Arrgh! 1.6gal. gas on the floor

[Rema1000]

After suffering some possible gas starvation in the middle of rush-hour freeway traffic, I've been switching to PRI before riding on the freeway.  But last night, I forgot to move the petcock back to ON when I parked in the garage.  This this morning, I could smell gas from across the yard .   I park over three layers of cardboard and a piece of plywood (easier working, and keeps the floor clean), and it was all soaked with gas .  I packed it all up in garbage bags; maybe I can find a place to burn it.

I filled-up and rechecked mileage, and it looks like I dumped about 1.6gal. of gas!  I think I just earned the Order of the Valdez award for environmental unfriendliness.

I guess a carb rebuild will be a "must" on my spring cleaning list.

[JasonB]

Check your oil as it might have gotten past the carbs into the cylinders and into your oil. So your fill level will be way high and gas and oil isnt a good combo for lubrication and cooling!

[Blueknyt]

yeah, now, I KNOW someone on this board once told me that This never ever happens, and that i was mistaken. i hope they read this, they know who they are.

[cruisedaddy]

Are you saying that just by turning the petcock to "Prime" it leaked out this much gas?  I find that really hard to believe, unless there's something else amiss.  "Prime" on a GS500e is basically like "On" on most motorcycles ... there's no major disaster to be anticipated if you park the bike with the petcock on ... the carbs may flood slightly but that's about it.  I mean if you think about it something doesn't quite make sense ... the worst that could happen is, leave the petock on and the gas pressure might overcome the float bowl spring pressure and the gas would spill into the intake manifold and then drool down through open valves right into the cylinders.  But there's really no way it can just end up on the floor.

[JasonB]

It will come out of the airbox or the overflow on the top of the carbs.

[The Buddha]

Carbs are designed to overflow into the airbox ... until they invented down drafts... But anyway if there is gas in the oil slosh it around well, and you can even start it...just dont let it run more than a minute or 2...and then drain it...it will clean off the insides better than anything you can buy and it will all wash out with the volume that will be draining. Yea the airbox also needs to be cleaned out well with some more gas...cos the filter if it got wet...the dirt would have come off it and be on the walls instead.
Cool.
Srinath.

[DGDM]

The same thing is currently happening to my bike, but less severe and with the petcock on the on position.  Twice now I have left th ebike with petcock on on and gas has been leaking out of the overflow.  I have not touched the carbs in over a year and this si the first time that this has happened.  To make matters worse it flooded my carbs and it wouldn't start and wore down my battery when I wan in a parking garage an hour away from home.  The gas is slowly dripping out so I am wondering if there i sa possibleproblem with the floats but with the vacuum petcock this shouldn't happen right???  anyways right now my garage stinks of gas and if I jiggle th ebike out drips a little gas from the right side overflow tube, suggestions??
dave

[Rema1000]

The same thing is currently happening to my bike, but less severe and with the petcock on the on position.

That's weird!  When my GS was first delivered, I climbed on the trailer and saw that the petcock was set to ON.  "Some idiot transported it with the petcock on!", I thought to myself, and flipped the petcock up.  I came back outside an hour later to find a small puddle of gas under the bike, and it was drip-drip-dripping about once per second.  Which was when I learned that PRI is not French for "Off"   .

Since then, I think I've left the bike on PRI by accident a couple of times, but without any problem.  Then came my recent event, when the bike was accidentally left on PRI overnight.

How does this happen?  I don't know; but I think I read something which said that sometimes something can get stuck and cause the jet needle to stick a bit, allowing the overflow condition.  Which was why I am hoping that a carb rebuild will fix it.

[JasonB]

I've always heard it the needles getting stuck open that floods the airbox etc with gas while on PRI. If you really want to just get rid of the factory petcock and just put in a straight line with a on/off switch ,just have to watch your mileage cause you have no reserve!

[DGDM]

Well last night I got to thinking that something was stucjk in my carbs so I tapped the sides lightlyu with a socket, then left in on the centre stand {(thinking was that the side stand migh tbe contributing to problems as it would cause the gas in the floats to settle higher up the sides tf the carbs.  I think one or both of these has orrected the problem as no more leakage.  I really didn't feel like pulling apart my carbs (had to do it a dzen times last year to get proper set up and didn't want to start that again) so I am thinking somehting got gummed up and trapped inside.  Another interesting note is that lately I have been having the fuel starving problem everyone seems to complain about.  Previously I never had any problems with Fuel flow, maybe it is time to replace my filter, So I am thinking some junk may be working it's way into my line.
dave

[The Buddha]

OK this may be a coinkidink...but in Canada when I was there I used to find a lot of crap in my gas tank...and they were absolutely rust free and clean and milky white making it easy to see...Then I found out the gas tanks they have under ground at the gas stations are right about Red Green - Possum lodge Quality...funny thing was Premium was worse than regular...may be due to it sitting there more as people dont use it...But if the gas is good, your tank may be rusty.
Cool.
Srinath.

[DGDM]

about Red Green - Possum lodge Quality..

So you are saying I should make myself a new tank out of an old tire sealed with duct tape??


Dave

[The Buddha]

Not your tank...If your tank is rusty you could just dip it in mercury creek...but be careful and avoid the tire fire and make sure you dip it deep enough for the more acidic portions...and avoid the pink foam near Rock reef point...You dont want any of that on you...The Gas station you have been filling at...has some issues as well...
Cool.
Srinath.