Leaky left petcock

[Narcisist]

My left petcock is pretty leaky. The rubber valve inside is beat up pretty bad, the raised rubber ridges that go around the fuel inlets/outlets is ripped up on two holes on one side. I tried flipping it because the other side looks fine, but I was having no luck.

I found out at the same time that my see through green fuel lines were spent because the fuel was leaking right between the petcock and the lines that go into it. So I got some new lines at the auto store this morning.

It's gonna be about a week before I can even order the rebuild kit, so my question is. . .If I just kink the lines coming from the left petcock until I can get it rebuilt, will the bike run okay, or does it have to have both petcocks? I still have my octy and I really don't want to get rid of it because I will forget to turn off the valve, probably every time.

Thanks

[DiverRay]

Just plug the one petcock and run on one. The bikes WILL run well on the fuel flow through a single 1/4" line! A second "cheap" solution is pick up a pair of lawn mower inline fuel valves. This will give you a POSITIVE off and on ONLY. The hard part is finding room you can put them, and still do everything else!

[joebus]

would you be running off of just 2 carbs then? sounds like a task to run 4 fuel lines from one petcock. I know it sucks to wait but it sucks when you dont and something craps out because you did not.

[CatatonicBug]

would you be running off of just 2 carbs then? sounds like a task to run 4 fuel lines from one petcock. I know it sucks to wait but it sucks when you dont and something craps out because you did not.

With the Octy, the fuel will still flow to all 4 carbs. It links them all together inside the octy.

[Narcisist]

That's the answer I was hoping for.

Anyway, I replaced the fuel lines, and though the petcock still leaks, the bike's not leaking. Either the octy is still doing a good job or my needle valves are all happy, or both, hopefully. I will still kink that fuel line on the left side when I park for any given time, (no sense asking for trouble). As soon as I get the chance I'll order that rebuild kit and go to work. Thanks much.

[CatatonicBug]

That's the answer I was hoping for.

Anyway, I replaced the fuel lines, and though the petcock still leaks, the bike's not leaking. Either the octy is still doing a good job or my needle valves are all happy, or both, hopefully. I will still kink that fuel line on the left side when I park for any given time, (no sense asking for trouble). As soon as I get the chance I'll order that rebuild kit and go to work. Thanks much.

That is the actual purpose of the Octy. It's a secondary safety measure that stops the fuel if the petcocks leak. It only opens when the engine is turning. As long as it's working, I wouldn't worry too much about clamping the fuel line when you park. When you rebuild the petcock, be sure to rebuild BOTH of them, AND the octy. Look for a kit that has ONE square diaphragm for the octy. If it comes with two, that's for the STD models with vacuum petcocks.

[dbeardslee]

Narcisist - Under the outside plate on the petcock there is a spring washer that can get weak over time. Some members have been able to stop leaks by removing the spring washer and increasing the 'bends' slightly so that it applies more preasure. You don't want to bend it too much - just a little. It's easy to do, and you don't have to remove the petcocks from the tank to do it but you do have to drain the tank. Who knows, you might get lucky, and it's better to be lucky than good any day .

If you rebuild your octy the kits come with a replacement diaphram. On the standard petcocks (which don't have the octy and have diaphrams in the petcocks instead) another member discovered that the little brass plunger in the center of the diaphram is slightly shorter on the rebuild kits than the factory plunger. It's a very small difference, but enough to make petcocks rebuilt with these kits dribble gas. Replacing the o-ring on the factory diaphram plunger, and reinstalling it stopped the leak for the member that discovered the plunger length issue. Not sure if the octy rebuild kits also have a shorter plunger, but it's something to check when the time comes. My $.02