Q about SG petcocks

[Bergman16]

Very new to XS, and noticed before I put the bike away for the winter that my right-side petcock chrome cover said "L" and my left side said "R". This is from my perspective sitting on the seat. I only noticed when it was too late to see how the two lines were routed--I had already taken the tank off and was hooking it back up.

So I just followed the manual pic and hooked them up as shown. It was at the end of the fall and I only rode it one time on Prime after that.

Here's an interesting twist. Over the winter I got an SF tank for messing around with, and it had both petcocks. Oddly, the right side said L and left side R as well.

So I wondered if the petcocks are marked R and L as if looking at the bike on Specials instead of rider's perspective? Or just a coincidence? Both tanks, by the way, had been repainted in their lives, which means the petcocks had been removed on both at some point.

My real question is, short of pulling the ones off the running bike, how can I determine if maybe just the chrome cover part has been swapped out? OFF works on both sides but haven't tried it running (currently have a starter issue).

And if the petcocks are reversed, can I just swap the lines and run as per usual?

Thanks as always.

Steve

[DeanR]

They should be oriented from the sitting on the bike perspective. Can't remember if it actually makes a difference, other than reversing the orientation of off and prime.

[bikerphil]

Reserve (up) and on (down) will be the same no matter what side they are on, just the off and prime will be reversed.

[jetmechmarty]

Steve,
I believe your petcocks are reversed. Handle pointing forward should be off. If the chrome faces are swapped, I expect you'll have fuel flow in the OFF position.



The forward port on the petcock, when installed correctly, should go to the PRIME circuit. It goes to the tee and to the carburetors. The rear port goes to the vacuum shutoff valve (octopus). If your petcocks are reversed, so should be the plumbing.

It doesn't matter which petcock goes to which carburetors. I have mine plumbed left petcock to right carburetors and vice versa. It gives me more room to lift the tank, etc.

[BA80]

And, the nipples will be reversed. I don't recall at the moment which is which but on nipple is for prime only and the other is for on and reserve.

IIRC the rear nipple is on and res when installed on the proper sides. It would be the front if they are backwards.

[BA80]

Marty beat me to it.

[Bergman16]

Thanks--So if understand correctly then I can test as follows: I'll leave them hooked up as per the diagram, and the lever pointing forward on both, with gas in the tank, and drive it for a bit to see if it stops running (or just run on the stand with a fan). If it does, then I can adjust the chrome covers if necessary.

Any downside to this? Assume one side would run out first?

[jetmechmarty]

Just take the tank off with gasoline in it. No fuel should flow with the petcock handles positioned to OFF.

If that's the case, just swap them to the side they belong and plumb according to the diagram. Or... leave them where they are and plumb with the ports reversed IAW the diagram.

If fuel flows in the OFF position, swap the chrome faces.

[BA80]

There is an "R" and "L" cast into the aluminum body of the petcock also.

[Bergman16]

Ok, two much easier ways! Fuel already stops in OFF so I think that solves the mystery. And I can always look for the other R/L stamp to confirm. Will hook up in reverse.

Now I just need to print out all the stuff here about no joy when pushing the start button this spring. Problem is the bike is stored upstate two hours away, and no internet, so I have to research here and hope for the best up there.

thanks again

[DiverRay]

Turn the key to "on" and put a set of jumper cables from a car battery to the bike in the following manner.
1. Negative on car battery with black clamp to a bolt on the engine.
2. Positive on car battery to red clamp, other side not touching any part of the bike.
3. touch the free red clamp to the front cable on the starter relay behind the right side cover. Be prepared for a spark, and then the starter should turn over.
The problem with the bike MAY be that you have a bit or rust, etc. on the right hand switch. The start button connects to ground to start the engine, and you may not be making a good contact.

[Bergman16]

Thanks, sounds easy enough. The problem is in there somewhere else than the right-hand controls, as I got a NOS set for a silly low price hidden away on ebay. Actually using it only to test then will probably put it back in the bag and use my old ones as it clearly wasn't in the switch.

No doubt I'll find a bad wire/connector somewhere in that line but didn't know how to jumper past all of that until now.

If I can get that starter to turn this way then I'll track it down all the way to the battery if I have to.

[Bergman16]

Just to finish this out. I was trying to be logical about finding this electrical break, and concentrated on the stuff I had messed with first (cleaned the right-hand control and had pulled the battery over the winter). When it wasn't those two things I started pulling and cleaning every connection from the headlight bucket on back to behind the fusebox--which I figured wouldn't hurt and I needed to do anyway.

Turns out it was the thing I had messed with BEFORE that--one of my crimps putting in Topcat's fusebox was bad. Took thirty seconds once I had my multimeter looking for continuity breaks.

Now I have a working replacement solenoid, which is fine by me, and a lot of clean connectors. Rode for an hour in upstate NY and remembered why I bought this bike.