Modern Buddy

I have owned many different scooters including several Honda's and Yamaha's and a Piaggio BV250. I picked up a 2011 Blur with 730 miles on it yesterday from the original owner for $1,400 which seemed like a great deal.
Before heading home, a 70 mile journey, I checked the fluid levels and filled up with gas. After about 6 miles on the highway with 65 indicated in the speedometer the engine overheat light came on, it was 85 degrees outside. I pulled over to let it cool down but could not go over 55 indicated without the light coming back on every few miles. My wife was following me and she said we were not going over 50. The previous owner changed the oil and filter twice and it looked clean.
Another issue is that when I went out to ride it again today, there was a big puddle of oil under it, enough to stream across the garage floor towards the drain. It is dripping steady now and from what I can tell it is coming from the front of the engine but I cannot see it because of the bodywork.
The quality of materials and construction seems to be every bit as good as the Japanese scooters but now I am seriously concerned that I have a dud.
Can anyone comment on whether or not there is a real fix for the overheating issue and what the oils leak might be?
Thx

The scoot needs the ecu updated to fix the overheat lamp issue. You'll need to call the dealer. The original owner should be able to get this fixed free. The oil leak could be coming from the filter. Maybe it's too loose or possibly they left the old gasket and now it has 2 gaskets causing the leak. These bikes are generally pretty bullet proof except for the ecu update, gauge cluster issues and inspect the belt every oil change. I've read of several shredding the belt After the recommended service interval wasn't adhered yto

Yes- make sure to change the drive belt every 4k miles. As said the ECU update will fix the overheating issue. The engine is NOT overheating by the way, it just has the threshold set too low. When the light goes on it puts the motor in a limp mode. I suspect the oil filter was recently changed and not tightened down properly. $1,400 is a great deal.

That is a relief to hear that the overheating can be corrected. Thank you.
Turns out that the oil leak was the engine case and gasket itself. There are several 8mm bolts along the bottom right hand side of the engine case that were finger tight. The one directly below the dipstick took 2 full turns to tighten up. I pulled off the fan shroud since there are several more under there but they were all tight. No more leaks.

sjw wrote:That is a relief to hear that the overheating can be corrected. Thank you.
Turns out that the oil leak was the engine case and gasket itself. There are several 8mm bolts along the bottom right hand side of the engine case that were finger tight. The one directly below the dipstick took 2 full turns to tighten up. I pulled off the fan shroud since there are several more under there but they were all tight. No more leaks.

That is very unusual. You are the first poster to have this issue that I am aware of. On such a low mileage example I wonder why this happened.... Glad you have it squared away now.

My ECU was replaced by my dealer(Genuine sent a new one under warranty). I hope that you will be able to get this done as I would imagine a replacement ECU will be $$$ otherwise...

I contacted all 5 Genuine dealers in Minnesota but not one has ever heard of this issue nor do they have any info on a fix or ECU update. One dealer said he could read the stores codes and reset the light but that would do nothing to prevent it from happening again. Turning the key off and back on resets the light anyway.
Can anyone suggest a dealer that at has at least of this and knows how to fix it?
I also tried several times to contact Genuine in Chicago and have left messages but so far no returned calls.

Your dealer needs to call genuine. There is a service bulletin about this.

Everyone seems to have the right answer here. I am sorry your new/used Blur was doing that to you. Did you feel the engine cut back when the check engine light came on? When it truly overheats, the bikes floods the cylinder with gas to cool it off. It does sound like you need a new ECU, which any Genuine dealer can look up on the back end of Genuine's site. It isn't that hard and the recall information is all there. I know this because I have a Blur 220 with over 20,000 miles on it and I used to work for Sportique Scooters in Colorado for 4 years.

The oil dripping does sound like a loose oil filter and nothing more - definitely check it. It might have been losing oil and with the 85 degrees outside it could have been causing it to "overheat"

Many thanks to my local Genuine dealer, Scooterville. They contacted Genuine for me and explained the overheating issue. Genuine sent them a new, updated ECU for me at no cost even though the Blur was not under warranty and I am the second owner. They even offered to install it at no cost. I already had it removed so we just swapped it out over the counter. This kind of customer service is rare in my experience and demonstrates that Genuine stands behind their products.

sjw wrote:Many thanks to my local Genuine dealer, Scooterville. They contacted Genuine for me and explained the overheating issue. Genuine sent them a new, updated ECU for me at no cost even though the Blur was not under warranty and I am the second owner. They even offered to install it at no cost. I already had it removed so we just swapped it out over the counter. This kind of customer service is rare in my experience and demonstrates that Genuine stands behind their products.

Glad to hear this. There have been some pretty bad Genuine stories of late(lack of communication when asked questions for example).