Cure for leaky petcock

[glennpd]

Recently I was hard at work putting my "Dirty dog" into some semblance of presentable and encountered the common carburetor drool with the vacuum petcock. Yes, I know I need to dig in to the carburetors again to fix the float seat o-ring. But as a temporary and quick fix I thought I could cure the post gas tank oozing.

After draining the fuel tank and removing the petcock I removed the face plate of the petcock. I flipped the rubber valve body over. Then I found a flat piece of steel and proceeded to "lap" the face of the valve handle with 400 grit paper. After attaining a fairly flat surface I went to 800 grit and finally finished with 1500 grit.

When re-assembling I tweaked each bend of the round zig zag spring with a pair of needle nose pliers and gave everything a spray of silicone.

After re-assembly when in either the "Run" or "Res" setting I could not blow thru it.

Sealed!

 

[racerdave]

I did the same thing today to my valve handles.

 

[gggGary]

Yes flipping the rubber seal often fixes it. I remove the petcock(s) from the tank and check the diaphragm and the small o-ring on the tip of the vacuum seal as long as you have the gas out. I have found the fuel screen loose more than once. I also sand the bottom of the tank where the petcock seals and inspect/clean the tank to petcock seal.

 

[glennpd]

Yes, the vacuum circuit of this device "turns on" the valve. This must work to run the bike unless you want to run in the "Pri" position.