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@forestpeak avatar
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2009 GTS 250, 1994 Honda Pacific Coast, 1960 Cadillac
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@forestpeak avatar
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For sure, Piaggio purchases these fuel pumps wholesale. I would be curious where they are made. I too have been finding myself putting my purchase off until I feel better about this issue. FWIW, my Honda Pacific Coast goes thousands and thousands of miles with no worry or maintenance. Vespa is the best scooter in the world...but at this price and occasional reports of fuel pump issue, folks like me get nervous.
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Re: Are fuel pumps Chinese?
forestpeak wrote:
FWIW, my Honda Pacific Coast goes thousands and thousands of miles with no worry or maintenance.
It doesn't have a fuel pump.

Actually, I've put tens of thousands of miles on bikes with fuel injection and fuel pumps - Suzuki sportbikes, Ducatis, Honda Goldwings, and have never had a fuel pump issue. And I've had no choice but to use fuel with ethanol. No issues.

Piaggio just needs to change their supplier.
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Don't know where Piaggio gets their fuel pumps. But I too experienced a faulty one less than a week (and fewer than 50 miles) on my new 2009 GTS 250. Same trouble most have mentioned: scoot would fail to start after engine had warmed up. Very irritating. Fortunately, it was covered by the warranty. Unfortunately, my dealer is 80 miles away. Took over 2 weeks to get it repaired. Don't know what Piaggio has done to remedy the situation other than keeping the broken pumps under warranty. But I'd at least expect them to reevaluate their contract with the fuel pump supplier and continue to fix any and all fuel pump failures as quickly as possible and for free. Since being repaired, my scoot has been trouble free and great fun all around. But I remain wary of another fuel pump breakdown. Vespas are quirky machines, despite being the best in the world. After an initial shakedown period that can last up to 1000 miles, almost all become extraordinary and reliable machines. Despite the trouble I had, I wouldn't have any other machine. Period.
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I'd like to know how much of our Vespas are made in China? This afternoon I had a casual conversation with a reputable local dealer of another scooter brand and he kept referring to my GTS300 as one of the "Chinese Vespas". Its wheels are clearly marked "made in China", but I'm beginning to wonder what else is? If many [most?] of the bike's sub-assemblies truly are made in China, how does that lower level of quality justify the premium price we pay for Vespas? Considering that one Chinese Yuan is currently worth about 15 cents in USD and .114 Euro, Piaggio must be laughing at us.
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Pacnwfoto wrote:
I'd like to know how much of our Vespas are made in China? This afternoon I had a casual conversation with a reputable local dealer of another scooter brand and he kept referring to my GTS300 as one of the "Chinese Vespas". Its wheels are clearly marked "made in China", but I'm beginning to wonder what else is? If many [most?] of the bike's sub-assemblies truly are made in China, how does that lower level of quality justify the premium price we pay for Vespas? Considering that one Chinese Yuan is currently worth about 15 cents in USD and .114 Euro, Piaggio must be laughing at us.
The exchange rate has little to do with the actual final cost of a component or assembly in USD or Euro. If a part costs 150 Yuan, then it is 10 USD. It's the actual price paid that is relevant, and it could actually have been paid in USD or Euro.

Now, all Chinese components are not necessarily crap. The crapiness is quite dependent upon the buyer enforcing quality standards and the price the buyer is willing to pay to get components built to those standards. Want to save a lot of money? - buy the cheapest parts, sight unseen, from China. Want to save a bit of money? - demand and oversee Chinese production to higher standards.

The US market may very well have been treated to a run of bad fuel pumps. Keep in mind that Piaggio must produce the scooters for the US in discreet productions runs (They cannot randomly pull scooters off the line and assign them to the US), which are relatively small in terms of their total production. Thus, if a pallet of poor pumps arrived at the time the US production run was made, US machines will get a disproportionately high number of those pumps as compared to the total run of machines for the worldwide market.

Just a thought or two.
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Aviator47 hit the nail squarely on the head. For several years, I would go to Korea to check quality compliance on the products that our company purchased from two manufacturers. If the supplier for any of the parts cuts some corners to save a few cents on every widget that they sell to the manufacturer, these kinds of problems will happen. It doesn't matter what country the fuel pumps were mfg in, it's the quality control that's the issue.
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XLR8 wrote:
Aviator47 hit the nail squarely on the head. For several years, I would go to Korea to check quality compliance on the products that our company purchased from two manufacturers. If the supplier for any of the parts cuts some corners to save a few cents on every widget that they sell to the manufacturer, these kinds of problems will happen. It doesn't matter what country the fuel pumps were mfg in, it's the quality control that's the issue.
Actually, it's a two edged sword. The supplier may very well be requested to save the end manufacturer money by cutting corners. So, to get quality components, the buyer must:

1. Specify the quality desired
2. Be willing to pay for that level of quality
3. Conduct a reasonable quality assurance/surveillance program to be sure he is getting what he asked for and supposedly paid for.

No different than doing business with a US based supplier, or your own "in-house" manufacturing.
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I think Apple Computer is a case in point. Most of their computers, etc. are made in China but their quality control must be top notch.
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Aviator47 wrote:
XLR8 wrote:
Aviator47 hit the nail squarely on the head. For several years, I would go to Korea to check quality compliance on the products that our company purchased from two manufacturers. If the supplier for any of the parts cuts some corners to save a few cents on every widget that they sell to the manufacturer, these kinds of problems will happen. It doesn't matter what country the fuel pumps were mfg in, it's the quality control that's the issue.
Actually, it's a two edged sword. The supplier may very well be requested to save the end manufacturer money by cutting corners. So, to get quality components, the buyer must:

1. Specify the quality desired
2. Be willing to pay for that level of quality
3. Conduct a reasonable quality assurance/surveillance program to be sure he is getting what he asked for and supposedly paid for.

No different than doing business with a US based supplier, or your own "in-house" manufacturing.
Al, you're correct. Unfortunately, many times the mfg specifies parts that meet a certain standard but the supplier attempts to save a few cents on each part by not supplying the specified part. I suspect that these faulty fuel pumps were supplied by a vendor who used a cheaper copper winding in the pump motor or didn't put enough turns of copper. Either of these would cause a fuel pump to fail when it gets hot.
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Pacnwfoto wrote:
Its wheels are clearly marked "made in China", but .
The wheels on my 300 Super clearly had "Made in Italy" on them. I was stunned. I replaced them with black Mp3 wheels that clearly have "made in China" on them.



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Made in China is all about quality control. You have to be on most of them 24/7. I believe piaggio isn't all the time. Just look at the newer models and all their problems. I see it in my LT and LX. LT ('03) is a way better scooter. Absolutely no problems with that scooter (other than what i've done to it). I go away prep the LT and LX the same. The LT always starts up the LX not. BTW the LT and LX get ridden the same amount. LT being shorter rides with the LX longer. If they can get away with putting in cheaper parts they will. Whenever i'm over there some one is always getting busted for fraud and being killed. Not saying fraud doesn't happen here in the US but piaggio should be watching a bit more carefully or continue to make them in Italy (all parts).
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Under european law, for something to be "made" somewhere, it need only be assembled there, as I understand it. Piaggio has a long history of having parts manufactured in India, Taiwan, etc. I don't think all the parts on an '03 LT or my '03 ET are made in Italy. In fact, I think there is some question as to where all the parts on my 1980 P200 came from too.

It's not a huge deal to me as long as the quality control was done well. My P200 and ET are built like tanks down to the menial parts.

I suspect the issues we find in the newest Piaggio products are not because "now" they are coming from China, but rather that the QC oversight has been relaxed or something in recent times.
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FROG maybe not but my LT is bulletproof. Solid scooter even if it is plastic Laughing emoticon Seriously i literally can't kill the scooter and trust me i tried and so did the cops who "forgot" where they towed it to after my accident 4 years ago. It stayed on it's side out in our weather for 2 months and it started right up. It took the accident WAY better than me. My friend and i were shocked to see the guy wheeling it from out behind some bush in the tow yard. My LX wouldn't start after 6 weeks upright Your right 100% on the quality control. I think it's VERY lax these days starting with the LX series IMHO. Hell China can made good stuff if they want just have a look at the terra cotta warriors and you'll see what they can do. It's just frustrating that's all
⚠️ Last edited by judy on UTC; edited 1 time
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judy wrote:
Hell China can made good stuff of they want just have a look at the terra cotta warriors and you'll see what they can do. It's just frustrating that's all
I totally agree! That was my point, really, that I'm not sure asian parts on a Vespa are anything new, but perhaps what has changed more prominently is the quality control.
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FROG so true. I'm sure the made in China parts have been around a lot longer than we've known about as you've said. Now there's probably more of them and less quality control which is a recipe for disaster.
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Having just replaced my fuel pump a couple of months ago, I certainly hope Piaggio has finally cleared their shelves and warehouses of the faulty pumps. But I've seen no evidence that they done anything about it other than to continue to replace faulty pumps as they come in--presumably with new, better pumps?
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I see the main problem as Piaggio's limited commitment to providing parts & service,
particularly places like here well away from the big urban centers

This often turns a relatively minor problem, like a faulty fuel pump,
into a something of a nightmare for the Vespa owner
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So is this just a US issue or are UK bikes also affected...?

Best,

Mark
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