Modern Vespa

Ok - so today I had to put gas in my GTS300 for the first time because I was going on a group ride. Well - I made sure to stop pumping the second the gas pump clicked. The gas needle was almost at the full line so I thought I was good. Well, we rode for about 55 miles and I noticed that my gas gauge was almost on EMPTY!!!! How can that be? So - I went to the gas station to fill up again, and this time, I put in about a gallon when all the sudden, gas started spraying everywhere. The tank was full. I shook the bike a bit and the gas dropped a couple inches from the top of the cap line so I put the cap back on and took off. Again, the needle wasn't at the full line on the gauge, but the next tick under F. Is this normal behavior? I hope I didn't do any damage when the gas sprayed.

Welcome to one of the "quirks" of Vespas. They are prone to faulty gas guage readings. My LX150, when full, has the guage needle reading about the 3/4 mark.

You should also have a warning light that begins to glow as your tank nears empty, and glows brightly just before you run dry. I've learned to trust the gas light and not the guage, and to know what my range is on a full tank.

Of course, if the scooter is new you should take it back to the dealer and have them fix it. It is likely a problem with the sending unit in the tank, and they can fix or replace it.

Since it really doesn't cause me a problem, I've learned to live with it.

The 300 has had problems with its guage wiring. Warranty job. Something like two wires opposed to three. If you edit your first post title to "Vespa GTS 300 fuel gauge problems", you may get more info.

Known issue on the new 300. It should be taken care of under warranty--in the meantime use your odometer, 125 miles is a safe distance to use as a rough guide.

P.

I ride a 250 GTS and get roughly 130 miles per fill ups. I ride my scooter till I see 2 lines on the gage. When I wait longer the fuel lite comes on and then I start to panic, I've been told that if I let the gas run completely out that this could harm my engine.

Nice bike BTW Sarah...got the same color and a GTS 250 too...yes, the digital display is great for letting you know when it's getting time to fill up...I still have time to worry about filling up once the light comes on though. My mileage is about the same as yours......I used to have a problem with my speedo on my 2006 LX150...at a stoplight, while idle speed, it would register between 5 and 10 MPH...annoyed me at the time. Never had one problem with the GTS speedo...maybe, Piaggio should think about putting the dual digital display/analog display back in the Super's.

Mine does this as well - it has no precision and will stay near full for a long time, then drop really quickly to empty and go to the warning light. I wish they would have somehow made a bigger tank for these gas hungry guys.

Dont think there is to much wrong with the tank milage distance you get to be honest.....compared to the trad scoots anyway.......getting over 100 miles +....is fine to me.......... 8).........and you can always carry a spare can of fuel with you if req.........

I have a GTS 300 (2010) and the gauge drops quickly after staying at full for a while. When it is at 1/2, .8 gallons fills it up. Does this suggest I need some warranty work? How big is the tank, anyway?

If the wiring harness is incorrect, the gas gauge won't work at all. There might be a problem with the fuel sender or the gauge itself. I have the same problem with my 300 Super and they've already replaced the fuel sender which didn't solve the problem. They have a fuel gauge for me and will replace it when I have time to leave my scooter with them.

Is there room to have a larger fuel tank on my GTS? And where could it be put?

The LX 150's have bad gas gauges also. Mine goes to a half when full

I am suffering from the same problem. 80 miles after picking up my scooter last Saturday, my gauge read empty. I stop at a gas station and it will only take a gallon. Odd I thought. Three days later, same story.

I drove over to the dealer today and spoke to the guy who sold me my scooter and he acted like I was speaking Italian, which by the way, I would love to be able to do, but currently can't.

I have to call his "tech" on Tuesday. How glad I was to find this thread so I can direct him (or her) to it.

Sarah I think what you'd want to do is to carry a gas can with extra gas, I don't think you could easily make a larger tank. Judy, it's good to know that the Super aren't "special" in this way.

SARAH i don't think it will harm the engine. I've accidentally let my LT run out and it started right up. I have about 20 miles when my yellow reminder light comes on and i;m never more than that here on oahu. If yu are going on a long trip where there are many miles between gas stations you can get a fuel container fron LLBean or REI. The kind backpackers use which would give you some back up if you feel you need it. BENNY I guess Piaggio is just spreading the love around Mine at least doesn't stay on E all the time it nowgoes to half

I have a new 300. My first tank of gas went by in a flash, like 70 miles. Since then, they've been getting better. I have 480 miles on so far, but I'm not going to worry about tracking mileage until the run-in is done. I don't fill up until the light comes on, and it only takes about 1.6-1.8 gallons. I'll be watching this thread with interest.

Nobody said anything to me about the Vespa, but my Yamaha manual says not to run the tank dry. It has to do with the electronic fuel injection. Probably difficult to re-pressurize/prime after getting air in the system. (I'm guessing.)

Gas hungry? The worst mileage I've heard of is about 60, personally I get 78 commuting and well over 80 on weekends.

The tank holds 2.4 gallons which is comparable to a small motorcycle. The most gas I've ever squeezed in was 1.9 at 157 miles.

Check your average a few times and stay aware of your range. On a Gts 2 bars leaves about 3/4 of a gallon on reserve--about 45 miles or so. In most of the US and Canada that's plenty of range.

P.

same thing happened to my on my 208 mile GTS super.

Took it into the dealer, for that and a few other things...(adhesive on all the chromed out decals, mirror popped out of my left mirror, and glove box has no gasket). The scooter feels extremely cheap. To be honest, i am quite disappointed in the quality of the scooter and all the problems early on.

But i took it to the dealer around 3 weeks ago, they told me they would call me back when the parts got there, and i am still waiting. Ill let you know if it fixes it.

Does anyone know about how much fuel you have left once the light comes on?

I haven't let mine come on yet because I'm very picky about the places I get fuel since so many gas stations like to load their fuel up with ethanol. I don't know if the ethanol vs. fuel only is hot topic, because I know it is where I live. I just know from experience in my car that I get worse milage with ethanol in my gas.

This could vary between scooters
You should keep track of the mileage & the amount you are putting in--that would tell you how much you have left

Although, it's risky to run the tank dry,
so the system you've been using should work fine

(Edit:
Incidentally, my GT200 gage drops to empty every time the ambient temperature rises above 95 F
Go figure!)

I am a little disappointed that I have to deal with a warranty issue when I haven't even had the scooter for a week. The bike has less than 200 miles on it and I have to drop it off at the dealership for a few weeks? That's practically the worst case scenario and had I know about the issue with the gauges prior to buying, it would've influenced my purchase. I'm also not happy that the decal on the rear that says "Super" is already peeling up.

I'm also not sure if this is normal or indicative of a problem, but the scooter temperature gauge during a normal ride is above the middle line. Not in the "overheat" zone, but definitely hotter than the middle. This is during a light ride too, not exceeding 40mph.

Are there any other nuances that would be helpful to know about the 300 before I discover them on my own?

Jesse,

If I was you I would try to hold off until you get that 1st 600 miles done and get the 1st service done at the same time. Just a thought.

Have the dealer order the part (the fuel sender wiring harness). It's back-ordered at the moment, I'm waiting on one as well. They don't need to have your bike while you're waiting.

In the meantime, mind your mileage. At freeway speed, you'll get around 100 miles per tank. On surface streets, more like 140. There's no reason you can't still ride it with a faulty fuel gauge.

riding is not the issue. Keeping track of the fuel is not an issue. It's the fact that we paid so much money for a faulty vespa, and we feel duped.

The 300 Super gets way worse gas mileage than the GTS 250.

I lucked out and got a good one! Mine goes to just a hair shy of the full mark when actually full, and drops to 1/2 at about 50 miles, and to the "E" mark (but not to the peg) at about 100 miles (at which point it takes about 1.6 gallons to refill).

If this is the worst thing that happens to your scooter, you're doing exceptionally well.

Exactly my point! Talk about buyers remorse. Here it is less than a week that I've had it in my possession, purchased brand new, and now I have a repair to look forward to. That's just plain awful!

To say that I'm "doing exceptionally well" really trivializes the issue since I shouldn't have to deal with ANY problems this early in my ownership. That really leaves a horrible taste in my mouth, and based on my current situation, I would now never recommend a Vespa to a prospective buyer.

It's a trivial issue. Annoying, sure, but the fix is very straightforward and well understood. There are lots of much bigger issues you're likely to encounter during ownership. If this tiny issue is going to lead to your threatened non-recommendation, then you should sell the bike now and move on.

A decade ago my wife and I purchased a new top of the line Camry. Toyotas are reliable, right?
This one was made in Japan and shipped over (standard practice for the Canadian market with the XLE). Should have been great, right? The heater fan went at 18,000 miles. Took them a couple (billable) days to fix (under warranty). A month after the car was out of warranty, that fan died again. I complained, and Toyota fixed it the second time, for free.

While you may have problems with a new vehicle, it's what the company does about it that really counts.

Harvey

Maybe I'm over-reacting but I'm just pretty frustrated that I have to deal with ANY issues within days of ownership. To me, its irrelevant whether or not the issue is significant. I'm just a little disappointed because it never even crossed my mind that I'd have to "fix" something with a brand new purchase. I would be ok with having to fix something if it broke down with use prematurely, but to know that I took receipt of a vehicle with a defect is what kinda rubs me the wrong way. Oh well - on the advice of others, I'm just going to ride it till its first scheduled maintenance of 620 miles and then get the fixes done at the same time.

Sorry for the rant

I've had my 300 Super for about 500 miles now and this is what I have to report regarding the gas gauge.
The fuel light doesn't come on until the needle is below the first red tick. In fact it takes so long to come on that I was afraid that it wasn't going to turn on at all the first time and got gas before it actually did. I had driven about 90 miles at that point and I put in about 1.6 gallons in. Then, on my second fill up i decided to go until the light came on and when it did i as able to put in about 1.7 gallons.
On my GT60 the light would come on when i had about a quarter tank on the gauge and there was some "resolution"; I could see the needle continue going down until I got gas. On the low gas light coming on i could put in about 1.45-1.5 gallons.
This past weekend on a long group ride the light came on and I continued driving until we reached the next gas station about 25 miles later. At this point, the gas gauge was at or below the last red tick and I was sweating bullets. It's really hard to tell how much i actually have since there's no resolution on the gauge at the near empty point.
I have been avoiding getting full tanks to avoid overfilling and also because tracking mileage is useless right now since it's so new. I guess I have to really wait till the light turns on the next time and fill up to see how many more miles i can actually get after the light coming on.

Here’s a quote about cars. "J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Initial Quality StudySM (IQS) released today. "Overall quality improves to 118 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) in 2008, down from 125 PP100 in 2007.” and “The Porsche 911 has the fewest quality problems in the industry, with just 67 problems per 100 vehicles.”
http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2008063"

So, with that ratio for $90,000 plus Porsches ........



My GTS had flaws when delivered (jumpy speedo), but I still love the bike and don’t regret buying it for one second.
Good luck with your concerns!

Harvey

I'm going to be fairly straightforward and blunt here, so don't take it the wrong way. I just want to make it clear why this forum exists in as clear a manner as possible.

We're here to help you find solutions to problems, whatever they might be. We do this as a community service, because we want to help our fellow scooterists. We're not here to listen to bitching. Complaining about this problem to us does absolutely no good.

If you want help, ask for it. If you want to bitch about how imperfect your new vehicle is, and tell us all how you're not going to recommend it to anyone, we really don't care. Not even a little. That's not why we're here.

Again, sorry for the rant. I guess I took the term "open community" to mean that I could vent as well as discuss.

You'll have to excuse me here. I understand the logic of the Porsche analogy, and I do get that people don't want to hear bitching. In truth, I don't like to bitch or hear others do it either. Its just that the "ink is still fresh on the paperwork" and I already have something to resolve. Just unsavory I guess, but I guess in the grand scheme of things, there could be much bigger issues, so I digress.

Thanks for the humility lesson. You won't hear me complain again.

Jess and the moderators have never used the phrase "open community". I know because I've checked all 136 cases were those two words were used in the same post.

The closest they've come to that is the 'modern vespa community' or service to the 'scooter community'.

Here's two quotes from the posting guidlines: and Please don't put your words into other people's mouths.



Harvey

Little harsh don't you think? I was apologizing. I've been a member of this board for less than a week and when I read the posting guidelines and I mistakenly added the word "open" to the line "is a friendly community", so that was my error, and I do apologize again.

deleted my negative comments

Harvey

I understand about the broken "new" scooter. My Yamaha C3 had 3 manufacturing defects; 2 recalls and a faulty fuel pump which took weeks to diagnose. I was spitting mad about it, so I know how you feel. But how do those problems get found? You'd have to test ride every one for a while, and nobody would get a "new" scoot. Unfortunately there is no perfection in this world.

i have 4 litres when the light comes on