Pingle vs. standard petcock?

[Anonymous]

Still don't have my 1980 GS750e from the shop (going on 5 weeks for clutch repair, but that's another subject). Mechanic called today and said they must have forgotten to shut off Pingle(Pingel?) petcock so crank is full of gas. They'll flush everything out, but it's ANOTHER weekend w/out my bike. I've only ridden it about 20 ft.
Anyway, the guy I bought it from said he put a Pingle on to avoid gas leaking into crank. Now I'm totally paranoid that I'm going to forget to shut off when I park it and seize my motor.
Should I get a stock? Also, if I do forget (I'm not getting any younger), how long could it take before I have to worry? Would it take several hours or days??
Please help. I am still hopeful of getting my bike before Superbike Weekend in Laguna Seca, but I don't want to ride all that way and toast my bike because of some stupid thing I forgot to do.

[Jay B]

Petcock.

Well to avoid any fuek into the crank make sure your fuel tank is EXTREMLY clean of dirt and rust. That way your floats wont stick and cause the overflow. I replaced my petcock with an OEM and it busted inside of 2 weeks so I put an aftermarket on it. I didn't use a Pingel because after emailing them 6 times about cost they didn't answer me. A pet peive of mine. No communication no money. Others have had better results. Also by my ignition I put a little reminder to shut off the fuel. Good luck

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick response. I have to check w/ the old owner about what he did with the bike, since I just bought it and had him drive it to the dealer's to check the sticky clutch. Since they have yet to release my bike, I have not been able to inspect it. The old owner has had a couple os Gs in Europe and had bought this one from a college kid. He had done a lot of work to it, but I'd better check to see specifics like carb float, etc. I seem to remember that he creemed the tank and flushed everything and replaced all fluids.
Thanks for the idea re: the label. I wonder if there's anything I could install that would "automatically" shut off gas and would require active step on my part to turn on every time? I know I'm grasping at straws, but I realize that even the best memories fail at times, and mine is certainly not the best![/u]

[Jay B]

Automatic shut off

If there was something out there that would automatically shut off the fuel beleive me these guys on here would have it on a bike. Thjere isnt that I'm aware of.

[Anonymous]

Re: Automatic shut off

If there was something out there that would automatically shut off the fuel beleive me these guys on here would have it on a bike. Thjere isnt that I'm aware of.

The thing that you refer to is paying for oil changes every time you leave the valve on JB

[earlfor]

Its easy to forget to shut the fuel valve off if you have accostumed yourself to turning off the ignition and shutting off the fuel.
If you make a rule for yourself that the ignition CANNOT be shut off unless you have shut off the fuel valve, its really unlikely that you will forget as you would also have to forget to shut off the engine.
:-)

Earl (works for me anyway)

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I used to routinely turn off petcock on my BSA Bantam, an older BMW and most of my dirt bikes. Guess I'm afraid that I may have gotten bad habits over the years.
Anyway, hypothetically, say I'm on a trip and come out of the local eatery and find the petcock was left on. Or how about overnight? Any ideas on how long it could take for gas to leak? I'd hate to do an on-site oil change when it wasn't needed. Conversely, I'd REALLY hate to assume it's o.k. and drive my tranny into itty bitty pieces. Any tips on how to tell if I'm in deep Kim Chee? (eg. oil color change?)

Sorry for being so paranoid, especially since I don't even have the beast in my barn yet. Thanks to y'all again for your help!

[Anonymous]

Re: Petcock.

Well to avoid any fuek into the crank make sure your fuel tank is EXTREMLY clean of dirt and rust. That way your floats wont stick and cause the overflow. I replaced my petcock with an OEM and it busted inside of 2 weeks so I put an aftermarket on it. I didn't use a Pingel because after emailing them 6 times about cost they didn't answer me. A pet peive of mine. No communication no money. Others have had better results. Also by my ignition I put a little reminder to shut off the fuel. Good luck

JB said it all in this post--one cannot be sure about the leaking--i have had it leak overnight and other times not at all--

[Anonymous]

hi all, im new to the board... i was readin over the posts on petcocks and fuel shutoffs and im not sure if mine is unique, but i have a vacume operated cutoff thats run off the vacume from the carbs.. ive never had a problem with any fuel in the crankcase(that i know of, hehe) are you guys runin these also and they just suck? or am i really lucky??

[Anonymous]

hi all, im new to the board... i was readin over the posts on petcocks and fuel shutoffs and im not sure if mine is unique, but i have a vacume operated cutoff thats run off the vacume from the carbs.. ive never had a problem with any fuel in the crankcase(that i know of, hehe) are you guys runin these also and they just suck? or am i really lucky??

the reason some of us run the pinges is because our vacume operated valves failed and we chose not to replace the vacume type- some of the vacume valves last the life of the bike-some dont-- the valves leaking into the oil are the pingles--the vacume type cause flooding, rough idle and low speed missing as a symptom of failure--USUALLY

[focus frenzy]

hi all, im new to the board... i was readin over the posts on petcocks and fuel shutoffs and im not sure if mine is unique, but i have a vacume operated cutoff thats run off the vacume from the carbs.. ive never had a problem with any fuel in the crankcase(that i know of, hehe) are you guys runin these also and they just suck? or am i really lucky??

no you are not lucky, these bikes came standard with the automatic vacume operated gas valve.
the problem ocures when the plunger that is controled by the vacume sticks open and a carburator bowl float needle doesnt seal well. (they are all metal with out a rubber tip, so they dont seal real well)
it has happened to enough people to be a potential problem spot for everybody, but in two years of ownership of my 1000g I have not had it happen to me "YET". (knock on wood)

Jay, I am working on a solution to this problem, I am currently checking into a electricly operated solinoid valve, key on = gas on, key off= gas off, so those of us with "oldtimers" wont have to try and remember to turn the gas off.
another item of interest is that I discovered a compatible carb. needle that has a rubber tip on it.
my friend gave me a set of carbs that had come from the yamaha XS-11 he used to own, they are a close model to the carbs on my bike but I discovered that the float needle has a rubber tip.

[Anonymous]

ahh, ok, thanks much slow poke and focus.. i should start shutin my fuel off.. its gotten stuck closed, i guess stuck open isnt such a stretch.. heh

[Anonymous]

ok, what is the recommended position when all you have is reserve, on, and prime?

[Anonymous]

ok, what is the recommended position when all you have is reserve, on, and prime?

all vacume operated valves are left in the on position--the prime could be used if you just did some work on the carbs and the float bowls are empty--you would not get the bike started and produce the vacume necessary to open the valve--oh yes if you ran out of gas then you would have to use the prime to refill the bowls also--i think thats it

[Jay B]

You all jinxed me.

Well guess what. While on the way home from work Sunday morning my bike started running like crap. Well the fuel filter is about a month old and my tank has got a lot of fine rust silt in it. I figured that it was plugged. I stopped, pulled it off and put a new one on. Got about 2 miles and it did it again. So I stopped again and this time pulled the petcock off. Ran great all the way home. This is the 3rd one I've put on there in 2 months. I rebuilt and then replaced the OEM one but it didn't stay fixed long. After having paid $11.00 each for these dirt bike petcocks I took myself over to Home Depot and bought a natural gas shut off valve. 1/4 to 1/4. Talked to the old boy there and he said he had done the same thing on an old Honda 750. Valve been on there for about 15 years now. Ran good on the test drive and ran good on the woy to work today. Oh yeah....$4.85 plus tax.