Parked Petcock Question

[Rob Arther]

hey ya'll,

my '79 gs850gn is leakin gas from the petcock into the airbox (i think) and down into the engine. everything was fine until someone told me to turn the fuel OFF when parked. Well, my petcock is scratched and old, and now from my reading, there isnt a "prk" feature (which i thought was another word for OFF), i think i've had it on "prime" the entire time when parked....do i need to turn my fuel off when parked? is there even an off feature? what the heck is goin on?

Rob
fountain valley, CA

[dwm1]

A lot of Suzuki petcocks dont have an "off " on them so leave it either "on" or "reserve" but not "prime" unless thats what your trying to do.
What you were tring to prevent is exactly what happened to you, clean out your airbox and change your oil and you'll be fine. Dont smoke while your doing it either.

Doug

[catbed]

the suzuki gs line uses a vacuum activated petcock. it only lets fuel pass when there is a vacuum on the number 2 carb(intake stroke of the piston). so there is no off position, just leave it on RES or ON, not PRIME, as it will let fuel through even without a vacuum.

[litshoot]

similart question my petcock will work in prime or res, but not run, i was thinking that maybe the vacuum diaphragm was damaged or something but it doesn't explain why it would work in reserve.

[gsgeezer]

can you say "pingel"?

http://www.pingelonline.com/

[isleoman]

similart question my petcock will work in prime or res, but not run, i was thinking that maybe the vacuum diaphragm was damaged or something but it doesn't explain why it would work in reserve.

It would be correct for a petcock to work in both the Prime and Reserve settings if you were low on gas. If you weren't low on gas then its not working properly.