Update from Paul S.:
"I have checked out your headlight situation, and it appears that your headlight socket is faulty. It is grounding out somehow. I'm not really sure how it is possible, but it is doing it. The light works when I just put the wires to the bulb, but everything grounds when I put the bulb in the socket. I guess you need a new socket. I'm hoping to tear into the clutch this weekend."
I have emailed ScooterWorks to see if they will honor a warranty on that part. Waiting to hear back from them.
Showing posts with label electrical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electrical. Show all posts
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Running poorly & electrical
The current problems are:
1) Electrical (switch is broken and tail light is wired wrong)
2) Bike is running poorly (kill switch was likely causing this)
3) Clutch not operating correctly
4) Scraping sound made when you walk or ride bike
The brand new switch should resolve issues 1 and 2.
I emailed Paul S. and asked him why a cracked/grounded horn switch would affect the bike and cause it to run poorly. I understand why is screwed up the electrical, which was one of the four problems with the scoot. Paul knew when I pulled up something was wrong with the way the bike was running and I wanted to know *exactly* why.
Response from Paul S.:
Well, I've ridden/worked on hundreds of Vespas at this point. It is pretty easy for me to hear when they are not running right. You should also be able to notice the difference with the new switch. It will be very obvious. When they are running well, they have a nice smooth idle. Yours was misfiring, and acting like it was dying. This can happen with poor igition or with poor carbueration. When you first rolled up, I thought you had an ignition problem. In a way you did. The kill switch was essentially "almost" on all the time. The broken switch made it so that the kill switch was just about engaged. That caused the igitition system to be working poorly. Once I pulled the switch off, the motor idled like a champ.
I should not have to pull the motor all the way apart to get at the clutch. I'll just have to pull off the rear hub and the clutch cover. Depending on the source of the scraping noise (when the scooter is rolling around), I may have to delve further inside the motor. I doubt it however. I suspect the scraping noise is coming from the rear brake backplate. The only way to be sure is to get it up on the lift. Luckily both of your issues are in the same area, so hopefully I can fix them both at the same time. Unfortunately I've been so busy with the family that I have had virtually no garage time in the past few weeks.
A special thanx to Paul for his expertise. He diagnosed the problems very quickly and was correct. If you remember in previous posts (years ago now) Christopher Markley said that the backplate scraped at the rear hub because it is either thicker with powder coat or it is missing a spacer, though when he looked in the parts diagram there was not an additional spacer.
Request from readers/SS180 owners: Besides the parts book diagram, does any one have pictures of their assembly of the rear hub / backplate showing all spacers and hardware for me to reference against? If so, please comment.
I have asked Paul to contact me when he knows he will be working on the bike so I can meet with him and learn from him. He is far more experienced than I am. He has a toddler, so his schedule is just like mine . . . around our toddlers.
1) Electrical (switch is broken and tail light is wired wrong)
2) Bike is running poorly (kill switch was likely causing this)
3) Clutch not operating correctly
4) Scraping sound made when you walk or ride bike
The brand new switch should resolve issues 1 and 2.
I emailed Paul S. and asked him why a cracked/grounded horn switch would affect the bike and cause it to run poorly. I understand why is screwed up the electrical, which was one of the four problems with the scoot. Paul knew when I pulled up something was wrong with the way the bike was running and I wanted to know *exactly* why.
Response from Paul S.:
Well, I've ridden/worked on hundreds of Vespas at this point. It is pretty easy for me to hear when they are not running right. You should also be able to notice the difference with the new switch. It will be very obvious. When they are running well, they have a nice smooth idle. Yours was misfiring, and acting like it was dying. This can happen with poor igition or with poor carbueration. When you first rolled up, I thought you had an ignition problem. In a way you did. The kill switch was essentially "almost" on all the time. The broken switch made it so that the kill switch was just about engaged. That caused the igitition system to be working poorly. Once I pulled the switch off, the motor idled like a champ.
I should not have to pull the motor all the way apart to get at the clutch. I'll just have to pull off the rear hub and the clutch cover. Depending on the source of the scraping noise (when the scooter is rolling around), I may have to delve further inside the motor. I doubt it however. I suspect the scraping noise is coming from the rear brake backplate. The only way to be sure is to get it up on the lift. Luckily both of your issues are in the same area, so hopefully I can fix them both at the same time. Unfortunately I've been so busy with the family that I have had virtually no garage time in the past few weeks.
A special thanx to Paul for his expertise. He diagnosed the problems very quickly and was correct. If you remember in previous posts (years ago now) Christopher Markley said that the backplate scraped at the rear hub because it is either thicker with powder coat or it is missing a spacer, though when he looked in the parts diagram there was not an additional spacer.
Request from readers/SS180 owners: Besides the parts book diagram, does any one have pictures of their assembly of the rear hub / backplate showing all spacers and hardware for me to reference against? If so, please comment.
I have asked Paul to contact me when he knows he will be working on the bike so I can meet with him and learn from him. He is far more experienced than I am. He has a toddler, so his schedule is just like mine . . . around our toddlers.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
The next few weeks ahead...
So, here is how things have been going...
I have sanded and grinded and chemicaled myself out. I give up. I caved in this morning and decided to get the frame media blasted. So, I c
alled a place called SoftStrip who said they can fit me in on Friday morning at 10am. It should take about an hour and cost about $90. Honestly, if I knew it was that cheap, I would have done that from the beginning instead of waste 20+ of my own labor hours toiling away. This is as far as all of that has done. The only thing that really kept me from wanting to media blast is that it seems that it will take away the body filler that had previously been applied. And although on the smaller pieces, they were over-bondo'ed into submission, it was used very wisely and responsibly on the frame. But fortunately, it was just applied to the front of the legshield, so it shouldn't be all that hard to recreate. Anyhow, Friday morning = Media blast. The rest of the weekend = body prep + what will be covered in the next paragraph.
3 Days of letting PB B'laster soak in, and the piston is still seized. I'm not surprised, I never really seem to get an easy break, so I im
agined this would happen. Jeremy ended up using a hydrulic press and a hacksaw. I might have to go the same road, but my step-dad (Ken, he's helping me all weekend with body and mechanics.) and I might have a few different tricks up our sleeves beforehand. As the engine is coming apart, it really seems that the only thing terribly wrong with it is the seized piston. It is also cleaning up incredibly easy. Just a little de-greasing oven cleaner and a rag does wonders. I just can't get the damn casing to separate. I took a heat gun to the bearing under the stator, like other blogs suggested, but it still won't budge in the slightest bit. Again, maybe Ken will have something up his sleeve this weekend. He has much more experience with mechanics than I do(albeit, not Vespas, but old model cars).
So, I had a heated debate with myself about wh
ether to keep true to the roots of the VBB and keep the 6v system, or drill a hole in the side of the frame, upgrade the stator/flywheel/junctions/wiring harness, and run off of a 12v battery system. A lot of people say that the old magneto set-up is just awful and it is worth the price and labor and actually adds desirability and value even though it takes away from the original state. Well, when disassembling the engine, the debate is over. I pulled the flywheel and noticed that a fin is chipped off. And one of the wires to the stator has a terribly damaged sheeth. So since those are really the two most expensive pieces of a 12v upgrade, I might as well do it since I have to anyway. I'm sure that I will be much happier with the outcome anyhow. A buddy of mine has a sprint with the original 6v system and is very unhappy. He is going to have me give him an upgrade too, so at least I will have the experience first.
To finish off today, I found a picture that my beautiful girlfriend, Danielle snapped of me right when the delivery
truck door opened and I got a glimpse of my new toy last Friday. I think I look thrilled. Oh, by the way. Never set a deadline on your Vespa restoration project. But, I am hoping to have this done in time for our wedding. We are getting married on June 7th, and don't want a crappy limo. We want to ride off on a restored seafoam green '63 VBB 150! So, I'm not necessarily planning on it... just hoping I get lucky enough for the experience.
Ciao.
I have sanded and grinded and chemicaled myself out. I give up. I caved in this morning and decided to get the frame media blasted. So, I c
alled a place called SoftStrip who said they can fit me in on Friday morning at 10am. It should take about an hour and cost about $90. Honestly, if I knew it was that cheap, I would have done that from the beginning instead of waste 20+ of my own labor hours toiling away. This is as far as all of that has done. The only thing that really kept me from wanting to media blast is that it seems that it will take away the body filler that had previously been applied. And although on the smaller pieces, they were over-bondo'ed into submission, it was used very wisely and responsibly on the frame. But fortunately, it was just applied to the front of the legshield, so it shouldn't be all that hard to recreate. Anyhow, Friday morning = Media blast. The rest of the weekend = body prep + what will be covered in the next paragraph.3 Days of letting PB B'laster soak in, and the piston is still seized. I'm not surprised, I never really seem to get an easy break, so I im
agined this would happen. Jeremy ended up using a hydrulic press and a hacksaw. I might have to go the same road, but my step-dad (Ken, he's helping me all weekend with body and mechanics.) and I might have a few different tricks up our sleeves beforehand. As the engine is coming apart, it really seems that the only thing terribly wrong with it is the seized piston. It is also cleaning up incredibly easy. Just a little de-greasing oven cleaner and a rag does wonders. I just can't get the damn casing to separate. I took a heat gun to the bearing under the stator, like other blogs suggested, but it still won't budge in the slightest bit. Again, maybe Ken will have something up his sleeve this weekend. He has much more experience with mechanics than I do(albeit, not Vespas, but old model cars).So, I had a heated debate with myself about wh
ether to keep true to the roots of the VBB and keep the 6v system, or drill a hole in the side of the frame, upgrade the stator/flywheel/junctions/wiring harness, and run off of a 12v battery system. A lot of people say that the old magneto set-up is just awful and it is worth the price and labor and actually adds desirability and value even though it takes away from the original state. Well, when disassembling the engine, the debate is over. I pulled the flywheel and noticed that a fin is chipped off. And one of the wires to the stator has a terribly damaged sheeth. So since those are really the two most expensive pieces of a 12v upgrade, I might as well do it since I have to anyway. I'm sure that I will be much happier with the outcome anyhow. A buddy of mine has a sprint with the original 6v system and is very unhappy. He is going to have me give him an upgrade too, so at least I will have the experience first.To finish off today, I found a picture that my beautiful girlfriend, Danielle snapped of me right when the delivery
truck door opened and I got a glimpse of my new toy last Friday. I think I look thrilled. Oh, by the way. Never set a deadline on your Vespa restoration project. But, I am hoping to have this done in time for our wedding. We are getting married on June 7th, and don't want a crappy limo. We want to ride off on a restored seafoam green '63 VBB 150! So, I'm not necessarily planning on it... just hoping I get lucky enough for the experience.Ciao.
Saturday, 15 December 2007
Headlight problems
Here's a question for a potential column...
My headlamp doesn't work unless I turn on the high-beam, so essentially my running light isn't running. Are our bulbs dual element bulbs which may mean that only the one element has burnt out. If that's the case, changing the bulb should solve the problem. Or could this be a bigger electrical issue? I guess the easiest thing to do would be to pop out the bulb and check, but I haven't gotten around to it yet, mainly because I'm not entirely sure how to do it. Have you ever had to replace a headlamp bulb?
-- David
David, I do not believe the bulb is dual element. I remember years ago reading a Bajaj Yahoo Group post from president Al Kolvites that the high beam works off reflection and does not require extra juice from the battery.
The first place I would look is your switch, since the high beam does work. I have emailed Al Kolvites for advice and am waiting to hear back from him.
I believe the light bulb is an easy change. Refer to the parts manual, which you can download for free from www.argousa.com
-- Jeremy
Problem solved (follow-up):
"So, I got a halogen bulb (had to order from a nearby motorsports super-store, $9.95) and I'm happy to say that it solved my dead running light situation. No need to investigate the wiring. I just put it in today so I'll be able to see the difference tomorrow night on my ride home from work. " -- email from David.
The halogen bulb is a great thing to invest in . . . see my "Safety first -- headlight" blog post.
My headlamp doesn't work unless I turn on the high-beam, so essentially my running light isn't running. Are our bulbs dual element bulbs which may mean that only the one element has burnt out. If that's the case, changing the bulb should solve the problem. Or could this be a bigger electrical issue? I guess the easiest thing to do would be to pop out the bulb and check, but I haven't gotten around to it yet, mainly because I'm not entirely sure how to do it. Have you ever had to replace a headlamp bulb?
-- David
David, I do not believe the bulb is dual element. I remember years ago reading a Bajaj Yahoo Group post from president Al Kolvites that the high beam works off reflection and does not require extra juice from the battery.
The first place I would look is your switch, since the high beam does work. I have emailed Al Kolvites for advice and am waiting to hear back from him.
I believe the light bulb is an easy change. Refer to the parts manual, which you can download for free from www.argousa.com
-- Jeremy
Problem solved (follow-up):
"So, I got a halogen bulb (had to order from a nearby motorsports super-store, $9.95) and I'm happy to say that it solved my dead running light situation. No need to investigate the wiring. I just put it in today so I'll be able to see the difference tomorrow night on my ride home from work. " -- email from David.
The halogen bulb is a great thing to invest in . . . see my "Safety first -- headlight" blog post.
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