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Petcock rebuild worked awesome

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr, Russell
  • Start date Start date
M

Mr, Russell

Guest
Well after reading all the bad stories about failed petcock rebuilds I decided I could do it. I did and it worked great. I had to use a little bit of fuel safe sealer were the petcock sits on the tank but that's about it. I stretched out the spring and made sure everything was lined up. Worked like a charm. No more leak and works perfect. I bought my kit from Georgefix motorcycle parts.
Oh and this is on a 79 GS425E

old parts
20140905_195506_zpseuqthsvx.jpg


back on the tank and working perfect.
20140905_195446_zps5bqwxvqg.jpg
 
Have you actauly leak tested it or just saying its not leaking as of now??? I take two long vacuum line tubings and run one from each nipple into seperate pop bottles and let it sit on the ON position for a day or two to see if the bottles get any accumulations. This way always proves it one way or the other for me.

I see that your new to the GS...least by your post count. On these bikes take absolutely nothing for granted. If you did test it, what was your methods???
 
And you didnt need any RTV or other sealers. Your new petcock base oring AND the gaskets for the bolts are all you needed. But your pictures dont seem to show the bolt gaskets.
 
The kit didn't come with the bolt o rings and yes that is were it was leaking after first install. I think I will stick with the gasket sealer just because todays gas likes to eat rubber parts in the fuel system. I need to also look for some Teflon fuel lines to help with that also.

As far as testing I filled the tank with fuel, set the petcock to prime and fuel came out, Set it to on and it stopped. I let it sit like that for about an hour. I set it on Res and sucked the vacuum tube and fuel came out, set it to on and same with the vacuum tube and fuel came out. I made sure I put a tiny bit of grease on each of the rubber gaskets so that they didn't get torn. I will report back if I have any problems.
 
Todays fuel doesnt eat rubber parts...thats a big pile of urban folk lore. AGE is what ruins rubber parts. Ethanols big thing is that it draws moisture to itself and it seperates after sitting for a long time. You dont notice these things in cars because the fuel rarely stays in there for weeks at a time and cars arent cold stored over the winter.

Bikes , on the other hand, get put aside for days and weeks on end and do get winter stored. This makes for the perfect storm as it were. The ethanol seperates in the tank and bowl and it draws moisture ( humidity ) that condenses and gets raw water into the fuel systems.

WATER is what destroys and clogs the jets and fine passages from rust and corrosion promotion. Just use stock fuel line from any cycle supply store.
 
I rebuilt mine with just the used parts that looked worse than yours and it works just fine. I just cleaned out all the crud and stretched the spring out a bit. I didn't do the test like Chuck stated though. But I've had my tank off multiple times and leave the petcock in "on" position with no fuel leakage.
 
I've done two rebuilds on my bike's petcock, one on the original and later on a OEM replacement. They worked fine for a couple months and then went south. I'm probably on #5 OEM new petcock now.
 
I beg to disagree on todays fuel not eating the rubber in all different types of fuel systems. The ethanol in todays fuel is responsible for many collapsed fuel lines and primer bulbs. All you have to do is check out fuel problems on outboard motor sites to see that it does cause problems.
 
Noone has to leak test them but its a better idea than not remembering to check the oil level and run it with gas in the crankcase.

And Ethanol has been inn use since way back inn the 70s. The rubber orings in our carbs arent eaten by the stuff nor is the gas line.
 
Well spoke too soon I guess. Riding to work this morning on the High way the bike kept running out of fuel. After I turned it to prime it seemed to run ok the rest of the way. I'm going to check the routing of the fuel line and maybe look into a different inline fuel filter to make sure it's not restricting fuel too much. I'll also verify the petcock and make sure it's operating normally. I'm concerned that I still have too much rust in the tank and that's what's causing the issue. with the petcock.
 
sounds like what's happening with me 81gs850. i did the pull it and clean it and the petcock is ok as of now with no leaks, but i found that the PO clipped the "sock" or screen assembly off of it, so it's on the list of to be replaced. i think doing the pull it and clean it method disturbed enough rust sediment that i am having issues. the rust that's in my tank is really really mild and only shows in a couple places. what i plan on doing while the carbs are soaking is doing an oxalic acid cleaning on it. it works on light to mild rust. here's the link to the kawasakimotorcycle.org thread that i found while i was over there not too long ago:

http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/f...144936-oxalic-acid-new-life-rusted-tanks.html
 
So the bike runs fine on prime, it just doesn't work on res or on. So that tells me there might not be enough vacuum going to the petcock or the spring is too stiff. I did readjust the spring because it was crooked so maybe I stretched it too far. It doesn't look like the filter is doing me any favors either because it has air bubbles in the top and it looks like the fuel flow is "just" enough to keep the filter halfway full.
 
i'd do what i'm about to do and get a new petcock and inspect for rust and treat as needed
 
Mr said:
I think I will stick with the gasket sealer just because todays gas likes to eat rubber parts in the fuel system.
Click to expand...
I will beg to differ with you there. I have been using OEM rubber gas lines in all of my Suzukis for the last 12 years or so, and have had NO problems with them.



81GS850 said:
... maybe look into a different inline fuel filter to make sure it's not restricting fuel too much.
Click to expand...
Depending on your filter, that might be your problem. If you installed an automotive-type filter, remove it. If you feel that you absolute HAVE to have a third filter in the system (gas already goes through two filters before getting into the float bowl), get one that is designed for a lawn tractor.



81GS850 said:
I did readjust the spring because it was crooked so maybe I stretched it too far. It doesn't look like the filter is doing me any favors either because it has air bubbles in the top and it looks like the fuel flow is "just" enough to keep the filter halfway full.
Click to expand...
Adding tension to the spring definitely did not help, but don't bother trying to get the air bubbles out of the filter, they are not hurting anything. See my comments above on filter selection.

.
 
Steve said:
I will beg to differ with you there. I have been using OEM rubber gas lines in all of my Suzukis for the last 12 years or so, and have had NO problems with them.




Depending on your filter, that might be your problem. If you installed an automotive-type filter, remove it. If you feel that you absolute HAVE to have a third filter in the system (gas already goes through two filters before getting into the float bowl), get one that is designed for a lawn tractor.



Adding tension to the spring definitely did not help, but don't bother trying to get the air bubbles out of the filter, they are not hurting anything. See my comments above on filter selection.

.
Click to expand...

I think I have one for a lawn tractor. It's a 5/16" in/out clear paper filter. Are you talking about the petcock screen and metal mesh screen in the carb needle and seat? That's not really a filter for the finer stuff. The reason I want one is because this tank had a lot of rust in it. I used pho acid to clean it out but I'm still catching rust particles in the filter. I will keep everyone posted and thanks for the advise.
 
81GS850 said:
I think I have one for a lawn tractor. It's a 5/16" in/out clear paper filter.
Click to expand...
Can't tell by the description whether it will work or not.

The difference is that most automotive-type filters are designed with a fair amount of restriction, because they will be in a system with a high-pressure fuel pump that will push fuel through the filter media. Since our bike only have a gravity-fed system with a few inches of head height, those filters simply will not flow enough. A filter for a mower is more likely to work with a gravity-fed system, as long as the mower for which it was intended does not have a fuel pump.

.
 
Problem with those inline filters is that they are designed for systems run by a fuel pump to supply a pressurized fuel line. Our gravity feed systems arent intended to be impeaded with an inline filter.
 
Well I fixed the bike so far. I think I figured out my cutting out was crappy plug wires. I cut off the ends and screwed the caps back on. I also adjusted the fuel filter where it laid horizontal and now I don't think I have starvation issues.
 
The filter should be standing VERTICLE with the end feeding the carbs pointing down...stops an air pocket from forming right where the line and filter connect. Like set it right at then top of the rack between 2 and 3.
 
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