Modern Vespa

I was doing a long ride todayand wanted to get home fast. Coming home on the highway in the passing lane I suddenly started to lose power. Looking down my oil light was on. Thank god I wasable to get to the curb lane gliding across two lanes of fast cars and onto a small shoulder. I checked by bike and the dipstick is gone and oil is all over my tranny cover and the rear tire. That explains it. I've called both the CAA and Vespa roadside assistance along with the police to block for me. I hope they get to me soon. It is kinda scary sitting here at the side of the highway, traffic moves fast.

Gack! Well done getting to the side. How the hell does a dipstick unwind itself...

Hope the cavalry arrive soon.

Sorry to hear that Benny. If i were closer I would come and help but California is no where near you.

Hope you get help soon. Do you think somebody knicked your cap or had you had a oil change lately? Jim had something similar happen and his scooter is alright so i wouldn't worry about collateral damage as he did what you did pulled right over when the light came on. Keep us posted. Good luck.

Benny, glad you are "OK". seems really strange for the dip stick to come out like that. Hope the scooter is ok too. Lets us know what the final result is on this.

That doesn't sound good, but I'm glad you could get out of traffic immediately

I'm hoping that you caught it in time, but there isn't a lot of oil in these engines when they are sealed and it pumps out fast when they're not. I guess that I would either send it to the shop for a running/compression check or get it home, clean it off, fill it up and hope for the best. Pull the plug to try and spin it up on the starter to get some oil pressure before you replace the plug and set the kill switch to ON. It's a good thing if the engine rotates as normal with the starter, etc.

Fingers crossed for you!

Benny - hopefully you're not on the 401 or the Gardiner Glad to learn that you've gotten to the side of the road.

You have the Jettin dipstick on your scooter (or at least I thought that you had). If that's the case, you hopefully have the OEM dip stick at home that you can use.

I'm worrying about the power loss. Loss of oil, temp goes up, seize.

This is the worst case scenario. My local scooter dealer (Not So Modern) has a little scope that can look inside the cylinder to see if there is any damage.

Fingers crossed that there is no damage and you got it in time. I had the same happen to me but realised something was up before I lost oil pressure. What a mess the GTS makes when it dumps its oil all over the engine bay.



$400 though! Here

Benny,
Where are you? I am out in Oshawa, but I have a trailer and ramp for the GTS.

Best of luck,
Bob

more importantly, I hope that it wasn't that the metal cap split from the plastic dipstick, cos then the cap would be on the highway and the dipstick would be in the sump. D'oh.

Hi all,your positive thoughts helped because roadside assistance from vespa arrived really quickly before the police to block for me. Ultimately I'm safe and didn't wipe out and crash from the oil on the rear tire. I'm now at the dealership and they have already looked at it. The news is sounding bad, it sounds like the connecting rods are bent? They are going to drop the engine on my brand Super and crack the engine open. I guess this is going to be very costly to fix.

At least I'm fine and not dead or injured which is the most important thing. Wish my bike luck as it undergoes open heart surgery.

Benny, that sucks.
But you made it out of traffic alive!
Maybe your scooter's name is too appropriate?

Harvey

We are all really glad that you made it safely. Good luck with the repairs.

Cheers,
Bob

Benny, let us know when you get home safely!

I'm glad you are OK.... But your poor scooter.... Do you have an address to send flowers?

Bogus.

Is that not a warranty issue, Benny???

Glad you made it out of traffic safe. I bet someone stole your dipstick.

Wouldn't expect it to be a warranty issue if it was a Jettin dipstick that unscrewed. However, if a standard dipstick had wound itself out, then that would be a different matter perhaps. When I lost mine, my dealership gave me new oil, a new filter and dipstick. Getting an engine I suspect will be rather more difficult unfortunately.

You must feel crap at the mo, Benny, glad you are safe though.

Glad you made it through it all safely. Good luck on the repairs.

Al

Ouch ouch ouch, Benny. So sorry to hear that.

if the dipstick is missing, then how would anyone know that it WASN'T the Vespa 'stick?

I'm pretty sure your Jettin dipstick is still on the shelf at home, while the Vespa one came out of your motor...

you had the jettin dipstick on your 200, not the super, right wink, wink, wink....it must have been the factory one that came out, wink, wink, wink....

good luck, hope it works out ok

Bummed to hear about the scoot, but really glad that you were not hurt. I think I will be checking my dipstick before I ride tomorrow. I hope it doesn't come out of your pocket. Good luck.

Bob, that is so amazing, thanks for the very kind offer.

Bummer..... I hope all turns out well.

One thing I don't do in my pre ride check is making sure the dipstick is in....

Well, I know it sounds a little harsh, but it is just an engine, and very replacable.Yes it might be spendy,but you are safe, and that's what's important. I nearly got it on my Goldwing on an interstate when I accidently hit the kill switch, and my engine wouldn't restart. Talk about your B...s in your throat!! Let's hope it all works out for the better. Keep in touch.

I'm sitting at a Starbucks waiting for a ride home. I had a service only three weeks ago or less and the more I think about it, the more I think that the oil dipstick probably wasn't tightened enough. One time last year immediately after a service when cleaning my old bike I noticed that the dipstick was loose. I'm thinking that was the case again this time. It seems wrong that I'm potentially going to have to pay a lot to fix this.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts I appreciate them a lot.

This could have been much worse. Glad you're okay.



cheers

Thanks guys, I know it could have turned out really really bad. The one liter of oil was all over my rear tire and wheel. I could easily have wiped out in the passing lane. For those who don't know Toronto, this stretch of highway moves quite quickly and everyone is driving/riding really close together. I don't know how I was able to coast across two busy lanes of highway traffic and make it safely to the shoulder. Someone was watching over me I guess. I'm certainly glad for my safety, but I really feel bummed out at the moment.

Benny, glad you're OK! All that oil on a rear tire sounds extremely dangerous.

What's up with the dipstick replacement talk? Is there an aftermarket dipstick? And why would you replace the original one anyway? Just curious....

Benny, sh-t happens in life. Be thankful that this, in the scheme of things, wasn't any bigger.

A few years from now it'll just be a cool story.

Aw BENNY it might not be as bad as you think, Jim's turned out ok. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Hope it turns out alright.

Jettin makes a lovely chromed dipstick. They were really kind and generous to us moderators a while back and sent us gear for free. The dipstick was what I chose.

Have seen 3 dipsticks come out by themselves.

Once on a bike I was riding to work.

All were caught in time to save the motor.

The motor will pump out a heavy mist until the oil is all gone....about 15 miles at freeway speed. Another wonderful thing is your air intake is right there so your air filter ends up with a huge quantity of oil in it. Makes an enormous mess too.....

If your dipstick is less then TIGHT it WILL come out. Habit now to use an adjustable wrench to secure it. I have an extra I carry on long trips.

Sorry about your bike Benny...glad your okay.

R

8)

I am at a loss for words Benny. So glad you are OK but your beautiful new scoot! Arrrrrrrrgh!

Hopefully, the dealer will step up. If they did the work, how can you be held responsible?

They won't have enough time to get my engine cracked open until Monday at the earliest now, so I won't know how much more damage there might be until then. I'll just have to be patient now.

What a shame Benny. Waiting is the worst part. I am still waiting for my new CDI to arrive from Italy. It was shipped yesterday but of course Fedex is closed over the weekend so the earliest I'll get it is Monday ... then comes the fun part of installing it!

I hope it works out for you. Be patient and with any luck it won't be as bad as you think.

Thanks Liane, I know you've been waiting with a brand new LX 125 in your home for some time now. It is frustrating, but you're right, at least I can hope it isn't as bad as I'm thinking it might be. I was lucky not to be hurt, maybe I'll be lucky that the damage isn't too horrible too.

Atta boy! No sense worrying about the unknown all weekend. Just relax, and try to stay positive. You may get bad news on Monday ... or you may not. Have a couple of glasses of wine and try not to think about it until you have all the info.

Wow Benny, that really sucks!
Glad that you're ok of course, but your new scooter oh man...