Modern Vespa

The scoot is giving me trouble all of a sudden From a stop it accelerates normally for mere seconds, then hesitates & gets up to 30 veeeeery slowly. Once at speed, acceleration is fine until I stop again. The engine (exhaust?) is also suddenly louder, emitting a spluttering sound. I also heard something hit the road today as I was crossing an intersection before this problem started. It could have been something I ran over or some crucial part falling off the scoot Any ideas or places to start looking?

I have the exact same problem. I looked underneath and realized where the male and female ends attach (forgive me, I don't know the correct terminology) had become loose. I was able to loosen the bracket and push them together. After tightening the bracket the noise was reduced quite a bit. There is still some leaking. I'm wondering if I need a gasket or what I should do? Please help! Thanks

yeh...your exhaust must not have any "leaks" have it checked...you can loose back pressure...hence the sluggish take off...plus back firing as well...

If you feel a leak, you need a new exhaust gasket.
You can have problems due to it's failure- the exhaust gases can burn though/ damage the mechanicals & wiring.
check here for some info: More exhaust problems, exhaust gasket help
GTS workshop manual is here:
http://manuals.wotmeworry.org.uk/Vespa/GTS250/


If you're not mechanically inclined the gasket itself is around $30-$40 and its a 15 minute job for a dealer to replace (some will do the labor for free, if you're a good customer).

Good luck with it!

Harvey

I think all the advice for GTS250 silencers, gaskets and such are not much help for the OP and his LX150. All I can suggest is to look under the scoot to make sure everything is there and nothing is rattling loose.

It's still probably 99% certain it's the graphite exhaust collar though - common to the majority of Piaggio bikes.

It's an LX150 that the OP is asking about. It has no graphite exhaust collar ("muffler bearing"). It's a one-piece exhaust with a machined end on the pipe that inserts into the exhaust port on the head, and is clamped in place by a loose flange that is tightened over the exhaust studs with two copper-plated 7mm flanged nuts.

If the exhaust is leaking from something other than a crack or hole in the pipe, I'd wager that either the 8mm cap screws that support the muffler have come loose and caused him to break an exhaust stud (bad news), or that one or both of the 7mm copper-plated nuts has simply backed off (better news, although the nuts are kinda hard to find). Either way, don't ride it until you get it fixed or you can quickly burn a valve.

Thanks, I wasn't aware the LX had a one-piece exhaust.

Thinks, could be the SAS tube, just had to replace one on the X9 250.

Thanks for the advice, I'll try to squeeze myself under there & take a look. The copper nuts are plenty tight. I guess this mechanically disinclined fellow is gonna go see the dealer. I figured it was a compression issue I hope my broke ass can afford the fix.

Indeed, that is a distinct possibility.

Soooo, the dealer calls today & tells me I have some worn parts in my clutch that need replacing. My options are a clutch rebuild for 485$ or a new clutch for 535$. After doing some searching here, it seems that a clutch should have a much longer life than this. I ride a 2008 LX150, delivered July 4, 2008 with just under 8000 miles on it. Am I wrong to think that it is awfully soon for this part to wear out? Could it be a defective clutch?

So... the "louder exhaust" you were hearing was just the result of the engine revving higher than normal as the clutch slipped? Your original description of the problem led everyone astray by making it sound as though the louder exhaust was causing the acceleration problem, not vice versa.

That does seem like a VERY short life for a clutch if the bike is ridden normally. With those quotes, most of the the price must be in labor charges, as the clutch "innards" should be less than $200, I would think. You can get a Malossi adjustable delta clutch from Scooterwest for $189 as long as the clutch bell is OK.

I think your dealer is talking out of his arse - if your original descriptions were accurate.

I'm a bit suspicious myself, however, I have the mechanical knowledge of a Luddite. More & more lately I wish I had taken shop, auto class & home ec. in High School rather than all those art classes. Combine that with a BA in American Studies & you have one useless individual when it comes to anything practical I think my original description was pretty accurate. It was a bit hard to tell where the noise was coming from while traveling through busy traffic & construction. I guess it is time to give the dealer the third degree.

If it's *not* a louder exhaust but a 'strangled sealion' or otherwise screeching clutch, then your dealer could be right - but 8000 miles is far too few for this part to fail if it was of merchantable quality in the first place.

Unless that is you live in a hilly area and use the lazy car-driver's dodge of slipping the clutch on hills (or on automatics letting it 'stay there') while waiting at stops.