2009 kymco people s250 total electric failure. HELP!!

[ajrecipes]

I have a 2009 kymco people s250 purchased on April 2010 from scooter world overland park, KS.

my scooter been in and out the shop for the past 4 months. I was unable to use it this entire year due to some electric problem that neither kymco tech nor the dealer shop are able to figure out.

it was purchased to be my main transportation to work and I am greatly disappointed that kymco could not supply the proper tech support to fix this electric problem.

the shop at the dealer ship have changed the electric converter twice now. I ride the scooter for less than a mile and first the light and dash board goes off then the entire motor scooter electric system shots down unable to restart the motor.

can anyone tell me what to do. I paid more than 4k for this scooter. it still under warranty and I can not use it.

I will appreciate any advise.                       A.J

[spr0k3t]

That's a strange one to me.  Do you have the work logs of what exactly has been done in the process of warranty repairs?  Are there any blown fuses perhaps?  If it's still under warranty, talk with Mike to see if they can get an authorization to change out the scooter for replacement.  Can you give better details of when the dash goes out?  Does this happen when riding, stopped, accelerating, braking?  When this happens, are there any fuses that need to be replaced, or is it just shot until the converter is replaced?  To me this sounds like a bad wire harness somewhere, but I'm no expert on the topic.

[ajrecipes]

thank you for your reply,
as it happened three times:
after I ride the scooter for a few miles the head light and dash board light go off first. then when I shot off the motor to see what's going on I can not go back and turn it back on because their is a "total electric failure". Nothing will start or work, no light, no starter, no nothing.
when I take it back to the shop they order a new converter because mine was burned out and caused a fuse to fail as well.
the motor does not shot down while riding, only when I turn it off and try to re-start.
the acceleration I have noticed that it got really weaker.
for each of these incidents Kymco takes about 2 to 3 weeks each time to ship the converter replacement only to make me go through the same process all over again.
can you tell me who is Mike. what is his contact info?
thank you for the reply and your advise.
A.J               

[spr0k3t]

I'm glad I can help.  Mike is the main guy over there at Scooter World (http://www.scooterworldkc.com/).  His contact information is directly on the site.  I believe I will see him tomorrow at the Slow & Low CC ride here in KC.  I'll talk to him privately and point this information his way.  The same issue happening three times in a row within very low miles means there is something else wrong with the scooter further up in the wiring somewhere.  The best thing Scooter World can do for you would be to replace the scooter under warranty through the lemon law.  You will end up a happy customer, they will have a done good by the customer, and Kymco will look better for taking the time to resolve the ultimate issue.  The hard part, you have to be the one to put up with it possibly a few times.

Here's what I would do.  Take the scooter in and have the process done.  After repairs are completed, run the dickens out of it the same day you pick it up.  Rinse and repeat a few times.  If the scooter fails for the same reason over and over, the repairs are not being made... the constant repair will eventually raise a red flag up the corporate chain and dealings will be done to make sure you are taken care of.  When the lights go out, take the scooter directly to the shop.  In the mean time, talk with Mike over at the shop... ask to get information of regional dealership management contact.  Be cool about it, I'm sure Mike will do everything in his power to help.  I wish you all the luck on getting this resolved, I'll help where I can... but ultimately it needs to come directly from you to make things happen.

Oh yeah, the local group in greater Kansas City... http://www.kcscooterriders.com/

[Lammy1000]

My wife's new People 150 would stall out at cruise speed, then restart.  It did this repeatedly.  After the dealer checked/replaced nearly everything in the electrical system (except the electrical harness).  I freaked out and demanded a replacement machine, which I got and we both love it.  I really hope your issue is figured out.

[axy]

My wife's new People 150 would stall out at cruise speed, then restart.  It did this repeatedly.  After the dealer checked/replaced nearly everything in the electrical system (except the electrical harness).  I freaked out and demanded a replacement machine, which I got and we both love it.  I really hope your issue is figured out.

The worst of all: it WAS the electrical harness that caused the issue.

[Lammy1000]

You are probibly right that it was the electrical harness.  Have you heard of other Kymcos with this issue?

[axy]

You are probibly right that it was the electrical harness.  Have you heard of other Kymcos with this issue?

To be honest, no, but there is a saying "once you exclude everything, what remains, no matter how impossible it seems, must be the truth".

[ajrecipes]

Ok, here is the latest with my s250 electric failure.
Last Tuesday I’ve been called by scooter world shop to pick up my scooter. They said that kymco tech have advised them to replace the headlights and keep it over the weekend to make sure that everything is running properly.
Fair enough I got my scooter back and was able to enjoy riding it to work every day this week.
Tonight, however, on the way back home from the gym I was pulled over by a cop. Why? No freaking headlight!! As a matter of fact I had no lights at all.
Because of the bright street lights, I didn’t realize that my scooter was going through another electric failure.
 The cop of course asked me to turn off the motor while he’s inspecting my papers.  Of course I end up calling my wife to bring my motorcycle trailer and pick me up because I couldn’t restart the damn thing (Total electric failure! Again!).
The good thing I kept in my scooter all the paper showing the electric work done on my scooter and  the cop believed my story. (so, no ticket)
What’s next? I don’t know. But for sure I’m not ganna let kymco tech keep guessing whats wrong with it.
Its friday night, its raining, and I'm hauling my scooter home in a trailer. not happy at all.

[ajrecipes]

First of all I would like to thank everyone who joined this forum and commented or offered any advice on this issue.

This morning I have hauled the scooter back (again) to scooter world shop and I had a chance to meet with Mike.
He was very patient while I explained my frustration and the multiple incidents I’ve had since I’ve purchased this machine.

We have also realized that this scooter had a defect since the very beginning.
The second week after I purchased it the battery went dead and since then the scooter went through 4 batteries only to escalate to a much serious electrical problem.

Mike acknowledged that I have lost trust on this bike and promised not put me on it again. After all, I did have my wife follow my with a motorcycle trailer every where I went. That was not my intent when I invested in this machine.

We’ll see what Kymco will do after scooter world files a report with them on Monday.
A.J

[TechGuy]

Seems like state "lemon law" should apply in this case.  It's different for each state but I think on a vehicle, if you fix something three times the vehicle should be replaced.

[Agent Bob]

This problem seems to be the type where you would pretty much have to spend hours and hours if not days troubleshooting this machine. I would like to here a dealer's perspective on that possibility when running his business to make a profit. It could be worked on indefinitely by a mechanic with many man hours involved and still not get fixed. Any dealers here or mechanics?

[spr0k3t]

I'm glad to hear that Mike is going to work to make this right.  They are really a great dealer in the area.

[jprestonian]

This problem seems to be the type where you would pretty much have to spend hours and hours if not days troubleshooting this machine. I would like to here a dealer's perspective on that possibility when running his business to make a profit. It could be worked on indefinitely by a mechanic with many man hours involved and still not get fixed. Any dealers here or mechanics?

I work at a dealer part-time. I will perhaps have something to say on this in July, but unfortunately not before.
.

[ajrecipes]

thank you for your support and advise.

Mike had contacted me early this week to say that he's in touch with the Kymco reagional sales person regarding this issue.
I'll wait until next week to see if any real action will take place.

in the mean time I've been convencing my wife since last year to get a 100 or 150 cc scooter to join me for a ride sometimes. but I think she's changing her mind after she saw how much fun I had with this ride  :-)