One day I decided to repair speedometer of my Vespa scooter. I have never done such a thing before so I was not sure that I would succeed. Normally, the condition of the speedometer did not bother me because I could “feel” the speed. However, I thought it would be a useful skill to learn how to do this.

I had Vespa owners’ manual with me just in case I would need to know more info where screws were located or something else. I found it on the official site of the manufacturer and it took me just a few minutes to download it. Generally, regardless of your scooter model, I recommend you to get the proper manual because this will simplify your work significantly.

So, I had one of those problems that you can often meet in old Vespa machines. The speedometer was not working perfectly as the needle behaved weirdly. That was the time to repair this Vespa part because it would likely stop working entirely.

First of all, I had to remove the part. I took the headlight out of my scooter and then removed the screw on the speedometer. Since the cable remained attached, I lifted the device enough to be able to unscrew it. I could easily find details in the manual.

Once the speedometer was removed, I could turn it over to see its backside. To access the Vespa mechanism before repair, I had to detach the device housing from the bezel, which I did using a flat blade screwdriver. I tried to detach the away from the speedometer housing slowly and carefully. Once everything was done, the glass and top faceplate of the Vespa part came off without problems. When taking off the top faceplate, I had to be very careful not to damage the needle.

The mechanism is held together by a nut located at the base of the device housing (you can see this in the manual) so I could access it by removing the nut. I could now check the mechanism to find the problem to repair it. I thought the Vespa mechanism was not lubricated, so I used white lithium grease to fix this. I just sprayed the shaft, the device arm as well as the worm gear.

Since I had the non-assembled device, I decided to zero the odometer out. By popping out the shaft, I allowed the numbers to spin freely. It took me some time to line all the numbers up at zero. Finally, I managed to do that and then I had to put the Vespa speedometer back together, which was not easy. The thing is that the indicator arm has to be carefully placed on a pin located in the top faceplate. So, I had to push the top faceplate carefully into place, trying to catch the needle at the same time. Once I had all the Vespa parts assembled together, I had to install the bezel, which also was not a simple thing to do. Since I did not have any special tools to press the device housing back into the bezel in a gentle way, I decided to use pliers along with vice grips. Unfortunately, the pressure from the tools I used left a few notable marks on the top of the Vespa bezel but it did not affect its functionality. I know that this repair could have been done in a more gentle way, but I really like the result because the speedometer of my scooter works perfectly now!