Modern Vespa

First , thanks for all the help and wisdon offered to me on buying a beatup vespa... after driving 750 miles to pay for this thing; it was love at first site... kinda like the scared puppy in the corner re-action for me... she is all scratched up but sure enuff she starts on the 2nd kick... i put about 50 miles on the test drive, ran great... BUT... no lites of anykind, no starter, no horn, & no gas gauge... i checked fuses first, back ones were ok, found the front fusebox but no fuses ??? i put one of the back fuses in the front and horn blows but no lites??? put the fuse in the other front spot and she blew stright away??? been ridin her around the hood but only during the day (man its fun ), so where do i start to making her right again???

Chances are you have a shorted wire. Trace the one(s) that blows fuses back are far as possible. Check for chaffed insulation.

You can find your workshop manuals here:

http://manuals.wotmeworry.org.uk/Vespa/LX150/


Good luck with it!

Harvey

First, make sure you're putting the right amperage fuse in each slot of the fusebox. If you don't have a manual, I'd recommend getting one to make sure, or at least compare it with another LV150 to make sure the right fuses are being used. If they're too low, they'll blow; if they're too high and there's a short, it could result in damaging some of the components on that circut, or even worse, start an electrical fire!

If it's still blowing fuses when you install the correct ones in the correct spots, there are probably some shorts in the wiring. Start by checking the wiring in the area where the damage is, to see if there are any pinched wires that are shorting out against the frame or against other wires. If you don't see any obvious signs of damage, you'll probably need to use a multimeter to track down the short. Good luck, hope this helps!

gonna take it slow cause i still wanna ride her while the weather is so nice... is it really a big deal to replace the wiring harness on a modern 150? it looks fairly stright forward, strip off the cowlings and just start pluging chit in, right??? what do a new harness cost? cheers....

My wife's et4's got 2 fuses boxes but the diagrams only show 1, so make sure you have a good search about.
If I remember rightly there's 1 by the battery & 1 in the leg shields.

You don't have to replace the harness, Good luck with it!

Harvey

thanks bagel, however nothing electrical is working... so should i start at the battery and work my way outward checking wires or reverse, like start at the switches and word towards the battery?

Test the Battery,
then find the master fuse
Start with the easy stuff then work down a list of things that would stop the power.

ok, that makes sence, gonna go buy a multimeter and a big pac of 7.5 amp fuses. then just narrow it down...

So once you replace all the fuses you can then just focus on the fuse or fuses that keep blowing. I can't see them all being bad unless your wire harness is cut. In that case you'll need to repair it the most economic way. "Black tape maybe" check all the light connectors to make sure they are not touching the frame causing the ground. if that don't work use the single-line diagram in the service manual to trace each circuit