/4 the price).
1-Gallon gas can to siphon the old gas into and store it until Hazardous Waste Pickup Day in my city (Kroger, because it was cheaper than the same exact item at the auto parts stores).
Siphon kit - went with a cheaper one than the one I shared earlier. It's just two hoses with a pump bulb in the middle. Worked great. (Harbor Freight).
Two M5 screws & washers to replace the two missing ones in the headlight assembly. (Home Depot)
2 gallons of premium fuel. (QuikTrip)
Sea Foam, 10a fuses, H7 halogen bulb. (O'Reilly)

On Saturday I did most of the prep & research on what I needed. Oil level was great, and it looked good (I would hope so, since it only has 700 miles on it). The coolant looked to be a little low, so I'll pick up some this week after I find a source for it. The local Vespa dealer is a 56 mile round trip away. There is a Ducati dealer that's only 8 miles from home, and is between home and the tax office, so I might see if they carry the correct stuff (I know they carry ENI/AGIP coolant, I just want to make sure they have the exact stuff I need). The only issue currently is both are closed today, so I'll check tomorrow.

Installed the battery in the morning. Bought gas at QT, picked up Sea Foam at O'Reilly, and got the siphon kit from Harbor Freight. Went to Kroger later to get the 1-gallon gas can to store the old gas, as I wasn't comfortable using an unapproved container for storage. Ended up siphoning about a pint of fuel out (I told you it was low).

Added 6 oz of Sea Foam to the tank, then the two gallons of new premium gas. It took multiple attempts to start before it finally fired up and ran. It idled a little rough at first, so I revved it a few times, and it settled down. I started to notice whisps of smoke coming from the lower right side, so I shut it off and started to look it over in a panic. Ultimately I determined that it was the 4+ years of dust burning off of the exhaust and other parts that got hot.

Made the mistake of reconnecting the auxiliary brake lights in the Givi top case and blew a fuse, hence the second trip to O'Reilly for replacement fuses.

On Sunday I reset the clock and aired up the tires. The front was at 5 psi, while the rear was at 10 psi. (For those that are curious, the date code on the front is 0420 (4th week of January, 2020), while the code on the rear is 0721 (second week of February, 2021)). The tires appear to be in great shape, with no cracks or other signs of dry rot.

While checking everything over, I discovered that the headlight low beam bulb was out. When I removed the headlight to get at the bulb I discovered that the two M5 mounting screws on the inside of the dash assembly were missing. Went to O'Reilly for the bulb and Home Depot for the replacement screws & washers. Installed the bulb and assembly, and decided to test it before I reaffixed the final trim piece. It all worked, and when I went to grab the trim piece I discovered that I forgot to install the rubber waterproofing cover on the back of the headlight assembly. Since it was getting late, I decided to stop there. I'll pull the assembly this week and reinstall the rubber piece and get everything back together.

Still left to do:

I think I'll need to reset the ASR system, as the light is flashing.
While looking up the reset procedures, I saw that, per the User Manual, "AT VEHICLE START-UP THE ASR WARNING LIGHT FLASHES AT THE SAME FREQUENCY AS THE ABS WARNING LIGHT, INDICATING A DIAGNOSTIC PHASE OF THE SYSTEM. IN THE ABSENCE OF ERRORS, BOTH WARNING LIGHTS TURN OFF AT THE SAME TIME WHEN EXCEEDING 5 KM/H." I'd forgotten about that. Hopefully the light turns off during the test ride.
I need to take it on a short drive in the neighborhood to make sure everything still works, plus I have to drive it to reset the ASR.

I think that's it.

On Friday I'll head to the tax office to get a 30-day registration tag.

I've also been researching new helmets to replace my 10-year old Bell Revolution EVO. Like everything, helmet prices have gone up in 10 years. My brother suggested I continue using the old Bell until I can get a replacement. While I agree that any helmet is better than no helmet, cost isn't the issue. Finding the time to go to a local shop to get one is the issue, but I can do that on Friday after I finish up at the tax office.

On Tuesday I stopped by AMS Ducati Dallas and picked up ENI Red coolant, since the level appeared to be below the minimum mark.

Yesterday morning I topped off the coolant and put the weather seal on the back of the headlight assembly.

Last night I put on my helmet and gloves, fired up the scooter, and drove it around the block.

The ASR light stopped flashing, and no other warning lights were on. It handled the low-speed ride quite well. The tires felt a little slick, but I'm hoping they'll "rough" up with more riding. This weekend I hope to tool around the neighborhood and fill up the gas tank to make sure it's good to go for Monday's commute.

I also checked to make sure my backpack fits in the top case, which it does.

Looking forward to riding again.

Good that you were able to get it started. That white smoke could also be the Seafoam burning off as well.

For true fuel system cleaner, look to BG44K, Gumout Regane, or Chevron Techron. All of these have good amounts of PEA (Polyetheramine) which is much more effective and heat stable cleaning agent.

Check those tires' date codes and condition. Also, how old is the drive belt? I had a low mileage belt (2K miles maybe), but was 7 years old - it snapped in traffic and left me stranded. It's also a PITA to clean up a broken belt inside the trans case.

I previously mentioned the tires' date codes and condition. The date code on the front is 0420 (4th week of January, 2020), while the code on the rear is 0721 (second week of February, 2021). The front has 1200 miles on it, while the rear has 700. Neither has visible cracking.

The drive belt was replaced 700 miles ago during the 20,000 km/12,500 mi service, which was performed on June 22, 2021. So it's just under 5 years old.

I was planning on replacing the tires in the fall, or sooner if I lose confidence in the condition of the front. I was also planning on having it serviced in the fall, but may do it sooner.

I don't have the tools to do much more than what I've already done to it, and I'm not all that keen on the local dealership, mainly due to its inconvenient location, so I'm trying to hold off on taking it to them until it's absolutely necessary. I'll also be researching to see if there are any other Vespa/Piaggio mechanics in the area that I could take it to.

As for becoming stranded, most of my commuting route is on a bus route that has a stop within 5 blocks of my home. I could park the scooter somewhere safe and ride the bus home, arranging for a motorcycle trailer rental from Uhaul along the way. Once I get home, jump in the tuck, pick up the trailer, then go get the scooter. I know that is more of a hassle than I make it sound, and it would suck to have that happen during a 100°F+ day in July or August.

Thanks for the tips, though, I'll keep all of them in mind.

Tires & drive belt, personally, I'd continue using it with no worries considering the scooter wasn't sitting outside in the elements for years.

For emergency transport, check out facebook marketplace for a second hand harbor freight hitch mounted dirt bike/scooter rack. I've seen some around for $50-$80. Nice to have around to save a visit (and time) to tractor supply or U-haul for a trailer, also always accessible.

If the scooter's been kept indoors, with minimal actual use, and under your supervision, I would not be excessively concerned with replacing the tires and belt solely due to a 5-year age. You probably have at least 12-18 months of moderate use left, or even more. CrazyCarl's experience sounds unusual...but that was a "likely" 7-year-old belt. Maybe it was more than 7, and even if so, 7 is still more than 5.

The tools for a belt change are not that involved and will be less expensive than the cost of having someone do it for you. Variator holder, torque wrench, a couple of large wrenches if you don't already have them...$100 from Scooterwest and Harbor Freight?

Yeah, I've been thinking about accumulating the various tools required to do things on it. I already have a decent set of metric wrenches due to my bicycle mechanic past, it's more the Piaggio-specific tools, as well as torque wrenches, that I'll need. (Back when I was a bike mechanic, we didn't concern ourselves with torque specs.)

And I've also considered picking up a hitch-mount motorcycle carrier, as I'm sure it'll pay for itself in the long run vs. renting a U-Haul trailer. I already have the receiver hitch on the truck, so it'll be easy.

Concur with CrazyCarl - the white smoke is most likely Seafoam which has Pale oil as its main ingredient (40% - 60%).

The white smoke was not coming from the exhaust outlet. It was wafting up from above the muffler. It was the dust burning off.

Got it registered today. It turns out they simply restarted the registration period so I paid for a full years, and it expires at the end of next March. They did have to issue new plates, though.

Swung by MotoLiberty to look at helmets, and was surprised to discover they were having an Easter sale. We got to "hunt" for 2 eggs to bring up with our purchase, and they'd open them to discover what the discount would be. One also had a $150 discount in it. The two I found both had 15% discounts. I got a new pair of summer gloves, and a Sena Impulse helmet. They priced the helmet at $100 off, then took the 15% off, so I think I got a decent deal.

I installed the new license plate and a new phone mount (my old one was too small for my phone), and rode it to the QuikTrip to top off the gas tank for next week's commute.

I also added this:

Commuted on it this morning. It was a chilly ride (50°F/10°C), and I chose the wrong gloves to wear, so my fingers are rather cold right now. The ride home should be better, as it's supposed to get up to 72°F/22°C this afternoon. I'll have to remember to wear my (heated) winter gloves in the morning, and pack the summer gloves in my bag for the ride home until this cold front moves out.

The BV performed as well as I remember.

No issues with the tires or anything else.

Thanks for all of y'all's help and input in making this a success.

What phone mount did you get and where did you place it?

As for tires, reps from Heidenau, Revzilla and Midwestern Tire all told me age is just a guideline, tires can last more than 10 years if kept out of the sun and extreme heat.

Even some cracking in the tread doesn't bother me, only when the sidewalls show cracking would I be concerned.

I have a RAM mount installed on the center windscreen screw mount point.

I ran across this thread when I was researching adding a phone mount after I bought my 2013 BV350 back in 2016.

I used the suggested items for the ball mount (RAM Motorcycle Handlebar Clamp Base & RAM Single Socket Arm with Round Swivel Plate), and bought a RAM Quick-Grip Small Phone Holder for it. It worked great with my iPhone 6, iPhone 7, and iPhone XS, but is too small for my iPhone 16 Pro. So I replaced it with a RAM Quick-Grip XL Phone Holder. I also bought the various screws recommended in the linked post, but I can't remember where I got them from.

The phone holder was great, because when I switched phones, I only had to adjust the positions of the side pegs. That is, until the iPhone 16 Pro, which is taller than the other phones. I could get it to fit, but it was extremely snug. It was so snug that I had to remove the mount from the scooter to be able to get the needed leverage to get the phone out of the holder. It was easier to get the larger holder instead.

When I install the Givi windscreen for cold weather riding, I simply leave the stock windscreen mount point in place, since it doesn't contact the Givi screen, and I don't care about how it looks.

The only issue I have found is that the center bolt on the ball mount tends to not stay tight, and the phone will pivot a little. That's why you see that pink neoprene under the windshield mount. I thought it would help, but it doesn't. I actually tightened it down so much that it cracked the top trim of the headlight assembly.

Two updates after four mornings & three evenings of commuting:

1) Picked up some External Tooth Lock Washers to use on the RAM phone mount setup in hopes of eliminating the rotation of the mount ball. While replacing them I ended up mildly stripping the nut that the bolt goes through. The nut/bolt combo is used to hold the middle anchor point of the stock windscreen in place. I dug through all my spare nuts & bolts on my highly disorganized workbench and found exactly one (1) locknut (the kind with the nylon insert) that would work. I also found a spare mounting bolt. I then had to figure out how to hold the tiny nut in place below the other nut so that the bolt would catch it and thread through it. I also had to find an 8mm wrench to hold it while I threaded the bolt through. I couldn't find an 8mm wrench, but I did find a 5/16" wrench that worked. The phone mount did not move at all on my ride this morning.

2) This morning on the way to work I noticed that the check engine light has come on. It has been a little hard to start every day. I have to make at least two attempts to get it to fire up, and it doesn't matter if it's first thing in the morning, or in the afternoon. I'm going to check over what I know I'm able to check, but will most likely need to take it in to the dealer to have them check it over.

I've put 84.5 miles on it since I got it back up & running. The fuel guage reads just below 1/2 full (8/20ths), which from experience means I've used a little over a gallon (as you can see from the banner below, I was averaging 55 mpg). After I drained the tank I added two gallons while I worked on it, then added another 1.1 once I got it fully ready to go.

I looked through my maintenance logs and see that I had a CEL on 2 August 2018, and that Vespa Dallas checked it for me. I didn't make a note of the resolution in the log, so I'll search my history here to see if I posted about it.

I'm also considering removing the evap canister, but will be doing more research on that first.

EDIT:

Searched my history and found my posts about the CEL in this thread. I now have a list of things to check on it:
• Check battery cable connections
• Check all wiring connections to make sure they're not loose.
• Check coolant level.
• Check the Lambda sensor.
• The O2 sensor might be bad (that's what Vespa Dallas changed back in 2018).
• Check the air pressure sensor in the airbox (if it has one, I'll check the shop manual).

In 2023 we sold the car of my late father in law.
The car was a 16 year old 2007 Citroen, only did 42.000km and was hardly used for over 2 years. Sat in a garage protected from sun and climate conditions.
My father in law was always a very peaceful driver and the car was still on its factory mounted 16 years old original Michelin tyres. I found nothing wrong with the tyres.

To sell a car in Belgium as a private person you need first to get it to the official vehicle inspection (Belgian version of the MOT) and it was fine but the inspector draw my attention to the tyres.

One of the tests they do is put the car on a platform, lock the brakes and then slide the floor panes under the tyres back and front and left to right to check for play in the suspension.

And he told me: "your tyres are legally fine but I would replace them because they are old and getting slippery and loose grip easily. Look I will show you."
And he moved the panes and indeed I could see the tyres loose grip easily.

In older tyres the rubber compound starts changing structure making them harder and loose grip more easily.

On my own BV300 I replaced my hardly worn, legally perfectly good 10 year old front tyre with a new one. Feels better.

Seems to me you cannot see your speedometer.
OK, agree, the speedometer is not of help with respect to safety but it could be not so nice to your wallet.

I have the RAM X mounted on the stem of the right mirror, a bit turned to the left to keep the phone behind the windscreen.
I only loose sight of the water temperature gauge, but that needle is always stable.

You are exactly correct.

The standard BV350 speedometer has a significant accuracy error.

The larger numbers on the speedometer are KPH, while the smaller numbers, which are much harder to see when riding, are MPH. Where I live, the speed limits are MPH.

For safety reasons I use a GPS speedometer app that also displays a map with current traffic conditions. With this setup I'm able to quickly see my actual speed, and also note if there is a traffic issue that I need to take an alternate route to avoid.

FWIW, I've had intermittent CEL problems since I bought my 2017 a few years ago. I've never had it checked (my dealer hung it up and it's a couple of hours to the next one). I'd gotten nervous when it happened (especially when starting out a 4 day ride), but the engine was running fine and I kept going and it eventually went out and has stayed out. I expect it will return sometime unexpectedly, at which point I will ignore it. Interestingly the original owner (who I had been unable to reach -he'd sold it to someone else who owned it briefly before selling to me.) had put a sticky magnet over the CEL for a phone mount apparently. Seemed innocent enough until I found the light popping on randomly.

TL;DR It's possible it's a quirk?

I've had 8K miles on the beast and she's run flawlessly with basic maintenance.

Yeah, it was on last night on the way home, but off this morning when I fired it up for the ride to work. No issues at all on the way in.

I have almost 13.8k miles on mine, and other than having it sit for the last 4 years, have kept up with the maintenance.

After reading your experience, I'm thinking that it's probably a quirk.

I'm also thinking that there may still be some old gas residue or something in there, and that it'll all burn off after a few tanks.

I haven't seen a clear correlation but suspect fuelling issues may be at play. It's so random. The fact that the light can go out and stay out is somehow reassuring.

Yeah, my wife's car (2012 Hyundai Veloster) has a phantom CEL that comes and goes.

That particular engine consumes oil, so when the oil level gets about a quart low, the CEL comes on. The last time we had the code pulled, we were told that there were two codes; one that indicated the catalyctic converter was bad, and the second that indicated an exhaust leak. The dealership said that the exhaust leak code was most likely a gas cap that wasn't closed properly.

One day the CEL went out, so my wife rushed to the state inspection station on her lunch break, where it passed the emissions test so she could renew her registration that was going to expire in less than a week.

I'm hoping that the CEL on the BV is similar, that it indicates something with refueling. I figure that as long as my fuel economy stays the same (or improves), and that it runs well, I won't worry about it too much.