Fuel octopus

[HackSawPyro]

When i got the bike, the thing that you calll a fuel octopus was not hooked up at all. I dont know how it works... seeming how there are 2 petcocks, and 2 lines off each petcock, a picture of the fuel line routing, or a description would be awesome if any body has one, or can describe it to me briefly. I just took off the carbs.. holy ****. They are nasty, I took off the tank, and did my best to clean it out.. there was some nasty **** in there.

Well.. its back to the garage to work on what you guys said again, i just got the carbs all back togeter (no, it didntg take me THAT long Thanks again for all the replies, you guys have been one of the nicest most helpful groups of people on message boards that ive poseted on in a long time!

[graybird78]

octopus

hello hacksawpyro. the octopus on my 80 SG is numbered 1 thru4 and these #s coraspond to numbers on fuel petcocks they are small and hard to see. hope that helps. or maybe someone can post diagram out of clymers manual or something similar. I'm not able at this time to do that.

[jkgrubbs]

There should be a diagram of the routing on the underside of the seat. The octo is a vac shutoff that has a vacuum line to the #2 boot on the engine side of the carb, to provide vac to the valve that shuts off fuel. One line from each petcock goes to a tee in the line from the octo to the carbs. This is for prime, bypassing the octo. The other goes to the octo, then to the carbs, with the prime tee halfway. The petcocks have 4 positions, off, prime, on, and reserve. Mine on my 81 Midnight works fine. I shut off the petcocks when it will be sitting over a couple of days. Use the search feature at the top of the forum page for more info, and a diagram. There are rebuild kits available, fairly cheaply. Be sure the carbs are cleaned out well, or you will be in for the Triple Clean ! Lots o'small passages in there

Keep us updated!
Good luck with a great bike....

[CMA1]

Hi, I am new to this Board AND the XS 1100 (bought one last night...lol) it is my first motorcycle.
I found this address... http://members.fortunecity.com/imlucky/E5.jpg and this
http://members.fortunecity.com/imlucky/E6.jpg ...
They may have the piping diagrams you need. Good luck with it, I will be needing some luck with mine too.
Travel Safe.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there HackSawPyro,

"Octopus, you don't need no stinkin' octopus", to paraphrase a great line from a great movie!!! If you have no problems remembering to turn your petcocks to off when you stop the bike, then the Octopus is extra weight, another area for problems to occur, and essentially not truly needed!!!

Go to your local auto store, get some 1/4" vacuum plastic fittings in a "Y" shape vs. a "T" shape, run two short lengths from the petcocks into the 2 ends of the "Y", then run the other end into a clear inline fuel filter, then to one of the carb inlets, do the same for the other side/petcock. You'll find it easier to run the lines from the right tank side to the left carb inlet and vice versa. This allows you access to your RESERVE line when/if you ever need it. Just turn the petcocks to OFF when stopped/parked so that you won't have to rely on the float valves to keep the carbs from overflowing and possibly getting into your cylinders/oil thru the carb throat/intake port past an open engine valve......it's happened to others. Try to keep the length of the lines so that they don't make too large/low of a loop below the inlets.

Happy carb working and riding! T.C.

[Ken Talbot]

Or, you can go to the
Fuel Line / Air Line post for Yamaha's diagram and some more dialogue:

[xssiveone]

Originally posted by CMA1
Hi, I am new to this Board AND the XS 1100 (bought one last night...lol) it is my first motorcycle.

Welcome CMA1. Congrats on purchasing a great m/c. One word of caution tho, it's your "first motorcycle"? Be vewy vewy careful at first... the power from that 20+ year old motorcycle will surprise you. Not to mention the fact that you will NEVER get that grin off your face!!


Where 'bouts in Ontario are you located?

[beechfront]

carbs leaking

my carbs suddenly started leaking awhile back. i bypassed the octopus and rebuilt the carbs, however still had problems. for awhile i was just shutting the petcocks off, but after a couple times forgetting i decided i needed to do something. it was a little spendy but I just ended up purchasing a new octopus from the local yamaha dealer ($60). Then it was right after I purchased the octopus I found a rebuild kit that would do both petcocks and the octopus for ~$40. Regardless - I don't leak fuel anymore so I'm happy.

[CMA1]

Originally posted by xssiveone


Where 'bouts in Ontario are you located?

Thanks for the welcome!
Yes, I know it is a 'quick' bike... had it out yesterday. I have ridden before, but never owned. Just got the M2 license 2 yrs ago.
I am in Peterborough, by the way.
- Travel safe!

[nashville_bill]

I bought my XS11 a little over a year ago and mine didn't come with the octopus either. I decided that I didn't want to remember to turn the gas off after every ride and was afraid that I wouldn't remember to. I park my bikes (other one is a XS650) next to my gas water heater and the thought of leaking gas would probably keep me awake at night, so I found and bought an octopus and haven't had any problems with it. So, it's up to you if you run the octopus or manualy turn your petcocks on and off everytime you ride. Welcome, good luck and ride safely.

[uk1.1s]

Canadian XSessive

I am in Peterborough, by the way.

I'm sure my wife would kill me to offer you a hand with the bike in person - as we're on holiday over your way in September from London (UK - not Ontario). Probably taking in Gananoque and Smiths Falls (where I grew up) amongst other places.

Any trouble with getting the XS running - there's someone bound to be able to offer advice on the forum. My normal problem is the advice from here is forthcoming - but time to do anything in the garage is the trouble

Good luck with the XS experience. Remeber - they were made to go quick... but not necessarily handle!!!