Modern Buddy

Okay. Well, I am thrilled to announce I became a new proud owner of a 2008 St. Tropez. I am also anxious to post my fun stories & photos from this past weekend. However, another issue has arisen that will have to assume the limelight, for now.

Uh. My seat won't open. I turn the key over and hear one faint click, but not the click of the latch disengaging. Not only does this make refueling a challenge, it also separates me from some personal belongings.

Any ideas? Of course, it's going to the shop tomorrow, but if anyone has any suggestions, I'm very interested in solving this problem sooner.

So - a challenge indeed. Thanks for any thoughts!

Need to ajust the nut which flips the seat open when you turn the key. Take off the front panel, and you'll see a goldish bronze tube on the top left.

Theres a tutorial here

topic1814.html

Doesnt need to go to the shop, save some money and do it yourself easily.

She-Buddy wrote:Any ideas?

OK, not really. Trumps the problem most of the rest of us have ... the seat won't latch.

yeah, what jfrost2 said... adjust that nut and it will get better. However, I've adjusted it time and time again and the seat still doesn't always pop open easily.

What I do is give the back of the seat a little nudge up as I turn the key to unlatch it. Kind of a pain if I have something in my hands but it works every time.

jmazza wrote:yeah, what jfrost2 said... adjust that nut and it will get better.

Thank you for the link to the tutorial, y'all. I'm out here trying right now, but no luck. Is the point to have greater distance between the tunnel & lock nut and the copper ignition? Or, is the point to tighten them flush together?

........ Eghad! and Eureka!


A big THANK YOU and Round of Applause for your quick and specific assistance!! Problem solved, guys.

Their might be another far worse problem, which I've almost had (recently actually). My seat was having trouble closing, so I decided to adjust the spring in the latch because I had that problem before and it worked. Anyways, the spring came unhooked, which it's not hard to unhook, so that might be your prob. I knew mine came off, so I didn't close my seat for two whole days until I found that dang spring that had fallen somewhere in between the storage compartment and the gas tank. If your's came unhooked and then then you closed it (or if it came unhooked while you were closing it) then you have a much bigger problem than I.

If this is the case, you will most likely have to take all the panels off to un-latch the seat, and even then it will be VERY difficult to reach. If you have a pro to look at it, they might know if that's what happened or not. You might want to see if you can't find a shiny, goldish spring with a hook on either end that's about an inch and a half long. If this is really what happened, the spring will either be somewhere on the ground around your scoot or still stuck in there. Here's hoping this is NOT what is wrong!!!

EDIT: OOPS! I guess I should've read you whole post! Glad you fixed that right up.

KRUSTYburger wrote:EDIT: OOPS! I guess I should've read you whole post! Glad you fixed that right up.

No Sweat whatsoever KRUSTYburger. I'll file your detailed account under "good-to-know-but-hope-I'll-never-need-it!"

Good to know we help you fix it, if it becomes more serious and simple fixes dont fix it, that is when the dealer comes in.

Putting a little bit of lube (WD40 or something similar) on the latch mechanism under the seat will also help keep things working smoothly.

this is all very interesting because my 06 and several other posters had an opposite problem with closing it at first. i would stretch a spring guess it's the same one your talking about to latch it shut. after a while it must have stretched out enough to latch easily because i've not had that prob in a while. it still doesn't snap shut with only a drop. i guess a top grade machanism is where the other 2 grand goes to on the vespas?

Actually, this time when my seat wasn't closing properly (the time I lost the spring), I figured out what was REALLY wrong, and it was so simple I could've kicked myself... I lowered the seat slowly down to the latch and saw that the little metal bar on the seat wasn't centered exactly straight with the latch. I just opened it back up and bent it ever so carefully in the other direction... PRESTO! Seat magic! It closes every single time with just a drop, no more slamming for me!!!

Both me and Mrs. Merckx had an issue with the seat latch, what I did to fix it was very simple ... I lubricated the actual latching mechanism under the saddle with a little teflon bicycle chain lube and it has worked perfectly since then , and that was about ten months ago....... the problem turned out to be to much friction at the latch for the release to function properly. you should try this before disassembly of the front end... just a thought.

Personally, I've had problems my latch, but would still feel more comfortable about taking it to a dealer, versus trying something that may make it worse.