Modern Vespa

Hi there

Some little toerags have stolen the petrol from my et4 and vandalised it.

I can fix most of the damage but I'm puzzled by a small section of cut rubber pipe which I found on the road next to the scoot. There is also a rubber pipe next to the rear wheel which looks like it may have been cut. See pictures below, I've pulled the rubber pipe out slightly in the second pic to give a better view.

Does anyone know what it is and if so what I'd need to do to repair it?






Thanks

can you trace the pipe back? where does it end up? it looks as though the other end may attach to the fuel tap.

Are you sure that it was cut? Could it be from the battery compartment?

I am pretty certain this is just a vent hose form the carb. If you lift the pet carrier out you will see where it comes from. It is normally open to air anyway so being cut will make not a jot of difference.

The fuel tap has only three hoses. One to the tank, one to the carb and the last to the inlet manifold which creates a vacuum to open the fuel supply from tank to carb. It's like a vacuum operated switch.

it could be the fuel line - makes sense that they'd cut it if they were after the fuel. it could also be the vent hose from the gas tank, though what it's doing back there by the rear wheel, and why they'd have cut a bit out of it, i can't imagine. the vent hoses on my carb are a much smaller diameter than that one appears to be.

You could well be right. The plastic pipe I found on the road could have been part of the thief's syphoning equipment or may just have been coincidence. I'll try and trace the pipe back and see where it goes.

Whatever it is it does seem to be in the right place as there appears to be a bracket holding the pipe in place. I don't think it's a fuel line but I could wrong. I'll have a look tomorrow in daylight

I've just had my carb out and the pipe is deffo a vent hose. Nowt to worry about. Mine isn't fixed with a clip though, it just dangles.

I guess when gas is that expensive, a gallon out of a scoot, thieves will think to steal it....
Here in the States, I have heard of thieves punching holes in gas tanks, to steal the gas with cages....they get a lot more than a gallon that way, compared to a scoot.....
Just wait til gas hits $5 a gallon!

Holden, our local builder of Crap GM products, developed a pearler of a design for its fuel tanks.

on the station wagon version of the crap-o-dore, the tank is held in by two bolts and two straps.

undo the two bolts and out falls the tank, hopefully full (~80l/20 of the funny things you lot measure fuel in), and they are away.

A few weekends ago, the entire fleet of wagons at my work was done - quite funny really.

at about AUD 120 (USD110) a tank full, a pretty good "steal"!

Over here in the UK petrol is now around £1.25 a litre, at 5 litres to a gallon (though a US gallon may be slightly different I'm not sure) that works out to £6 a gallon. At current the exchange rate that's about $12 a gallon! Petrol is stupidly expensive in the UK and about 70% of it is tax!

I've traced the pipe back to it's origin. It connects to the top of the crank case. See pics.

Does anyone know if that's definitely a vent pipe?





Thanks

That is the vent line for the rear hub

+1

breather for spent oil in case you overfill, the other end of the pipe suppose to hang like that connected to nothing.

Is it for over filling or a breather for when the oil gets hot and expands so the air can get out and not put the gearbox seals under pressure? Either way it vents to fresh air and is meant to be like that.
Who goes to all that trouble to steal a gallon of petrol? Sad twats