Petcock Leak in the Off Position

[Shacknasty]

I went in the garage today and detected a very faint smell of gasoline. No gas on floor and no open gas cans. I checked the oil in all my bikes and found the XS11 was past the top of the sight glass. Ahhhh crap! Gasoil sucks big sweaty chartreuse ones, if ya know what I mean.

Both taps were squarely in the off position. Weird. I pulled the tank and have seen not a drop from either tap since. I drained the oil and had to open the garage door because of the smell of fuel.

How the eff did the gas get past the petcocks in the off position?

[SFerinTEXAS]

You confused this place with the Physic-Hot-line .Or are you opening up a guess a lot thread. ( are common)Theirs no one there but you. I had a similar situation a few months ago, never occurred to me to ask anyone here.

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33035

[Shacknasty]

What the hell is a "Physic" anyway?

[SFerinTEXAS]

I don't know what it is but I know someone that says he has one . Says its very nice.

Gravity is on your side. Look for anything wet as you move up using a soft paper towel.Dry as you go and see what gets re wetted.

[DGXSER]

My best guess, or Phsycic prediction, would be that it happened while you were on your last ride. As in the floats kept loading gas, and it was running rich perhaps, and filled the engine at the same time.

Just a guess of course, only you could know how it ran.

[Shacknasty]

Last ride was great. Pretty much the same for the last couple of decades. I guess I'll be yanking out the carbs. I'll let ya know what I find.

[DGXSER]

Went on a group ride with a bunch of local XSsives some time ago. One person had carbs with leaky float valves. Gas was dripping if we stopped at a light to long leaking. Bike sounded fine and made a two hour ride to the gathering point, the three or four hour ride we want on, and then the two hour ride home. But those float valves were definitely leaking.

May not be the case, but my thought anyway.

[Shacknasty]

No problems at all on the last ride. I'm sure I woulda noticed the smell of gas and there is no sign of leakage below the carbs. The airbox was fulla gas though.

We'll see.

[SFerinTEXAS]

No problems at all on the last ride. I'm sure I woulda noticed the smell of gas and there is no sign of leakage below the carbs. The airbox was fulla gas though.

no clue there. ask someone . I'm confused

Last ride was great. Pretty much the same for the last couple of decades.

amazing statements After the last couple of decades Some should come to you for this advice. That would not be me or any mechanically minded person
So let the guessing begin

[Shacknasty]

Yer confused? How do ya think I feel?

[SFerinTEXAS]

No offense intended but who can tell where the gas is leaking except you?

[Shacknasty]

Perhaps my initial question should have been more succinct. Something like: Has anybody ever had fuel leak past their petcocks in the off position and why?

I guess I am just lucky because in the time I have owned my XS it has never needed more than routine maintenance. Seems like a pretty well-built machine.

I have noticed that not every thread is a question that needs an answer. Sometimes it is cool to be able to vent about a problem and find out if anyone has had a similar difficulty. I kinda thought that is one of the things these forums are about...



See ya!

[James England]

I have noticed that not every thread is a question that needs an answer. Sometimes it is cool to be able to vent about a problem and find out if anyone has had a similar difficulty. I kinda thought that is one of the things these forums are about...

Hear hear. I don't see anything wrong whatsoever with your post and I'm disappointedly surprised at the tone of some of the responses. You have a problem, you don't know why it's happening and posted to see if anyone else had experienced it and maybe had an easy solution for an already identified fault which you couldn't find. Sure, you could maybe spend hours finding what the fault is and then... fix it......but, as you say, isn't that what these forums are all about?

You must have a leaking float valve in order for the airbox to be full of gas. That's definite. Your question is 'how did the gas get past the petcocks'? which haven't leaked since. I'm wondering if you have a piece of crud in the diaphragm which caused the problem once and then dislodged. I stripped my petcocks and found sediment in the square plate at the bottom and on both sides of the diaphragm. I'm sure this could interfere with the operation of the cut-off.

I would take the petcocks completely apart and clean everything. I would also remove the carbs and renew the float valve assemblies and check the tangs on the floats for sticking. I know budget is an issue but I do believe that, given the effort to take the carbs off etc, you're better off doing all four carbs at the same time, then you can rule out that aspect of things completely, instead of thinking "I did carb2, maybe it's carb3?" etc.

On a set of 'remanufactured' carbs which I bought from the US, I connectde them off the bike to a fuel tank and one carb overflowed immediately through the back of the carb mouth (and would have filled the airbox if it had been on). It was the float valve. I posted about the lousy job on the entire carbs, which I returned and got a refund on. Hence doing my own from then on....

I hope that helps

[DGXSER]

Shack, your right in line with every other post on here that ask a question of why is this happening on my bike. Some of which were started by me.

The gas in the airbox is what I was referring to, The other bike I mentioned did not drip from the carbs, but from the airbox, and it only dripped if we sat at a long light.

It would seem you have a Special since your petcocks have an off position, your signature does not give that away. If you still have the OCTY, it is possible (not probable, but possible) that something plugged the vacuum line and held vacuum and the valve open after you shut off the engine. Guess that could just as easy happen on a Standard as well.

I would probably go through the petcocks and do any cleaning needed as well as going through the float valves in the carbs.

[Shacknasty]

Thanks for the ideas. Much appreciated. The idea of checking the carbs before reinstalling is great. I'll do that for sure. I've had these carbs apart a few times and I will do a complete tear-down and clean 'em out. I will clean the petcocks and filter towers at the same time. Can't get to it right now, maybe tomorrow. I'm on my way to a friends house to help him pull his clutch basket right now.

The reparte with SFer was kinda fun, I figured he was feelin a little froggy. I know better than to mess with Texas!



Later!