Bike not firing

[Weevester]

Good day,

I've recently purchased a 2014 Vespa GTS 300 ie - bought dirty and with a flat battery, so it wasn't starting of course (off ebay, quite a bit cheaper than it's standard value, with only 3000 miles on the clock).

After charging the battery, I've found that it's still not starting.
I've tried to get it going using both keys, same effect. The immobiliser light switches off after 1 flash with the red key, so I assume that's fine.

All the lights come on, Brake lights work, It's on the center stand, stop start button aligned correctly, I hold the brake lever & press engine starter button, the starter motor turns the engine a few times, but the engine just doesn't take. There's a very faint smell of something enginey (petrol perhaps?)



I'm a rank amateur at anything mechanical, but have followed a couple of online guides to check the following things in my vain attempts to get the thing running:

Spark plug, pulled it out, cleaned it a lot, tested it & got a massive spark and a bit of a shock for additional confirmation that it's most likely working.
Air filter, opened it up, looked inside, closed it back up. It looked clean.
5 fuses in the glove box(?), pulled each of them out, looked at them, shoved them back in. All 5 looked solid enough to me.

And I'm now completely out of ideas - grateful for any clues you might have about what (and how) I might look at next?

Thanks.

[citydaz]

Its always better to introduce yourself first in the "Introductions" thread, before jumping in and asking complex technical questions.
thanks
Citydaz

[Weevester]

OK well apologies! I guess I'm just used to more technical forums where introductions wouldn't really be considered, so I admit to not even thinking of looking to do so!

[henri]

ok , a totally flat battery can trigger the immobiliser ,but scoot should still start but not rev ,an if lights still flashing the right sequence dont think its that . lots of vehicles left along time can be reluctant to start ,fuel can of dried up an gummed the carb/throttle bodys up. it can take a while for fuel pump to prime em back up . an generally they sulk ,am guessing it had been stood awhile before you got it ,bet the fuels gone stale .drain it an fresh fuel ,charge battery n give it a few goes of 30 second bursts on starter .if no joy ,a squirt of easy start/brake cleaner into the air filter , if it still dont fire ya got a electrical probs ,if it fires then dies its fuel. often they fire up an run , an once woken are fine . H

[Weevester]

Thanks for this Henri, very useful to have things identified that I can look for.


I've just tried the easy start into the air intake, but this did nothing so far.
You are right, it was stood for a long time, I think the chap said that in the last 18 months, the only time he used it was to get it the MOT in November, and it worked fine then, so could be stale fuel that's an issue then (I never even knew that could be a thing!), so I'll try replacing that - I just need to figure out how to get all of it out short of tipping the bike upside down!

Cheers

[mijapxman]

Weevester, you could use this 👇 or similar, try googling petrol siphon.

www.ebay.co.uk/i/253112685538?chn=ps&dispItem=1&adgroupid=54682298551&rlsatarget=pla-466931251847&abcId=1133906&adtype=pla&merchantid=107659768&poi=&googleloc=9046866&device=t&campaignid=1058607774&crdt=0&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F710-134428-41853-0%252F2%253Fmpre%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.co.uk%25252Fi%25252F253112685538%25253Fchn%25253Dps%252526dispItem%25253D1%2526itemid%253D253112685538%2526targetid%253D466931251847%2526device%253Dt%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526googleloc%253D9046866%2526poi%253D%2526campaignid%253D1058607774%2526adgroupid%253D54682298551%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-466931251847%2526abcId%253D1133906%2526merchantid%253D107659768%2526gclid%253DCj0KCQjwqsHWBRDsARIsALPWMEN1ja0zkNJTrWTCwwEmD94hjzvsDMsfsjTKwWkdR2Omnb0KdQSmvocaArHyEALw_wcB%2526srcrot%253D710-134428-41853-0%2526rvr_id%253D1498555418284%2526rvr_ts%253Dbff521f71620ac1968c726fcffff474d

As always, good advise from oor Henri, you may also wish to have a look here 👇

modernvespa.com/forum/


Mij☺

[Weevester]

I ordered one of those siphons off amazon, will arrive tomorrow.
Bit of a waste though, as my brother came round and forced the issue - we drained the petrol by disconnecting the feed line, then using the pump (flick bike off, flick it on, pump activates, petrol fires out of the pipe). Can't have been healthy for the bike, but it's not his so he didn't mind that!
Filled it with new(er) petrol, sprayed the easy start stuff into the air intake, and after about 200 engine revolutions it finally fired!
Had a quick spin round the block, but it's dark, tea's ready, beers ready - am well chuffed though. Vespa party tomorrow!
Seriously though - stale fuel, who'd have thought - I've never seen a best before date on that before!

Thanks a lot for the advice Henri, much appreciated!

[scooterg]

Cheap fix is the best fix
And just how proud of yourself do you feel when you do it
😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎