How to remove front cover of Kymco "New People S 125i" 2020 to remove battery

[lars55555]

Hi guys,

I finally got the battery out of my scooter!!! 

So: THANKS ALOT to everybody here that helped me with a special thanks @ Stig (his last post helped most)!

I have other things to do right now - but in a soon coming follup post I will explain in all the details what I did and where I struggled and how I finally could open the front cover where the battery sits behind it - so others may have it a little bit easier than me

So: see you soon, and thanks again
Lars

[lars55555]

OK guys,

that's how I could remove the front cover of my Kymco New People S 125i and then the battery.

• Step 1.a and 1.b - Remove the 2 cross-head / Phillips screws on the left and the right upper side above the ignition and on the opposite side that hold the front cover from the back.
  
  
• Step 2 should be to remove the plastic rivet that sits below/under the nose of the front cover. In my case this was not possible, because as soon as I was applying some still reasonable force with a a screw driver to pry it up some plastic parts flew off.
  First I thought I broke the front cover or some other valuable part like that - so I immediately stopped. Later I found out it was part of the rivet - and because the rivet broke completely anyways later I could've continued here until this damn thing got off in one piece or not... ;-)
  Maybe you have more luck here and get it off without breaking it.
  
  Because I did not know at that moment that I will only break a cheap plastic rivet and was even not sure if this thing is actually the part that holds the nose of front cover to the other structures, I knew I can only continue when I could also see it from the other side - which is the inside of the front cover. So I continued with step 3.
  
  
• Step 3.a - Lift the front cover where I have marked it in the corresponding photo on the one hand very carefully but still with enough force that it goes off. You have to balance the force to lift it reasonable - too less and nothing will move, too much and you will break the front cover (where it's visible then) or you will break some grooves or the counterparts that also holds the front cover to the frame where it sits on. Don't forget: these are all quite cheap plastic parts that don't withstand much forces.
  
  Before I could lift the front cover up I had to grab with my finger tips between the groove and the frame where the cover is fixed on. It's a process of getting your finger (tips) between these grooves and lifting/pulling until the front cover springs off.
  
  
• Step 3.b - After you have lifted the upper part of the front cover you continue with this grabbing/lifting/pulling process from top to bottom until you reach the nose of the cover. Also here you have to be careful not to break any grooves/rabbets that hold the front cover to the frame. I had to be special careful because the nose was still fixed with the rivet to the frame.
  
  When you reach the nose you have to grab into the groove there and pull down and towards you until the nose gets off. Also here in my case the nose was still fixed with the rivet.
  
  
• Step 4 - If you could not remove the plastic rivet in step 2 like me then you might be able to push it out after you can reach inside the now half way removed front cover.
  I tried to this with a srew but the inner part of this rivet - the core of it - was somehow bend and when I tried to upright it to get it finally out the whole rivet broke.
  No matter - these things are cheap and I will replace it when I install my battery again.
  
  
• Step 5 - After the rivet got lost - and maybe in your case unmounted in one piece continue again carefully pulling the front cover nose towards you it should finally go off.
  
  
• Step 6 - Removing the battery is now easy: Just remove the srews on the battery terminals and then the screws of the plate holding the fuses. Move the fuse plate aside then you can pull the battery towards you.
  
  
• Step 7 - When you fix the front cover again on the frame you have to be careful again that
  a) All the rabbets/grooves of the cover/frame slide into each other well and nothing breaks here.
  b) You don't miss any rabbet/groove to fix - otherwise you will end up with a gap between the cover and the frame where for instance water can get into the front cover. Not good, as there are all these electric parts then.
  c) that the holes for the screws (of step 1) in the cover match with the holes in the frame.
  
  

I hope my explainations help someone in the same situation

See you, bye, Lars

PS: more photos in the follow-up post...

[lars55555]

photos continued...

[lars55555]

photos continued...

[lars55555]

photos continued...

[Iahawk]

glad you got it figured out! Like many things on these scoots, the first time takes a looong time to figure it out..but each subsequent time goes much faster.

[lars55555]

glad you got it figured out! Like many things on these scoots, the first time takes a looong time to figure it out..but each subsequent time goes much faster.

Yeah, you're right

But one thing I have reckognized as well...

Also Kymco is going the same way as many other manufacturers (and this is not limited to scooters or other vehicles, rather than nearly in all industries) which is: making it for the customer (and still owner of their stuff) less and less possible to maintain, repair, or manipulate by other means their products. Because in my case the revet that fixed the nose was more like a one-time plug-in bolt that should not be removed. And also the front cover itself was made of plastic that would easily break if a little bit too much force is applied to it. Also when I got the thing finally opened I was a little bit concerned if I can close it again with all these fragile rabbets that must fit well.
When I compare this to my previous Kymco model - where I could open such things much more easy (cause standard srews, more flexible plastic or even metal that withstand common force and tool usage)

I think this policy is not only due to limit production costs but also to force the customer to their workshops or authorized contractors.

I had similar issues with my cars - for my first car I could either repair the things myself (as a non mechanic) or -if I was not able to- just hand it over to cheap (non-contractor) car workshops.
With later and more modern cars it got more complicated - even with obvious simple things like changing the light bulb. When I found out how many parts I have to remove to get finally to the headlight and how many strange screw drivers I would need I decided not to do it...

Bye, Lars

[Stig / Major Tom]

So, in case i got lost..
to sum up....
It is 2 screws, a panel rivet, slip panel up/down and then off.
Then 2 screws holding battery in place?
Seems an unusual place .....with added weight over front tire...but designers may have chosen the best of poor choices?
 I  don't think manufacturers purposely make  it hard for DIY  maintenance. But it sure seem that way sometimes! 
After some yrs of scooter DIYing...I now research how difficult routine maintenance steps will be...before buying.
It is hard for me to love a "difficult" thing - no matter how lovely it is😊
Stig

[lars55555]

Hi Stig,

to sum up....
It is 2 screws, a panel rivet, slip panel up/down and then off.

Exactly! But the "slipping" part was more like "breaking" the cover out of the frame, 'cause the plastic notches and counterparts that are found on all the edges of the cover resp. frame where sticking together so tight. It was making cracking sounds again and again and I really had to be careful to not actually break some plastic parts or the cover itself.

I think this will get better over time when the cover was mounted / unmounted multiple times - but for the first time it was really a bit difficult to remove the cover without damaging it.

Then 2 screws holding battery in place?

Yes - 2 screws hold the plate with the fuses in place and this plate holds the battery in place.
So in a matter of a crash the whole battery may fly off - still maybe quite a less important thing to concern about after a crash 
The other 2 screws just fix the cables to the battery terminals but have no battery holding functionality.

I  don't think manufacturers purposely make  it hard for DIY  maintenance. But it sure seem that way sometimes! 

You're right - design and implementation decissions can be judged easily from the "outside" as wrong/bad/cheap/whatever but may look differently when you were involved in the manufacturing processes.

See you, Lars

[mine88]

I am glad my battery is under the seat as this would be a painful process every fall to remove battery for storage.

[Iahawk]

my motorcycle uses plastic pins (?) to push into rubber grommets for attaching the major side fairings. I've found that lubing the rubber grommets with silicone grease makes removal and re installation much easier. I know our scoots don't have these same attachments but I agree that the more you do it the easier removal will become.

[lars55555]

I am glad my battery is under the seat as this would be a painful process every fall to remove battery for storage.

Hi, mine88...
Yeah - If I had know that beforehand I may have taken this strange battery location into all the considerations of what next scooter I will buy after the previous one died ;-) .
Funny thing is, that this Kymco model has some kind of compartment (that can be removed with screws) under the seat and I thought "ah, that's where the battery is found now" (in my previous model - also a Kymco People 125 - it was under the foot rest). So after I already bought the new scooter from my dealer I asked him if this is the battery location but he said with some smile: "no, it's under the front cover"...

"OK, sh**!", I thought, but nevertheless 'cause I was able to remove the front cover of my previous Kymco (to repair some electrical issue) I thought it shouldn't be that complicated again...

[lars55555]

lubing the rubber grommets with silicone grease [...]

Good hint - I will also try that in spring and put some silicone grease on the edges of the front cover

[Stig / Major Tom]

Good hint - I will also try that in spring and put some silicone grease on the edges of the front cover

There is a popular saga published by Stig a few yrs ago - detailing the fuel pump recall on the (my) Honda Forza NS300.
This affected very few Forzas, but I thought, "What the heck, there is a Honda Power Dealer not far. I'll ride over and have them do the recall."
I rode over in a driving rain. Waited for them to open (first come 1st serv. in the service dept.), turned over my pretty red scooter....and started hitting their coffee machine and magazine rack, after bouncing on every Honda in this big dealership.

As lunch was approaching - I noticed them wheeling an identical Forza off of the floor. A few hours later they called me back to inform me that they had broken the tabs on  the rear panel of my scooter, and on the rear tabs of their floor model in trying to put my scooter back together. They were most apologetic. The new fuel pump was installed, and the panel with 2 broken clips was still secure enough for me to ride home.
A couple weeks later they sent their mechanic 40 miles with a new rear panel to install the part on a very, very frigid day in my garage. He had the Honda Serv. Manual and did the panel swap by the book. As he was doing the work he used dabs of silicone grease on each tab! 

The Forza is gone - but I still have that prized red beauty of a panel hanging in my bedroom!
(saga copies avail. Amanose. )

Stig

[Joserra]

Thanks a lot for such detailed explanation Lars, I am facing the same issue, I will follow your steps.

I guess one question that naturally follows from all this is that, once you mount back the plastic cover, it is ok to leave fixed only with the screws on the top, and without the bottom rivet.