1st time poster- Having scooter troubles

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 12:08 am

Hey all- 1st time poster here. I have a Buddy 150- the Pampoma which I just got in September. I love, love love it. I work and go to school in Manhattan (I live in Brooklyn) 6 days a week, and take my scooter every dry day I can. I've already put over 1,100 miles on it.

About 2 weeks ago I had a minor spill coming home from work. It was a series of unfortunate events I took a spill and my scooter went down. I wasn't going fast so there was minimal damage thankfully- just some scrapes mostly. It started leaking oil right then so I had it towed to the shop. I got it back this week after the changed the air filter and spark plug and replaced the brake handle. I guess it falling on it left side leaked oil in the system.

I started to drive it home but quickly realized it wasn't running the same- it wasn't accelerating properly and it wasn't going faster than about 30 mph. I went straight back to the shop and said I should put 50 miles on it and that should burn off oil in the system. Well, it's been about 80 miles now and it's running the same. I'm very sad because it's not my peppy scooter that I remember.

Has this happened to anyone? What could be the problem? Is there anything I can do myself to fix it? Or do I need to take it back in?

Thanks for any help.

Post by **ericalm** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:19 am

Top guesses: The air filter is flooded with oil or they overfilled the gear oil.

Riding 50 miles won't fix either of those problems.

It's easy to get to the air filter, see if it's flooded, clean it out and replace it.

The gear oil is a bit more difficult to get out. A lot of dealers have overfilled this—it has to be a very precise amount. So it has to be completely drained, measured and replaced.

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 5:07 am

They did replace the air filter as it was caked in oil. I'm not sure if they did anything with the gear oil when they were fixing her up. Would that have needed to be adjusted after an accident like this?

charlie55 · Post by **charlie55** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 5:36 am

Have you noticed a strong odor of raw gas since the incident? If so, the evap canister may have gotten saturated with gas during the tip-over.

Post by **ericalm** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 5:45 am

Not sure what they may have done. It's possible or likely that oil got somewhere it shouldn't have in the spill. I'm just unsure where it may have gotten where it would simply burn off after 50 miles. Maybe someone else has a suggestion.

If they did replace the oil, there's still a chance of overfilling and thaqt the air filter may have been re-soaked. Dunno…

Post by **ericalm** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 5:46 am

charlie55 wrote:Have you noticed a strong odor of raw gas since the incident? If so, the evap canister may have gotten saturated with gas during the tip-over.

This is a good one too.

Has the scooter been stalling at all?

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 6:20 am

I smelled some gas like the 1st day I got it back but it wasn't super strong and it was fairly intermittent.

The scooter hasn't stalled at all, it starts fine. It just doesn't accelerate.

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 6:55 am

Is it revving as high as you remember, just not going as fast? Maybe the oil that spilled into the airfilter also got into the variator housing and fouled the belt up?

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 7:00 am

Nope, it doesn't rev the same either.

I don't zip at all like I used to.

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 9:44 am

Stick to your guns and have the shop figure this out! You've been very patient with their "give it 50 miles" recommendation. They need to delve further and resolve this for you.

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 7:25 pm

My only trouble with bringing it back to the shop is that it's $93/hr for them to work on it. Which is a lot of money for me right now, especially considering I just paid $200 for them to fix it the 1st time.

Stormswift · Post by **Stormswift** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 7:45 pm

Do you have insurance that would cover repairs in case of collision or dropping the bike?

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 7:48 pm

I have insurance, I'm not sure what the details are on non-collision accidents, but with a $500 deductible, it's not worth reporting it because I'll still be paying the same amount out of pocket.

BootScootin'FireFighter · Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:30 pm

are you dealing with the Genuine place, Brooklyn Motorcycle? If they're giving you shit, you could try the Vespa place in Soho, maybe they can help you out.

charlie55 · Post by **charlie55** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 9:03 pm

OK, another question.....

Does the cover to your airbox (the thing that houses the filter) appear to be installed correctly (all screws/bolts tight, and no gaps around the perimeter)? Botching up the reassembly of this piece, or doing a half-assed job of seating the air filter could result in an excessive lean condition.

Nothing more frustrating than trying to help someone by remote control. Especially when it would probably take most of us just a few minutes of "hands-on" noodling to get to the root of the problem.

Wish we had some sort of live conferencing setup so that folks could link up with real time audio/video to help each other.

juice · Post by **juice** » Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:34 pm

The ride it 50 miles is total bullshit . The shop should have tested their work before returning it to you . They should now fix the problem at least labor free . If parts were damaged in the accident the shop should have diagnosed it and fixed it . If it is a genuine dealer you should speak to a franchise rep if they don't mske it right .

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:52 pm

I haven't really had much trouble with Brooklyn Motorcycle- they've always seemed pretty stand up people so far. I'm hoping when I do bring it back in, they cover the fixes at free or reduced labor since it should have been fixed the 1st time.

@charlie55 I won't lie, I have no idea where the airbox cover is, I know absolutely nothing about the mechanics of the scooter. Looking at it, nothing looks out of place, but that doesn't mean anything really.

I only hope the problem is as simple as a mis-assembly or a fluid being overfilled, but I have a sinking feeling it'll be something more complicated.

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:57 pm

I called my shop and they said when this happened with another scooter, they discovered the needle in the carburetor didn't reset itself and that's probably all it needs.

So I have to ask if this is something I could potentially do myself? I've never learned about scooter mechanics, but I am mechanically inclined.

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 7:41 pm

It's relatively easy to get to the carb and access the needle, but I don't know how it gets reset. The basics are in the service manual, pages 76-79.

PDF here: http://www.modernbuddy.com/pdf/buddy125 ... manual.pdf

juice · Post by **juice** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 9:57 pm

The dealership will love this , now they can claim any problems are due to to your tampering . So now they can charge you again for fixing what they should have fixed already . Good luck .

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:45 pm

@juice That was awful snotty. I'm expecting to be charged already- just wanted to see if it was a simple enough fix, that is all.

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:57 pm

juice wrote:The dealership will love this , now they can claim any problems are due to to your tampering . So now they can charge you again for fixing what they should have fixed already . Good luck .

beccad18 wrote:@juice That was awful snotty. I'm expecting to be charged already- just wanted to see if it was a simple enough fix, that is all.

Uh, yeah. Let's curb the attitude, please and try to bit more helpful than critical.

BUT, juice has a point. If the dealer's been paid for a repair and the scooter still isn't running properly, you're probably best off taking it back. Monkeying with it yourself absolves them of any responsibility for it. If you can't get it fixed, they're no longer obligated to do so or you could just incur more service charges.

juice · Post by **juice** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 12:06 am

Has this happened to anyone? What could be the problem? Is there anything I can do myself to fix it? Or do I need to take it back in?

You asked , I gave you my opinion . Im sorry you consider it snotty . Please disreguard .

djelliott · Post by **djelliott** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:09 pm

OK, I read through most of this and here's my thoughts:

1. Indeed the shop should fix it. Whether they charge you or not is based on a) If the problem was caused by them I wouldn't expect a charge or b) the problem was something they over looked the first time around, I would expect a charge.

2. Are we thinking in the wrong direction here? If you had oil in the topside of your motor you would be blowing a lot of smoke. Sounds to me like a vacuum leak. Pull out your seat bucket and make sure all off the little black hoses are connected.

3) One other possibility could be that when you dumped the bike you knocked some of your variator weights out of place and it won't spin up properly.

Just a few thoughts I had from reading through the posts. Either way, for such a small drop I seriously can't imagine such a huge problem. It's most likely something simple (I vote vacuum leak) that just got over looked. I hope it works out for you. If you see something that you think may be out of place, post a picture. Good luck.

Dustin

beccad18 · Post by **beccad18** » Thu Dec 09, 2010 5:49 am

@djelliot You nailed it on the head. I just picked my scooter up today, and it was some sort of vacuum leak on the carburetor,. It appeared to be some sort of misassembly from the factory, so it was covered under warranty- yay for me.

djelliott · Post by **djelliott** » Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:08 pm

beccad18 wrote:@djelliot You nailed it on the head. I just picked my scooter up today, and it was some sort of vacuum leak on the carburetor,. It appeared to be some sort of misassembly from the factory, so it was covered under warranty- yay for me.

Great to hear. Glad you're back up and running.