Gerry Goldberg's Second A2 Repair Journal
by Michael McWilliams
October 28, 2007
Just over twenty six months later, Gerry receives his scooter.
What happened between May 9 and October 28? Too much. On the day following the May 9th picture set, I was riding Gerry's scooter in downtown Colorado Springs. The scooter ran like a top. Then it quit.
I suspected the easy stuff - loose plug cap, closed points...something like that. A quick inspection revealed nothing. Additionally, the spark was fabulous and the tank was full of gas. I pushed the scooter home. Luckily, I live less than two miles from downtown.
Later that week, I tested the compression. The cylinder registered a whopping 30lbs. That was the problem. The following weekend I tore down the top end for further inspection. Within minutes I found the trouble - the head gasket was torn.
The Heinkel Club Deutschland sells several types of head gaskets. On this scooter, I had used the paper type gasket. (There are small strands of metal embedded in the gasket.) This gasket came in a set. Knowing that this issue might come up again, I ordered several aluminum gaskets for spares.
In early June I received my gaskets and I rebuilt the top end. An hour later, I was riding the scooter again!
At this point, life was extremely busy. I was preparing for the RollerTour 2007 and I was trying to complete Tegan Mackay's scooter for Amerivespa.
On a subsequent weekend, I tried to start Gerry's scooter and achieved nothing more than a loud "clickity click" from the starter relay. I was able to push start the scooter without trouble. However, the red light wouldn't stop glowing. This is a bad sign - the scooter will no longer charge the battery.
At the same time, Tegan's bike had charging issues and my Glacier Blue A2 also had charging issues! I will spare you the personal drama - at some point I will write up story of the three bad coil assemblies, and the three different repairs that fixed them.
In early September, I found the required time to remove the engine and fix the coil. Armed with good news of the fix, I told Gerry I would ride his scooter for several weeks. I wanted both of us to feel good about the scooter.
I completed 99 miles without any trouble - both problems were solved. Scooter delivery was scheduled for early October.
Project completed!