Think Im loosing gas

[Anonymous]

Alright Im riding to my friends house which is approx. a 25 mile round trip. I filled my tank up to 95% full, went there and came back and its a quarter full now. I think I feel a little brake or other kind of drag on the bike. I was going down a fairly steep hill and not really gaining speed in neutral. I just cleaned and re fit my carbs, but I dont hink thats the prob. Maybe its the drag. Any suggestions to what it might be?

Thanks guys

[Anonymous]

Could very well be a bad petcock. Try taking the tank completely off the bike while it is not running. That should tell you whether you are losing fuel at rest (which is something a bad petcock can do).

How are you knowing that it is 95% and 25% full? Perhaps your measuring method is at fault. The stock fuel gauges are notoriously inaccurate.

Michael

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I what I mean to say is that when I came back it was 75% full from a full tank after 25 miles or so. I know my petcock and fuel gauge are working correctly.

BTW. Anybody know the size of the float bowl screw washer size? Need to get new ones.

[Anonymous]

Your tank is what, 4.5 gallons or so? So to lose 25% is to lose 1.13 gallons. Twenty-five miles from 1.13 gallons is not too surprising. Yes, it's poor efficiency (22 MPG) compared to many others (my 450 gets 45 MPG), but it's not unheard of.

You may also have an air-fuel mixture problem on one or more carbs, since you recently redid them. Does it ever backfire or blow black smoke?

You could also be losing one or more cylinders to an ignition problem. Are your spark plugs all good? During this period of inefficiency was the bike weaker?

Even fuel gauges that "work" tend to be nonlinear. The only way to really sure to know how much fuel you use is to top it off before and after.

Michael

[Anonymous]

Everything seems to run fine, no black smoke or back fire. I believe my spark plugs are good. I'll keep a watch on the gas situation. See what my MPG is. Would synching the carbs help? or anything else?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

I REALLY need to change my air filter. Would that make the bike run lean?

[mcycle-nut]

I REALLY need to change my air filter. Would that make the bike run lean?

No, that would make it run rich, as you have less air entering the engine to mix with the same amount of fuel that is supposed to run at.

[Anonymous]

I REALLY need to change my air filter. Would that make the bike run lean?

Do it, see if the situation improves.

Michael