Introducing myself

Hello my name is Victor & I have just bought a Piaggio nrg at 72 years of age, because it is the only means of transport I can afford on OAP. I am looking to do some work on it with your help, thanks

 

Welcome to the site Victor.
A wrinkly on a scoot!
No worries, I have a feeling you're not the oldest or only one on here.
There are loads of sections here that will keep your bike up and running for you, and I've no doubt that if you get stuck, someone in the local area will come and give you a hand.
How old is the scoot and does it have any history?
By history I mean have the general wear and tear items been done, belt, rollers, oil pump belt, etc.

 

hi and welcome to the site yes you will get the help you need on this site and some more

 

Thanks to all of you for your welcome messages, & yes my machine does have a "history" as you call it. I have renewed the variator belt & rollers (the drive pulley had been "chiselled" so I had to rub that down) & I checked the clutch which was fine, but I haven't checked the oil pump drive belt but I will now. I have an electrical problem in that it wont start on the button, but starts first time on the kick start, when started on the kick start everything works fine (lights, horn, indicators), battery charges normally on a charger reading 12v on multilmeter when charged, but multimeter across the battery wires only shows 2v when running? Voltage Regulator maybe?

 

By the way it is a Piaggio nrg mc3 of 2004 vintage please tell me 2004 was a good year! lol

 

piaggio are always good m8 i never had problems with them

 

2 Volts when running??? na, thats not right. Should be about 13.6v across the terminals at 2000rpm or above. Might be just a case of cleaning the terminal area where you put the probes.
If you've already done the belt and rollers and you have gear like the multimeter then i'm guessing your an old spanner of some sort?

 

Yes I am a long suffering, self taught, mechanic of some little knowledge, I cleaned the battery terminals & the connectors that attach to the terminals, but there is little or nothing reaching the battery. Seeing as everything works with the engine running (when I kick start it) I assume that the generator is ok, but there is nothing going to the battery to charge it, would I be right in thinking that the voltage regulator could be the problem?

 

cleaned every terminal & contact I could find & sprayed them with WD40, now I have 14v on the multimeter across the terminals of the battery with the engine doing about 2500rpm, but it's still not starting on the button & I notice that the lights are "pulsating", but I put this down to it being a very limited generator because of its size. As long as it starts on the kick start, a start button is a novelty to me anyway, my old BSA Bantam was kick start anyway lol!

 

Amazing what a clean up can do
Now do the same with the light fitting contacts, back and front please. You will probably find the rear is the worse for wear, so pay careful attention to the wiring connectors. Might also find that someone has used spade connectors or the like, if so, and you have one, cut, solder, and insulate.

 

You are right the wires do connect to the lights & indicators by very small spade connectors, so it will pay me to cut them off where possible, & solder the wires directly to the connections, a job for the next fine day. I wonder if you can tell me where the oil pump belt is located? I noticed on the YouTube video, that there was a small belt behind the variator pulley, but there is no belt or pulley behind mine? Is that small pinion gear meshed to the variator the oil pump on the nrg mc3? Sorry for sounding such a numpty lol

 

should be behind the variator pulley?????
unless yours has the oil pump on top on the engine next to the carb. in which case you have an early engine.
can you post some pics of your engine? top and sides please?

 

I will take the panels off in the morning if its fine, & take some photos, I prefer pre-mix personally then at least you know you have the mix right, by the time you find out the pump isn't working, you are seized up. Does anybody know what the CORRECT ratio oil:fuel is for this model?

 

http://www.scootershack.co.uk/threads/premix-oil-ammounts-for-anyone-who-wants-to-know.26489/

 

Still haven't had chance to remove the side panels & photograph the engine as yet but I have discovered why it wont start on the button, when I press the start button I hear a "click" in the starter & the ignition light & oil light go off, so I must have a problem in either the starter motor or the bendix. Yesterday I stripped the front down to get at the ignition switch to see if I could remove it because I had lost the keys. Well I couldn't get the barrel out but when my wife came home from work she found the keys in her bedside cabinet drawer, thanks to my granddaughter I now know how to strip the front panels off! The thing still starts & runs well despite my best efforts to wreck it lol

 

Not necessarily, that is very much the symptoms of a bad earth at the battery terminals. Expose the battery, press the button and see if a spark appears at one of the terminals. Alternatively, there is a negative to the engine block itself that can cause the same symptoms.

 

Thanks for the advice, I have given the battery terminals a really good cleaning recently & the cables themselves too, so I don't think it can be those, however the negative to the engine block is a distinct possibility, as I don't think maintenance was a very popular word with the previous owner, I will investigate that when the sun comes around later on this morning, thanks.

 

hi, and a very warm welcome to the club...

 

This scooter is driving me around the bend, its about as reliable as a Taiwanese watch bought at a boot sale! It stops & wont start again it shows all the signs of a flat battery, but it isn't, there is spark at the plug so strong you could weld with it (I just replaced the plug in case it was breaking down under compression). I have cleaned the carb jets as best I can but it still wont fire, I have spun it over with the plug out & it pushes my thumb off the plug hole, what sort of compression would I expect on a 49cc Piaggio nrg?