Anyone familiar with a Vespa?

[iwannadie]

A buddy of mine just bought a 1967 vespa piaggio and we are having problems with it. He bought it off and old retired guy who seemed real straight up and honest, he said it ran but has sat for a while. He started it up for us, it cranked first kick and idled fine for a few minutes until he shut it off.

Well, we got it back to my buddies place and it was a real nightmare to start up. It took a few kicks then died right away. We know nothing about old 2 stroke vespas lol.

We got it to start and it will idle strong but then dies like it's running out of gas within a few seconds. Then it acts flooded if we keep trying to start it. We let it sit and had lunch and it started fine and idled for a minute or 2 then died. When it idles it is strong but then stumbles and dies. If you rev it, it will still die the same way. If you hear/feel it about to die and rev it, it makes no difference and dies. It just seems like it's not getting gas suddenly after it idles. After that long idle it went back to idling a few seconds and would die right away again.

I tried putting it in gear and going and it dies under any load it seemed. I may just not know how to handle the vespa(I ride street bikes) though.

The PO said to use the choke, pull it out and push it in a few times before starting. That sounds like a fuel primer not a choke to me, that didn't help and just googling now it says that you should hold the choke open. The choke on his vespa shuts itself, you have to hold it open. Could that be the cause, that it needs to be held open to warm it up? We messed with the fuel petco*k a bit and seem pretty certain that is set correct. Straight up is on, to one side is closed and the other is reserve.

Supposedly the gas is fresh, I recommended we drain the gas/oil mix and refill with fresh but he got frustrated and gave up ha.

 

[souske]

I would drain the gas for sure. The oil isn't as volitile, and should be fine.

 

[old_man]

Put a fresh plug in it and pull the air cleaner to see if that makes a difference.

 

[iwannadie]

We thought about plug and air filter but I started to think if they were the problem, why would it idle so strong and die suddenly? I figured a bad plug or filter it would idle like crap and die off, not idle strong and die suddenly.

 

[souske]

The carb is likely gummed up. Drain the tank and float bowl, refill with fresh gas, if your lucky it will dissolve the old crud.

 

[Bdiddy11]

Tried checking a Vespa forum? They have a huge following and I would imagine there would be a lot of info out there. I own a genuine buddy and there's a coupleof forums for those

 

[iwannadie]

Tried checking a Vespa forum? They have a huge following and I would imagine there would be a lot of info out there. I own a genuine buddy and there's a coupleof forums for those

To be honest, since it's not mine I haven't put that much time into figuring it out. I thought I would ask here and I told my buddy to get on the forums but I am not doing all the work for him ha. If I had bought it, the first thing before buying it would had been find a good forum...

 

[GSequoia]

From my experiance with small engines here is what I would do.


1: Drain the tank, maybe even give it a wash down with Berrymans B-12 (Carb cleaner).
2: Take apart carb., clean thoroughly, replace gaskets.
3: Drain gearbox oil, refill.
4: Replace spark plug (two strokes eat plugs).


If it's too much trouble for him just have him send the bike down to me, an old Vespa would be a fun around town bike.

 

[Bdiddy11]

Unfortunately a forum is his best bet. Tell him to stop being lazy great thing about scoots is that they are fairly simple to work on.

 

[iwannadie]

My friend messed with the vespa more and he is not getting fuel. There is just no fuel getting from the tank to the carb. He tried sucking on the fuel line to drain the tank and got just a little gas then nothing. He can pour gas into the carb and it will run fine.

Something is keeping the gas from getting from the tank and motor. The way the thing is built we couldn't even see how you would get at the tank/petco*k or fuel lines even.

 

[GSequoia]

I'd be a rust / debris clogged petcock. I'd suggest looking at your friend's petcock, just try not to pet it too much. irate1:

 

[iwannadie]

I'd be a rust / debris clogged petcock. I'd suggest looking at your friend's petcock, just try not to pet it too much. irate1:

Yea, I may not help him at all with it ; p . We did lay it on its side, maybe some rust got knocked loose.

Oh I forgot, he said when he blows through the fuel line, air comes out of the Vent in the tank at the top. It doesn't bubble from the bottom of the tank. To me that doesn't make sense at all.

 

[Voteban]

Yea, I may not help him at all with it ; p . We did lay it on its side, maybe some rust got knocked loose.

Oh I forgot, he said when he blows through the fuel line, air comes out of the Vent in the tank at the top. It doesn't bubble from the bottom of the tank. To me that doesn't make sense at all.

Might not be the actual fuel line then, my 87 SRX250 has a vent line at the bottom / back of the tank that does the same thing. My bike had a lot of issues like the ones you're describing. I took off the tank, the carb, and everything fuel related, cleaned it all out, and then it ran perfect. I'd also recommend replacing any rubber fuel lines you can find with fresh ones, they're cheap.

Check for rust in the tank, that was the main cause of the problems with my motorcycle, carbs don't like eating rust.

 

[iwannadie]

Just for some closure.

We pulled the tank and it was just full of crud and the petcock valve was also full and no fuel was getting through it. We cleaned it all out and she purrs with no trouble at all. It wasn't so much rust as maybe oil sludge inside the tank. It was a bit of a hassle working inside the tank with such a small opening and manipulating the filter and pickup tubes inside.

I even got on and went for a quick spin, it has some get up and go for a little vespa. I got it up over 70 according to the gauge and I let off. Even if the speedo is way off and I was going 40-50ish it still ran great and had more to give. I never ridden a vespa before, the 4 speed manual was pretty cool. I'll stick to my street bike but a vespa may find its way into my garage eheh.

The brakes were really crap, I don't know if they need serviced or just adjusted, the front brake was near useless. The rear brake had some decent grab so I don't know if that is just a vespa thing or just something that needs worked out. It stops fine but using mostly the rear brake which I didn't like at all.