Rusty gas tank with two year old fuel and a seized petcock.

[Guest]

So I am now trying to get the new to me 1981 Canadian GS400 (American GS450) and taking a look in the gas cap you can see surface rust. It does not look bad and the tank is half filled with two year old gas (when the owner had it running last) so I am going to assume it is just surface rust as there is no leaks. One problem is that I tried to drain the tank through the petcock but I can't get it to budge and there is also no fuel coming out of it when I disconnected the fuel line. Any tips on how to get it unseized? No amount of wiggling, pressing or pulling is getting it unstuck. Mind you this is my first bike so maybe I don't know how to correctly switch the petcock.

On a side note I see that one of the previous owners must have had a leak around the petcock as there is what I can only assume is some sort of blue gasket maker around the seal.

Any advice, tips or tricks for me?

http://imgur.com/3Ioi3ju

http://imgur.com/6R1n1Zy

http://imgur.com/tK3BAzL

[Nessism]

Throw the petcock in the trash and get a new one.

[Cipher]

boil that sucker
outside

[gsrick]

Don't waste your time messing with the old petcock if a new one is available. You'll save yourself a lot of time a grief in the long run.

[bobgroger]

You need vacuum applied to get fuel to flow unless it is in the prime position. Rebuild kits have a very low success rate. We have all started out thinking we can get these running on the cheap, we have all been wrong. Be prepared to spend between $500-1500 to make it reliable.

[Cipher]

ignore them
boil the petcock then rebuild it making sure you uses a dremel with a felt bob to polish the internals
boil in water not oil

[Cipher]

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/storagecliff1/images/suzuki_petcock_rebuild.pdf

[Polish-Jack]

I took apart the petcock with the intent to repair/rebuild it but I just can't find any kits that specifically reference this model. Another problem I encountered was that there seemed to be a metal disc in the vacumme valve section of my petcock that has broken into three separate pieces. I could not find any repair kits that contained any such part, so I've given up and ordered a new one from a local Suzuki dealer up here in Canada. The new petcock is on back order for at least three weeks and they are asking $130 CND for it. I was surprised such a small aluminium part could cost so much.