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UTC

Molto Verboso
MP3 500 08
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1560
Location: Toms River area, New Jersey
 
Molto Verboso
@g03 avatar
MP3 500 08
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1560
Location: Toms River area, New Jersey
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Got gas this morning, and driving down the highway the engine just quits, like no gas. Happened like 8 times rolling at differant spends, 50, 70, 76 mph. I kept the throttle wide open, since it could be water in the gas. Only 2x did it restart before stopping. All times it died, and I pulled over; I waited 3 seconds and hit the start...vrrrroooooom instant startup. Pulled in the garage and after a few seconds the idle got rough and stalled 3 times, but started instantly. Any wild guesses, but bad gas? 1500 miles only.
@luthorhuss avatar
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Ossessionato
R.I.P. ----K.I.T.T.500, Agent Orange (400)
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Posts: 2673
Location: Muscle Shoals, AL 35661
 
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@luthorhuss avatar
R.I.P. ----K.I.T.T.500, Agent Orange (400)
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This has been discussed ad nauseum. It's the evap canister most likely, but one trick I've found is that if you're going down the highway and it dies/starts sputtering, a quick flip off and then on of the kill switch will usually remedy the situation for the rest of the day. Here's some links with more in depth stuff from the past:

https://modernvespa.com/forum/topic23715?highlight=stall+500

https://modernvespa.com/forum/topic36192?highlight=stalling+500

https://modernvespa.com/forum/topic36518?highlight=stalling+500
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@g03 avatar
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Molto Verboso
MP3 500 08
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1560
Location: Toms River area, New Jersey
 
Molto Verboso
@g03 avatar
MP3 500 08
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1560
Location: Toms River area, New Jersey
UTC quote
Being in this busy traffic area, scares the hell out of me now when pulling out into a highway. First stall was just that, followed immediately by a second stall trying to pull back out into traffic. Sounds like one heck of a lawsuit if anyone gets killed because of this!
@jimc avatar
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Moderaptor
The Hornet (GT200, aka Love Bug) and 'Dimples' - a GTS 300
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Location: Pleasant Hill, CA
 
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@jimc avatar
The Hornet (GT200, aka Love Bug) and 'Dimples' - a GTS 300
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Posts: 44566
Location: Pleasant Hill, CA
UTC quote
Have you still got the Evap nonsense installed? Rip it out!
@georgiagirl avatar
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Molto Verboso
Piaggio MP3 500
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Posts: 1402
Location: North Georgia
 
Molto Verboso
@georgiagirl avatar
Piaggio MP3 500
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1402
Location: North Georgia
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I've got the problem as well - It seems to go away once the bike warms up, but I'm with you in that I pull out onto a highway less than a block from my house, not the situation where you want to just die. I work around it. If I crank it and it is running rough, I'm just aware. So far it has always sputtered and acted up before it just died. I'm not sure if I have the same problem as Luthorhuss, mine will smell funny and will foul the spark plugs. I thought I was getting some kind of gunk in my air filter or my exhaust, so you might want to check both of those, but I've had no joy on that front.
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GeorgiaGirl,

You just don't want to disconnect the EVap do you?
It will fix your problem.

Wayne B
@georgiagirl avatar
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Molto Verboso
Piaggio MP3 500
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1402
Location: North Georgia
 
Molto Verboso
@georgiagirl avatar
Piaggio MP3 500
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Posts: 1402
Location: North Georgia
UTC quote
I'm still in warranty and I know my seat sensor is bad (they've already ordered the new seat). I can't find a good answer about whether or not that will screw with the warranty, so I'm not touching the bugger just yet. I got a three year warranty from Piaggio when I bought it and I don't want to mess that up, especially if I have issues. We took it apart and looked it over. Exhaust system seems the most logical to me, but like I said, don't want to screw up the warranty . . I'm thinking about riding down to Panama City next weekend and we will see how the bike does on a loooong stretch of superslab (I'll take highway home, but I can't leave until after work on Thursday so I need to make some time). My hubby is a little (a lot) worried about me riding that far alone at night, so I might not go.
@luthorhuss avatar
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R.I.P. ----K.I.T.T.500, Agent Orange (400)
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Location: Muscle Shoals, AL 35661
 
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R.I.P. ----K.I.T.T.500, Agent Orange (400)
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Location: Muscle Shoals, AL 35661
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GeorgiaGirl wrote:
I'm still in warranty and I know my seat sensor is bad (they've already ordered the new seat). I can't find a good answer about whether or not that will screw with the warranty, so I'm not touching the bugger just yet. I got a three year warranty from Piaggio when I bought it and I don't want to mess that up, especially if I have issues. We took it apart and looked it over. Exhaust system seems the most logical to me, but like I said, don't want to screw up the warranty . . I'm thinking about riding down to Panama City next weekend and we will see how the bike does on a loooong stretch of superslab (I'll take highway home, but I can't leave until after work on Thursday so I need to make some time). My hubby is a little (a lot) worried about me riding that far alone at night, so I might not go.
For what its worth, I haven't taken mine off yet(but plan to very shortly), but I can tell you that while doing some mods recently I replaced both my spark plugs with iridiums. I'm no expert mechanically, but any person on the planet coulda looked at my plugs and seen that they were burnt out and that they HAD to be the originals. Peeved me off considering I've been through 3 services. You might wanna pop yours off and look at em. All I know is that sense I did that, not only does the bike run a ton better, but the stalling has stopped for the moment(been about 2 months now). Replacing the plugs btw took me all of about 20 minutes and half of that was locating the proper size deep socket.
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FYI on replacing plugs.

Make sure the motor is cold before pulling the plugs and put just a small dot of Anti Seize on the threads. Just a dot the size of the head of a straight is enough, you get you much and you can foul the plug.

Wayne B
@luthorhuss avatar
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R.I.P. ----K.I.T.T.500, Agent Orange (400)
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Location: Muscle Shoals, AL 35661
 
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@luthorhuss avatar
R.I.P. ----K.I.T.T.500, Agent Orange (400)
Joined: UTC
Posts: 2673
Location: Muscle Shoals, AL 35661
UTC quote
Oh, forgot to mention. Georgiagirl, something you may not have considered is that since you can remove the evap canister with some good vacuum plugs in a few minutes, you can probably get some sort of tube connectors and "reinstall" it for warranty purposes at service. I think this is unnecessary though, because in my poking around, I've found that the warranty is very, very subjective based on the dealership. If it were me, and I wanted to preserve my 3 year warranty, I'd simply visit(not call) dealerships and explain that you have a long warranty, but many online owners and people in person have suggested that you remove the evap canister which is only required in California. Then just straight up ask them if they would be willing to still do warranty work if you removed it to stop your bike from stalling? If they say no, tell them that you will be visiting another dealer until you find one that will. Like I said, it's very subjective. For every dealer that complains about warranty work and is 'strict', there's another that is just hoping for people coming through the doors regardless of the reason. Have you described the whole situation to Chuck?
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I just cut the clamps disconnected my lines and plugged the one going to the intake. Canister is still in place and unless the dealer pulled the canister out, they will never know that it is disconnected.

Wayne B
@georgiagirl avatar
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Molto Verboso
Piaggio MP3 500
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1402
Location: North Georgia
 
Molto Verboso
@georgiagirl avatar
Piaggio MP3 500
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1402
Location: North Georgia
UTC quote
Luthor - what I'm wondering about the spark plugs is which comes first the chicken or the egg. Is the evap canister and subsequent exhaust issues what is causing the spark plugs to foul or is the spark plug some other issue? I'm pretty sure the raunchy spark plugs lead to the dying/loss of power, at least on my bike. I know my spark plugs were replaced, because they gave me the old one to show how fouled up they were. I have a sneaking suspicion that when I pull the plugs this weekend, my spark plugs with 2000 miles will not be in such great shape. I'm not NEARLY mechanical enough to know what that means, except learn how to change the little critters and always carry a spare. Razz emoticon
@frogman_94 avatar
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Hooked
Piaggio X9 500, 1974 Rally 200, 2005 Big Ruckus, 2006 Big Ruckus
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Posts: 469
Location: Sacramento, CA
 
Hooked
@frogman_94 avatar
Piaggio X9 500, 1974 Rally 200, 2005 Big Ruckus, 2006 Big Ruckus
Joined: UTC
Posts: 469
Location: Sacramento, CA
UTC quote
Same problem with my X9
It may be the same problem my X9 had. The symptoms are the same. There was a recall on the X9s for a problem with the hose between the fuel pump and the fuel filter. The hose originally did not have clamps on it and the hose would crack, it was the clear vinyl type. The recall was to replace the hose and install clamps. I don't know if the MP3 has the same configuration of fuel pump/fuel filter but you might want to check it out. The picture shows the new hose with clamps installed.
Forum member supplied image with no explanatory text
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@g03 avatar
UTC

Molto Verboso
MP3 500 08
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1560
Location: Toms River area, New Jersey
 
Molto Verboso
@g03 avatar
MP3 500 08
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1560
Location: Toms River area, New Jersey
UTC quote
for what it is worth, I put some fuel injector cleaner and refilled half tank of new gas. Stalled twice at lights, but fine since. Did wiggle the emergency stop switch and the bike stopped. Not much wiggle either. Did flip the switch a couple times back and fourth. only one day later but so far so good. Suspect the emergency switch!
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