Modern Vespa

I WANT MY SCOOT BACK!!!

same stalling out issue as before. it has been escalated to piaggio usa. i think slowly my whole fuel delivery system is being replace. I want to go get it and try all the things you guys have said, but i'm afraid then they'll say it is something I did and not covered under warranty.

thank goodness they have given me a loaner. my scoot is my sole transportation.

but it isn't my Bo.

heh, even one of the Deans at the law school stopped me and said, you didn't trade your vespa for this silver one, did you?

I WANT BO BACK!

thanks for letting me vent,
and rant
and rave
soon i'll be crying

I really, really feel your pain.  It's great to hear that your shop provides a loaner (I've had to resort to renting a cage or riding the bus when my Windy has been in the shop), but being without your own scoot is still seriously unfun.

That totally sucks, but as you said, at least you have a loaner scooter. When Benito was in the shop from November to March, I didn't have a loaner scooter. But I did have an extra scooter at home I suppose. Time like that it is nice to have a backup ride. 8)

I'm just curious...what is wrong w/ your vespa? I also have a 200 and have had a few problems...and how many miles do you have on it/

Yeah, I know I'm really lucky to have the loaner. The dealership here in state college is first class.

I've got about 6,000 miles on my scoot. Normally this kind of stalling problem is caused by the evap canister issue. But that had long been disconnected so that wasn't the cause. Until this, I hadn't had any problems with the scooter. They current hypothesis is that ethanol in the fuel has led to the troubles.

Our dealership here said the same thing about the ethanol!

So, is ethanol bad? Most stations in my area are 10% ethanol. In fact, it's hard to find ethanol free fuel.

I Have My Scoot Back!!!!

They still think it was gunk build up from the ethanol added. In the end they replaced the fuel filter, the autochoke (more than once!) the fuel tap, and the fuel pump. From now on I'm going to use SeaFoam in every tank full.

Love My GT
Love My Dealer
(in a totally platonic way of course:) )

Auto-choke failing is pretty rare. They are so very easy to check, too...

I bet it was the last thing they replaced, what was that?

SeaFoam?

http://www.webbikeworld.com/sea-foam/

fuel system treatment - how often is too often?

and as per Scoot vespa 2006 grandtourismo

Gunk build-up from ethanol is pretty unlikely. Ethanol is what has been used for years to remove water in gas tanks due to condensation.It actually helps clean out gunk. It hardens rubber in diaphragms, seals and some gaskets by drawing out the compounds that lend resiliency, but the new formulations used in those parts are supposed to be able to withstand exposure to alcohol better.

Adding seafoam to every tank may be an overreaction.

cheers

+1

It seems to me some rigorous logic tempered with a bit of lateral thinking was not applied to the fault-finding process in this case.

It's just probable that there were two faults in series, but four? Possible, yes, but a salmon falling on your head is more likely...

Fuel pump.

They swear that autochokes go out all the time. I find it hard to believe that it would fail and then three more fail in 6 weeks when so many of you say they rarely fail.

I do think it was the fuel pump. Took it out for a 75 mile ride the night I got it back to make sure it was well and goodly fixed!

I've seen several folks here say they use it in every tankful, the can just in general says every 2000 to 5000 miles. Other folks on here say it is just snakeoil. I'm mightily confozled. I just wanna do right by my scoot to keep her from taking any more 'spa' trips.

They probably swear quite a lot if they just follow the suggestive flow-chart provided by Piaggio. Which, guess what, lists the possible failure components in order of expense, not of likelyhood.

A good dealer will only charge (if out of warranty) for the part that actually was a failure, not for the whole lot, however in some places it seems this customer awareness just doesn't dawn into the consciousness.

My previous dealer would have made sure all the original components were back in place, with only the faulty part (with a possible 's' added) changed. The rest would be back on the shelf as 'known good spares'. And would have only charged for changing that one. The learning curve in the diagnosis that might have cost much time is now money in the bank - they now know what to try first next time round!

Win-win if done correctly. Disgruntled customers going elsewhere if not.

The dealership was great. It was all under warranty. And they gave me a GT 200 as a loaner for that whole time. They knew the scoot was my only transportation, and that I had several trips for work. All in all I put 1200 miles on the loaner. I was nervous about something happening while I was on their scoot, but didn't have many options. Very lucky they do loaners. I've got nothing but warm fuzzy thoughts for my dealer.

OK, they were very good on the relations - but not on the diagnosis. I bet they can't measure fuel pump pressure...

true that.