Modern Vespa

Hello everyone,

I'm new at this forum as I recently bought a 2003 Vespa Px125. I've been loving the ride - it's my first scooter but I think I will stay on the scooters side now I've tasted it(specially in terms of passing through traffic, I live in Paris and there's always a lot but with my vespa those days are over).

I just have a couple of questions and if some of the forum experts could give their advice I would greatly appreciate it:

The first one is: I know (now) that I should use a 2 stroke synthetic oil for my vespa's engine (it has a separate tank for the oil) nevertheless, before knowing this I filled the tank with a 4 stroke oil and I would like to know if I should change it for 2t oil???

In regards to this - sometimes when the engine is cold there's some smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe and in 1st gear it accelerates faster than normal up to some point when it actually looses power (so I have to change to 2nd gear). I'm not sure if this problem is mainly oil related, or if the air filter could be dirty too.

The second question has to do with oil too, but for the gearbox: how can I actually check the level and how to fill it up if necessary?

And the last question: a couple of weeks ago I had some problems with the electric ignition and the klaxon - they stopped working and I found out it was because there was a loose cable in the engine side. I reattached it with a new screw and everything was fine until yesterday that both suddenly died (klaxon and starter) the cable is still well attached and the battery has juice so I think there could be a burned fuse or something??

Thanks a lot for your help guys!!

btw here's a pic of it:




Cheers!!

Welcome to MV! Siphon all the 4-stroke oil out of the tank and replace with 2-stroke, definitely. 4-stroke oil is not for burning, while 2-stroke is.

You should also check out the Not-So-Modern section of the forum. Your scooter is new, but the mechanics are actually more similar to the vintage scooters

Thanks a lot xantufrog, I'll change the oil then... btw I've allready checked the Not-so-modern forum, but haven't found much info on px125.

Thanks again.

Maybe if some MOD could move this post to the Not-So-Modern section would be good.

Cheers

Welcome to MV

The Not so Modern Forum is not only for vintage Vespas but all manual shift Vespas. The PX family is similar, regardless of displacement.

Your gearbox oil level is checked by removing the filler screw. Oil should be right up to the bottom of the screw hole. You can use a pump style oil can as the filler.

Al

Thanks for your answer Aviator47, I think I got everything but: I don't really know what you mean..?

Thanks for your replies guys.

btw does anyone has an idea about the horn/ignition problem??
Thanks a lot to the MOD for moving this thread!!!

Thanks a lot again guys.

Cheers

Well that's self-explanatory, thanks!!

btw I suppose that to fill-it it would be trhough the same screw hole, right?

Sorry about that, I'm such a noob.

Any comments on the Horn/electric ignition would be great!!

Thanks a lot guys!!

No apologies, there is tons I don't know yet. You should have two screw holes, one on the bottom and one a little higher up. The bottom one is to drain the gearbox oil, and the upper one is to fill it (obviously close the bottom on back up after draining before trying to fill )

Thanks a lot for your replies guys.

I've siphoned the oil and put some proper 2 stroke-oil

But I still have the problem with the electric ignition and the horn, anyone has a recommendation - as I said before, it was working properly and all of a sudden it died. Some time ago i had a similar problem, but it was just a loose cable in the engine side, but now the cable is still in place but neither (horn/ignition) work.

Would be nice if someone had some advice on this, it's the horn I'm worried about 'cause I found it quite useful (mainly for safety reasons)


Thanks in advance!!

You really should go on amazon.com and buy a Haynes service manual it has all the info/pictures there for your PX.
Your going to need a referance. I bought one as soon as I got my bike. It has great general info.
Also scooterhelp.com
Welcome to the Vespa adventure!..
Brian

This is also helpful:

http://vespamaintenance.com/

You lose power when going through gears?

When riding normally I don't. It's just when the engine is cold that while in first gear it starts faster than normal (a bit like a turbo) and then looses power before changing to second gear - at a speed that would be normal to be in first (i.e. too slow to actually have to change to second, but it won't go above it if in first)

Hope I was clear, thanks so much guys.

btw thanks for the links, there's tons of info. I'm getting the Haynes manual too I've heard it's a must.

Still haven't found the cause for the horn not working, I hope is something I can manege to fix myself without having to take it to a garage.

Thanks again guys and ride safe!!

Does it still do this when warmed up? I have a Super 150 that can sound a bit "off" for about about 500 metres when first starting out, even if I've let it idle and warm up a bit. It's hard to explain -- it's not "rough" in the sense that it idles poorly, but the engine note is quite different as I go up through the gears. Maybe the transmission oil isn't warmed up yet, maybe the engine isn't used to being under load ('cause things are gentle when idling on the centrestand, even if you're revving it); in any event, it goes away within about 30 seconds when the engine is warm and under load and then doesn't come back again until the next morning.

Not being warmed up could explain the power loss at the top end of the band, but not really the "turbo" part. Does it go away when the engine is warm? Do you operate the choke? Does your engine rev uncontrollably or bog down at other times?

you could also try the Vespa Running Maintenance DVD for general maintenance;

http://www.scootertechniques.co.uk/

Lots of videos on youtube too....seem to find more for the Stella than the PX but that works too.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stella+maintance&search_type=&aq=f

In my case is similar, it only happens when the engine is cold (in the mornings) but not every time. I do use the choke sometimes, but I always put it back to its position. And the engine doesn't rev uncontrollably (neither up or down) in normal conditions