I already clean the gas tank and installed a new petcock. I also buy the little chain adjuster in the pedal part of the moped so that it can be turned on kickstarting it. However, after several attempts, it seems I have no spark. What would you guys recommend me to do? To go for the ignition coil or to check the points? This is my first vespa and seems a lot different from my puch magnum. Any help will be really appreciated. Thanks a lot and regrds to all!!!.
Before going crazy buying parts, put an adapter on a drill with a 17mm or 24mm socket (depends what nut you have on your variator/clutch) and let that drill turn the motor over while you hold the spark plug in contact with the head and if you don’t see a spark then you have an ignition problem…have you tried that?
Check for spark. easy
check coil with a volt meter. easy, all over interner 2.5 to 3.0 and 8000
Check kill switch. easy seperate wires
Points can be dirty. easy fine sand paper
Voltage on wire to coil. easy volt meter
Bad ground easy volt meter
internal coil hard to test
condensor medium RR
I don't see any kill switch button in the moped. The key is in the front but does not seem to be turned that much, I don' t know if that is normal. I will try to do the drill thingy to check for a spark. I cannot find the model or the year on this moped. Do you guys know where the plate or vin number is? Regards to all.
The killswitch should be on the handle bars, I think on the throttle side, if my memory serves me correct.
To check the VIN it’s on the chain side behind the chain itself.
Some pictures would help us diagnose your problem. (edited)
The numbers on the frame are c7v3 t*261397 2*. My girl was pedaling it while I was holding the clutch lever and at the same time putting my finger in the ignition cap but did not get any jolt at all. Also while we were doing that there are no lights trying to turn on at all. I 've heard comments that the lights turn on while pedaling but mine does not.
So the VIN is C7V32613972 Ignore the asterisks.
A clutch lever? You mean the decompression handle? You should do the drill so you don’t have to worry about any of the handles. Use the drill and all you have to do put the metal part of the spark plug on the metal head, you should see a spark. I wouldn’t put my finger in the ignition cap.
I tried already the drill and I dont have any spark. What to do next. Check the points or buy the ignition coil. For the points do I have to remove the engine from the frame to clean them or can I do it without removing the engine. Also, can someone tell me where is the kill switch for this moped.
Find the blue wire that is coming out of the side of the motor near the carb.
Disconnect it as close to the point where it comes out of the motor. Now grab the wire that is leading out of the motor and attach a clean length of wire, a alligator clip lead is best for this. Then clip the other end of the lead to a clean ground.
Then spin your motor again and check spark.
I have a spark now after connecting and cleaning all the connections, I also cleaned the carb. The ciao still won't start. The lights are working while pedaling it now too. I tought it was going to start since the screw with the hole in the middle was completely obstructed. I took the spark plug twice to check it after getting exhausted from pedaling and is wet. Can it now be flooded?
Assuming you are using new gas. Now get a new spark plug, NGK b7hs. Leave the new plug out at first and pedal for a while to dry out the motor. Then put in the new plug and try again.
If you get some little pops or it seems like it wants to run while your pedaling well then you then need to get a compression tester and get a reading . Could be the bike was seized before you got it and the compression is no mo (edited)
I checked everything last night in total darkness. There is now power coming to the headlight and the taillight while pedaling it. I also check for a spark by me, pedaling and my girl holding the plug next to the frame and it has beautiful, big spark. Still wont start. I removed the plug again and is all wet. That is why I thought it was flooded. And yes it has new 50 to 1 gas ratio fuel with a clean tank and new petcock. Regards to all!!!.
This may be dumb but since you were calling the decompression lever the clutch lever I need to ask: You are not holding in the little lever when your are trying to start it correct?
The decom lever is there as a selling feature so that very light weight people can over come the first few compression cycles of the rotation of the pedals. Once the pedals are going around and spinning the motor the lever is released and the bike would start.
But it will only start if it has enough compression to create an explosion.
I was pressing the lever while pedaling and then releasing it when enough pedaling was done. Am I doing it wrong?. That is the way I turn on my puch magnum mk 2. You press the clutch while pedaling or kickstarting it and then release it.
Try this: dont touch the lever and see if you can get the motor to pedal around.
You might have to just keep firm presssure on the pedals till you can get the motor to turn.
See if it starts.
Bottom line is the bike will never start as long as the lever is squeezed. The lever is there to help you get the pedals going around. Once the pedals are rocking around at a good speed the lever is released, compression created and the motor will start.
I will try what you are saying right now but like I told you on previous posts I did have a spark a beautifull spark while pressing the lever and pedaling at the same time. Regards to you my friend!.
I just tried right now without pressing the lever and nothing. No seem to start. I will try later though, once my girl is here to check for spark without pressing the lever. Could be that there is no spark without pressing the lever. I removed again the spark plug and is all wet. I left yesterday the vespa without the plug and with the petcock closed, thinking that was going to solve the flooding problem. I' m going to try next a new spark plug since I don't know this is the original. It is a bosch one.
The decompression lever has nothing to do with spark. Examine the lever and its components. Trace where the cables go down to the head of the motor. You will see no electrical involved.
Stop pulling on the lever.
Try a new plug but I feel you need to buy or borrow a compression gauge that will measure the pressure at the spark plug hole.
Yes, thanks you for helping me out. I Will buy a compresión tester now to trace the problem. I Will also buy an original spark since i dont think this is the one for the bike. The compresión is the Last thing to check. Regards to all, specially to you my friend, cheetachrome all the way from south texas almost mexico.
Jesus,
I've been working on my Bravo for six months with similar issues. Yesterday I swapped out the brand-new High-Tension coil for the one from another Bravo that was running perfectly, and it did the trick. If you have a multimeter, you can test your coil. The flat connector that sticks out of the side, touch it with one lead from the multimeter. Touch the other to the mount or someplace grounded. My working one read 1.1 on the 200 ohm setting. The broken one read 2.1, and the original one that I'd replaced read nothing.
The 2.1 coil was certainly creating visible spark. The problem is that when I put the plug in the cylinder, it must not have been making spark. Why? Because at one atmosphere (15 PSI) sparks jump more readily than they do at cylinder pressure (what? 120 PSI? I think I've seen people say that's what compression should be).
Anyway, an adjustable ignition tester like this one
will allow you to see how far the spark will jump while spinning the engine. The farther it jumps, the stronger your ignition. I haven't had a chance to test my good coil to see just how far it jumps, so I don't know what a good reading looks like. I do know the bad coil would jump only 3mm, which is apparently not a good number, as I could not start the bike.Jesus,
Did you get your ciao running? If your heading to Houston any time soon I can take a look at it for you. Vespa's are not that difficult once you understand how they work. They do not turn on the same as a puch. I made the same mistake when I first got mine, thinking you hold the Decomp lever (what your are calling the clutch lever) the entire time while turning the engine. I would bypass your wiring for now until you get spark. Then once you have it running you can work on wiring it back up, this way you can bypass a busted tail light, bad ground, or kill switch. All those are some known issues to no spark on US vespa mopeds.
Edit: The regards from Houston Texas...lol (edited)
I just bought a compression test kit from harbor and I tried it already on the ciao. The lever is only jumping to 50. I guess that is too low. What do I do now? My thinking is that the guy who bought the moped before me, ran it with just gas and ruined it. The moped only has 32 miles on the speedometer.
Only way to tell is pull the head and cylinder off and look at the cylinder walls for scratches.
Or find a borescope, pull out the spark plug and inspect the cylinder that way.
I'll remove the head as soon as I have time. Thank you.!!!
I already removed the head and cylinder from the ciao, but there seems to be no damage at the cylinder nor the piston. There is no gasket on the head, which is weird, and the gasket from the cylinder seems ruined like over torqued. What you guys recommend me to do? To buy the whole kit piston and cylinder with its gaskets just to be on the safe side? To buy the 70 cc kit to make it faster? Or just the gaskets and see if that will solve the problem? thanks a lot for your up coming comments and regards!!!.
I run most of my Vepas without a headgasket, someone on the forum did a compression test and it’s a little higher compression without one.
If you intend to drop a 70cc piston into this case, you will need to bore or carve the case out to accommodate this larger piston. If you have a stock case, I’m assuming you do, the largest kit you can buy is a 64cc or a 43mm kit.
There was no gasket between the first part removed and the cylinder part. Then there was a gasket but a llitle bit damaged between the cylinder and the engine. So if no gasket is needed in that part, what could be the reason for having 50 psi compression?
you dont need a head gasket, but you cant do that without mating the surfaces. odd are you had a head leak or your rings are toast
What cylinder kit would you guys recommend me to buy, there is one a bit bigger than the 50 cc for 80 dlls on treat land. I don't want to do any mods since I'm new with vespa engines.
I would be more than happy to walk you through kitting a Vespa, but first let’s get this Ciao running reliability.
I would suggest buying this gasket
http://www.treatland.tv/vespa-50cc-metal-base-gasket-p/vespa-stock-base-gasket-metal.htm
Unfortunately I have never had luck ordering stock 50cc rings. Someone with knowledge of that will have to chime in but if I was to guess I would think you might need one of these sets of piston rings.
http://www.treatland.tv/vespa-ring-set-with-dykes-p/vespa-ring-set-dykes-38.2x1.5.htm
http://www.treatland.tv/vespa-ring-set-with-dykes-p/vespa-ring-set-dykes-38.4x1.5.htm
After both of these corrections are made, do a compression test again to see if we fixed the problem.
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