Pingel Update

[bikerphil]

Ok, here is a helpful hint for the Pingel fuel valve. I have had mine for 2 years (20k+ miles) and I noticed today it was leaking a small amount of fuel from the air bleed hole in the side of the plastic center piece. It was coming out in spurts and I could feel the valve pulsating at a low idle. What I did is put a restrictor in the vacuum line, sort of the same as damping the vacuum sync gauges so the needle doesn't fluctuate all over the place. I used a restrictor I had left over from an old set of mercury sync sticks. It is just a piece of plastic with a tiny hole drilled in the center stuffed in the vacuum line. I bet an old pilot jet would also work. Anyway, the Pingel valve doesn't pulsate anymore and the leak has subsided. I'll keep an eye on it but I'm pretty sure the problem is solved. You guys with these valves, you might want to check to see if yours is pulsating at idle, if it is, you may want to add a restrictor to the vacuum line to prevent a future problem.

[oldyam80sg]

Good to know-Pingel actually will rebuild things they sell for a minimum fee.I had my petcocks rebuilt when they started to leak.

[bikerphil]

Yep, rode the bike today and the Pingel was still leaking. Took it apart and after close inspection, the diaphragm is NFG, I'm sure it wore out prematurely from the unit pulsing over and over without that vacuum restrictor. Time to find a diaphragm for it now.

[crazy steve]

Yep, rode the bike today and the Pingel was still leaking. Took it apart and after close inspection, the diaphragm is NFG, I'm sure it wore out prematurely from the unit pulsing over and over without that vacuum restrictor. Time to find a diaphragm for it now.

Hate to be the contrarian, but Pingel isn't known for their reliability of their petcocks. Yes, they offer rebuild services and kits, but given the costs of their parts if they didn't no one but racers would buy them.

Pingel made their reputation with high-flow petcocks for race bikes; if you're running alcohol or nitro, stock petcocks just don't flow enough fuel. They then tried to make the claim that stock petcocks didn't flow enough fuel to supply even stock bikes, hoping to expand into the street market. They've done this (primarily to the more lemming-like HD owners who equate dollars spent with 'coolness'), but there's a fairly large 'snake oil' component involved.

Pingel does make some fine products (mostly for HD bikes) but their petcocks aren't one of them IMHO. The product that originally put them on the map was a slip-in replacement rear motor mount for early Sportsters to replace the prone-to-break stocker that required splitting the cases to replace...

[oldyam80sg]

I beg to differ with you Steve-that's your opinion and i have mine.They have been in business a long time-if they weren't doing something right they wouldn't be around.They stand by their products-plain and simple.When my petcocks failed they had been on the bike for almost 20 years.Things fail-everything does,that's why they offer rebuild services.I could think of a lot of companies that sold when things got hot under the collar.Kerker/Supertrapp is one of them.

[oldyam80sg]

BikerPhil-i took your advice and took a 1/8" fitting,cut it in half and stuck a spray tube straw through it reducing the pressure.Works like a charm.

[bikerphil]

Pete, that's good that you did that. Your valve should last much much longer that way.

[oldyam80sg]

Yes i hope so-i figured i would do it early since i read about yours.Better safe than sorry!

[bikerphil]

I knew something was wrong with mine when I put my hand on the valve and felt it pulsating violently. That diaphragm must have been opening and closing 40 million times over the past 2 years. With the restrictor it should not pulse at all.

[crazy steve]

I beg to differ with you Steve-that's your opinion and i have mine.They have been in business a long time-if they weren't doing something right they wouldn't be around..

All I can say is from being on a couple of HD forums, reports/complaints of leaking Pingels weren't uncommon.

And not to say they don't have their place; one thing Pingel is good for is they do offer more petcock configurations (which way the outlet is pointed, size, etc) than anybody else so the custom guys have choices that otherwise wouldn't be available.

[oldyam80sg]

I didn't even wait to see if it was pulsing-when i read your thread i acted immediately.I will go to work tomorrow and take a 1/8" rod and drill a tiny hole for a more solid fix.Pics to follow.

[oldyam80sg]

The thing i liked is when i called them to get them rebuilt they didn't try to sell me a new one.They rebuilt it and it will probably last another 20 years before a rebuild.By then i will be 67 and hopefully still riding.

[crazy steve]

I guess to put it perspective, a chrome aftermarket 'HD copy' petcock is about 20 bucks, Pingels start at about 100... their rebuild kits cost more than 20....

[Rasputin]

So how many cycles of the pulses would a stock Yamaha Octy see? I am guessing the same number or greater. No wonder they occasionally need a rebuild kit. I see no sense in spending the money to do the very same thing as mother Yammy did in the first place.
Some will throw away a perfectly good Octy and pay the money for this supposed upgrade when it was already installed from factory.
I am convinced that the kits work (they do on all of mine) and that people who toss this away are either deluding themselves on their ability to shut them off or just wanting to simplify stuff that should not be.
All it takes is that one time that the fuel cocks are not shut off to ruin a perfectly good engine.
Let me think here a moment... Do I toss the Octy and spend a hundred bucks on Pingle stuff or do I spend 20 bucks on a rebuild kit that works....Numbers are from my head so they don't count but seriously!!!!
I will rebuild the Octy and trust it every time over these over priced replica's.

[bikerphil]

The idea with the pingel is there are only 2 lines, 3 if you count vacuum, not as much of a mess under the tank with 8 lines running everywhere. The valve is billet and very cleanly machined where the O ring seals, not like the Yami pot metal 30+ year old corroded crap octy.