Petcock position

[katfan97]

I was reading a few old posts, and I'm wondering now (this GS is my first bike) is the petcock supposed to be on the "on" position at all times when riding?  A local motorcycle supplier told me not to leave it in the "prime" position because this lets gas into the carbs/air box, and this is bad.  The previous owner had it in "prime" a lot I'll bet.  I changed the oil, and switched the petcock to "on" and now it's running great.  Any thoughts?

[sparky8844]

alot of us have experienced a fuel starvation problem at highway speeds seemingly caused by insufficient vacuum at WOT or close to it..leaving it in prime is a simple fix.i had this problem as well and now i pretty much always run it in prime for long rides or short thruway stints..untill u experience te same problem id leave it as u have it

[katfan97]

alot of us have experienced a fuel starvation problem at highway speeds seemingly caused by insufficient vacuum at WOT or close to it..leaving it in prime is a simple fix.i had this problem as well and now i pretty much always run it in prime for long rides or short thruway stints..untill u experience te same problem id leave it as u have it

What the heck is WOT?

[Kerry]

is the petcock supposed to be on the "on" position at all times when riding?

Well, not at ALL times ... unless you fill up often enough that you never need to switch to REServe to get to a gas station.  

But otherwise yeah, the ON position is the "proper" one to use unless you run out of gas or have the "starvation" problem that sparky8844 mentioned.

[tdan553527]

My dealer told me the same thing about my 04, not to use prime, mine is always turned to the on position. I usually get around 200-220miles before switching to reserve. The furthest i've gone on reserve was another 55 miles. I've never had the fuel starvation problem either that some of the other people talk about.

[Kerry]

What the heck is WOT?

Wide Open Throttle

[katfan97]

What the heck is WOT?

Wide Open Throttle

Is that a common problem with the GS?  I'm guessing that you would feel it in the highest gear, on the highway, WOT, and not enough power.  Is that correct?

[Kerry]

Pretty much, yep.

[sparky8844]

What the heck is WOT?

Wide Open Throttle

Is that a common problem with the GS?  I'm guessing that you would feel it in the highest gear, on the highway, WOT, and not enough power.  Is that correct?

well its more like its running out of gas ..which is precisely what it does..others on this site running clear feul lines have seen this...i have experimented a little..i ran the bike in the on position on a good stretch of highway at 70-80 miles per hour till it acted up..then i reached down and switched to prime ...let it run on prime  for a few minutes ..then back to the on position again and it will run fine again..for maybee 5-10 minutes then star acting up again..its interesting that it never acts up on a totally full tank though..usually about 70 miles after i fill up..i dont know what that equates too in gallons..maybee 1.5-2...

[R3d]

*hijack!*

How difficult should it be to turn the petcock to "on"?  The guy I bought my bike from had it on "pri", and I haven't seen any fuel leaking...  but I should have it "on", right?  I tried to turn it the other day and it wouldn't go.  Does it matter if the bike is not running?

Thanks!

[MarkusN]

PRI (12 o'clock) is one of the positions against a stop. You have to turn the chicken over RES (9 o'clock) to ON (6 o'clock), where it goes against a stop again. The chicken turns easily. If you havent' just turned clockwise your chicken is stuck.

[R3d]

Thanks, I'll have to try it again when I get home.  I think when I tried to change it, I was only turning in one direction.