Keeping Up with the Scooter

I always used to think that my ability to trouble shoot a problem was right up there with the best of 'em - Einstein, Jobs, Carpentier. Lately, just keeping the ol' Vespa running has really pushed this skill to the limit. Yup, the engineers of 1979 were really trying to trip up old Nelly when they came up with the less-than-modern hodgepodge that is the Vespa 50 Special. Their latest trick resulted in the scoot conking out on me just three days before the DAT. While I applaud their efforts, I'm proud to announce that the #1 Vespa in the world is back in operation. Here's how I was able to fix up the scoot and keep on riding.

So first thing's first, since the engine wouldn't start I knew that it had to be one of four things: Gas, air, compression, or spark. Actually, wait, first thing's more first - a new roommate was moving in and temporarily put all of his stuff (including two sandbags?) in the garage. So as you're reading this be extra impressed with the fact that my work radius was tighter than that of the average Joe.

Anyways, my initial thought was that the problem was going to have to do with gas or air not getting to the engine. I had put twice the amount of oil I should have in my last tank of gas, so I figured that it might've somehow gotten clogged in there. I went ahead and fashioned a makeshift siphon out of some rubber hose and sucked the gas outta there.

Now obviously it's kinda tough to fit my iPhone down into the tank to snap a picture, but it turned out that idea numero uno was a complete and utter bust. Nothing was blocking the intake tube and the gas didn't look like it was clumping up or anything. So now I'm back to the drawing board. I figured that the problem might lie in that pesky idle jet that has caused me problems in the past. Since I already had no gas in the tank I might as well take the whole thing off and check the jet.

This ended up being a small pain because, in taking out the tank, I knocked off the fuel lever. I feel like I should have known this was happening, if not by just using my head, just by how annoying it was being to get the tank off.

And therein lies the problem.

Anyways, I quickly went ahead and checked the idle jet and it was...

...clean as a whistle. Shoot, so now I'm thinking that maybe gas isn't the problem. I also couldn't see any leaks anywhere (although I didn't take anything out and run it under a water bath so who knows), so I figured that compression wasn't the issue either. That only leaves one thing left: the spark. I quickly whipped out my handy dandy wrench set that my UNCLE gave me for my birthday (I credited my grandma on my last blog and Uncle Craig wanted to make it clear that he was the gift giver) and yanked out the spark plug. Sure enough, the thing was blacker than grandma's coffee.

Luckily I had a replacement plug ready to go. So out with the old, in with the new, bada-bing bada-boom, should be as simple as that right? I thought so too. The new one was screwing in all right, but for some reason I just couldn't get the spark plug cap back over the plug.

At this point, I was confused as Confucius. I felt like I had solved the problem and now the problem was just cheating! So I cheated too - I went on the internet and googled "Spark plug cap won't click." Those turned out to the be the magic words. Apparently there's a little piece of metal that has to be unscrewed before you can pop the plug back into its cap. But honestly, who would have known that?

Okay sure it looks obvious NOW, but I think my brain checked out and went on vacation once it figured out the problem was only going to cost me a $2 spark plug rather than a $2,000 engine rebuild. Regardless, I'm glad to be back on the road.

This is another thing that gets me so revved up about dentistry. In one of my earlier blogs I mentioned that working with my hands gives me a sort of intrinsic satisfaction and is one of the reasons why I fell in love with the profession. But dentistry will allow me to do stuff like I did in this blog everyday. You work on broad issues, have the knowledge to diagnose the problem, then find out a way to fix it. And when I'm a dentist the problem won't just be a bad spark plug, but maybe a bad tooth. When I fix it, the end result won't just be my ability to ride a cool scooter around town; it will allow another human being to live a healthier life. With that said, dental school is still a long way out and I still have a ways to go before I can start fixing people's smiles. In the meantime though, I'm sure my Vespy will keep me busy.