My Piaggio BV350 has a leak!

[Ralph]

You may have more luck in the UK searching "core plug" than freeze plug.
this sort of thing if you can find the size.



https://www.turnerengineering.co.uk/PBS ... QAvD%5FBwE

[Bingo]

A really helpful member on the Modern Vespa forum from the US has sourced his own Freeze Plug for the BV350 and has some spares and will if I cant find one in the UK he has offered to send me one. Anyone know where or if I can get one in the UK though? he says its a Melling, part number MPC-108. I am just thinking ahead in case this is the issue. Would be good to have a spare for the future anyway.

Quick search I cant find one. Piaggio say they dont do them so its a whole new cylinder head but it cost this guy peanuts. Interesting thread here. https://modernvespa.com/forum/topic154029

Sorry if already posted.

To add to my woes my battery is only reading 12.8v. I did mention it on the test ride that it was quite low at 12.1. Its charging ok but not holding charge I think.

interesting thread! if it is the freeze plug you should be able to see if its coming from there, inform the garage and cover under warranty. if all goes well, new head time! freeze plug repair looks interesting if not for the faint of heart. definately persue the dealer. Water pump leak is a consideration aswell. again easy to spot via the weep hole if the seal is passing. looking at the drips in the video. doesn't look to be the case but could be wrong.

regarding battery voltage, 12.8 v is nothing to be concerned about. after your test ride providing it was "long enough" for the charging system to do its thing it shouldn't be that low. I take it you were watching the voltage read out on the dash? was it sitting around the 14.4v mark when you are riding? nevertheless when you are at the dealer, get them to load test the battery for you. they aren't mega expensive to replace but again something the dealer should have sorted if to be the case.

Thanks. sorry I just realised I made a mistake regarding the voltage on my post. It was reading 11.8v not 12.8.

Anyway I got down to the dealers about 11am and they got straight onto it. I just heard they found the leak which they say is a hose on the radiator. Sounds like they will be changing all the hose clamps when they do the coolant flush. Ive not heard if they have inspected the freeze / core plug yet but ill check.

[Bingo]

They just showed me the core plug / freeze plug and it looks ok. All of them have commented how good condition it is around the engine. The guy that had it had a collection of bikes and kept them spotless apparently in a heated garage and only dry use.

The leak is well forward on the radiator from where it is dripping down towards the back but they are telling me that its probably tracked through the body work. Its the only leak they have found so lets hope its that.

[abitmad]

...Thanks. sorry I just realised I made a mistake regarding the voltage on my post. It was reading 11.8v not 12.8...

A battery showing 11.8v after having been recently charged, either from riding the bike or with a separate charger, is finished and will need replacing.

[blackmoon181]

thats good news! i know that hose clamp well. a few plastics need to come off to get at it! that photo you shown of the engine bay does look that the bike has been kept well!

[Bingo]

They took the battery off and tested it on a bench and it was reading 12.5. Maybe the BV's voltage readout is wrong. Only time will tell I guess. Its just a battery at the end of the day so I guess easy replaced.

I bet that engine is not as clean as it was now. When I eventually got away after being there six hours I rode off into what I can only describe as an Epic Monsoon downpour which having not ridden a bike of any size on a UK motorway for probably 30 years and then finding myself on an M1 full of spray and lots of vehicle was a bit unnerving. It lasted all the way up to Weatherby. Yuk.

I guess it will take a while to check if the leak is fixed as it will probably be dripping water and crud for days.

[Data]

Hi Bingo, if the bike has been standing for a while unsold and then ridden a bit the battery will be 'excited' for a day or two and showing a higher charge now. If the bike was not ridden very far the battery will not have been charged very much so it will likely go down again unless the bike gets a good run. It's not uncommon for bikes that have recently been sold to show a low charge in the battery. They do tend to discharge quite quickly on modern bikes what with ecu's and immobilisers pulling a bit of current. It will most likely be ok, but if not, it's not the end of the world as they are not too expensive in the overall event of things.

Just going back to your coolant issue. Hopefully that leak is fixed now. But remember to change out your OAT coolant every 2 years and NOT every 5 years as is listed on the manufacturers coolant bottles. The reason you must do this is because OAT coolant breaks down much more quickly in engines that have cast iron elements in their engine/cooling system. Your bike has a cast iron cylinder. Cast iron rusts profusely when in contact with water and so the OAT additives in the coolant attack the rust constantly, preventing oxidisation. You may know, but that's how OAT coolant works. Unlike other types of coolant it does not lay down a carpet of insulating additives inside the engine cooling system to protect the metals from rust or oxidisation, instead attacking sites of corrosion at source as soon as it sees them. It does a pretty good job too. However, as said earlier, it uses up it's additives doing this and thus loses it's ability to lubricate the water pump seals and prevent rusting. It actually becomes quite acidic in the process and will start to eat you motor from the inside. It is mainly this that has caused the 'core plug' issues on many BV motors in the States where 'home mechanics' often don't know the importance of changing out the coolant on a regular basis. Your service schedule will advise you to change the coolant every two years, as does my maintenance book for my GTS300. It's really very easy to do for any diyer with a bit of care. Enjoy your bike!

[abitmad]

Hi Bingo, if the bike has been standing for a while unsold and then ridden a bit the battery will be 'excited' for a day or two and showing a higher charge now. If the bike was not ridden very far the battery will not have been charged very much so it will likely go down again unless the bike gets a good run. It's not uncommon for bikes that have recently been sold to show a low charge in the battery. They do tend to discharge quite quickly on modern bikes what with ecu's and immobilisers pulling a bit of current. It will most likely be ok, but if not, it's not the end of the world as they are not too expensive in the overall event of things...

As I said, if a battery has been charged, and I meant by that fully charged either by riding the bike for suffiently long or on a charger, and a few hours later it shows 11.8v, it is way beyond dead, finished, kaput, terminal (pun intended). As you say it's not an especially expensive replacement and should be done immediately in such a case. Dying here means a 75% charge level, indicated by a voltage of no more than 12.4v for conventional lead-acid and 12.5v for AGM lead-acid so if after charging fully and leaving for a few hours, the battery shows less than these levels, even if it starts the bike it is probably on its last legs and likely to let you down in the near future.

I'd agree clearly that any bike left standing for a long time, many weeks or months say without charging, will gradually see a voltage drop, especially lead-acid though lithium is far less prone, both from natural wastage and from any small static circuit consumption. That's why it is important to keep it on charge in such cases if possible. Not keeping a battery charged for long periods will damage its capacity seriously, so even if it is possible to charge it fully and it passes the voltage test above and starts the bike, its life will have been well shortened.

Finally, voltage tests can be a bit misleading in some cases as it is possible for a battery to appear to be fully charged on a voltage basis and holding it, even with a smart charger like Optimate or CTEK confirming this, only for it to fail not long after. Only a load test can demonstrate this sort of failure but most bikers won't have the kit for that.

[Data]

Indeed abitmad, fully agree. I hadn't noticed the battery had been fully charged previously. The battery is a "dead un" quite likely, and very soon I'd say. Sulphation has most likely taken hold. In the workshop I used to get very suspicious of any battery under 12.4v on any bike that is in everyday use. A load test usually shows it up as being 'past it' when the voltage drops off the scale.

[roadster]

Regarding the dash voltage readout I can tell you that on my recent MP3 and X10 it was normal to see over 13 volts even at idle and this quickly rose to 14.2 when moving. If your headlight comes on before the engine starts it will deplete a poor battery very quickly but later models didn't switch the headlights on until after the engine was started. On this basis the figures you are seeing do suggest the battery is a goner.