1997 Fuel Leak help!!!

monsieurnet

Oh no!
note:: on a scale of 1-10 for techoness I am a 1.
this means I can put together ikea furniture, fill the tank with gas, take off a girlfriends bra with one hand, put up a light fixture.

I have a 97 bird and have a fuel leak, not a gusher a slow leak.
I came home and the garage smelled like gasoline.

I pulled up the tank and checked underneath.
( I am now stoned like an eskimo)
I checked the overflow hoses as per other threads about stuck carb floats but the fuel leak does not seem to be coming from the overflow hoses.
seems to be coming from the fuel tap and the tank, my fuel tap is wet and dripping fuel. and where the tap meets the tank is wet.

I checked the
[How to] release a stuck floatneedle

and the hoses seemed to be ok except the vacuum hose
it was not attached anywhere where does it attach?
it was not attached to the fuel tap nor second part anywhere else.


I turned the petcock to the off position, I guess if it is still leaking tomorrow I am fubar, and will have to take it in to honda where they will ream me a new asshole.
Please help

Mnet

Taetor

now that's funny nicely stated

sounds like you're tracing down your leak properly, good luck with it!

Maxx409

All at the SAME TIME!! You da man! Just a thought though, is it possible the fuel line is just worn at the petcock? I've got FI myself but try wiggling the hose to see if you can track the leak too, also use a flashlight or get it as bright underneath as you can (ummm... don't use a match) to help see better, Hate for you to have to take it to the Honda stealer. Good luck.

monsieurnet

ok so I am tracing the leak, and visited the other bb site, but still cannot figure things out exactly.
I have a work lite, so i can see inside pretty well with no matches.
guess I have to wait for some tech 6's to tell me if the vacuum hose is the one with the T in it, and if it connects to the back(front) of the fuel tap.
and where does the other side connect?

well I have my 97 manual at my office so I will check there.

yeesh can't wait to try and change my oil and filter.

Leftlaner

You mentioned that it was wet where the tap meets the tank. If your fuel/vacuum/breather hoses all turn out to be ok, perhaps you should remove the entire fuel tap and check for any potential leaks there (gasket perhaps?).. Good luck with it!

PS. Check out the exploded drawing of the fuel tank/tap HERE !!!

__________________
To do is to be - Socrates
To be is to do - Jean-Paul Sartre
Do-be-do-be-do - Frank Sinatra

flipy351

Hey monseirnet. I had the same problem a month ago. Its and easy fix. Under the fuel tap is a rubber O ring. I just replaced it on my 1997 bird for same reason.

You need to drain your tank and then remove it from the bike. Then undo the two allen headed bolts holding fuel tap on to tank and you will see the thin O ring replace that and all will be well. Also clean the filter and insert filter into tap before placing tap back onto tank. Youll work out what I mean when you pull it apart.

monsieurnet

Hi to all thanks for your kind advice.
flipy as explained I am techoness level 01
this means, I never have taken the wheels off a motorcycle, I have never changed the oil and filter, or spark plugs, until yesterday I had never lifted the tank.

I am ready to advance in my training oh great jedi knights.
I have even bought those fancy blue gloves
but.............

it is kind of like talking to a child,
I can fill the tank, but drain it?

Please help me move up in my techoness level to level 2.

explain step by step.
how to drain the tank.

is this the famous fuel tap diaphragm? that keeps the tank from getting pregnant?

is it available seperately or do I have to buy it with some other parts.
I will try to see if I can reattach my hoses as per the ron ayers diagram

I will check tonite to see if the tank is still leaking.

also for the vacuum hose, now I see where it attaches to the fuel tap, but where does the other part go, it only says E2

thank you for your help
now if I could only turn on that damn light sabre

monsieurnet

Ok so I see where most of the hoses go
except for the breather hose which is not in the ron ayers picture.
it is on the float needle photo.
Help?

Leftlaner

There is a small vacuum hose on the opposite side of the petcock (facing towards the front), and that hose connects to the second carb from the left. Then you have one fat hose on either side, that connects with the carb fuel intake. Finally there is one tiny breather hose and one larger overflow hose left. They don't connect with any other parts.

+1 on the O-ring, by the way. In order to drain the tank, you need to remove the fuel tank and place it over some kind of container (like a bucket). You need to have the two fat fuel hoses and the tiny vacuum hose connected to the fuel tap. Make sure the fuel tap is turned ON, and find a way to create a vacuum on the vacuum hose. Simplest way is to just suck on it. You won't suck up any fuel, but you might theoretically inhale fuel fumes. I've done it dozens of times, no problem!

You won't be able to drain the tank 100% this way, so I recommend that you place the tank on the side (careful with the paintjob!) once you start to loosen the fuel tap from the tank (otherwise you'll spill the remaining fuel all over the place).

Oh, and don't smoke or light a match or anything while you're working with fuel and fuel fumes. I guess a fire extinguisher MIGHT come in handy as well, so keep one nearby. Good luck!

__________________
To do is to be - Socrates
To be is to do - Jean-Paul Sartre
Do-be-do-be-do - Frank Sinatra

monsieurnet

Ok so
I bought tubing and a gas can.
I will try to drain the tank, and then take the tank off.
thank you leftlaner.
ok so there is a hose that I am not sure if it connects or not?
see attached. it has a question ? mark next to it.
does it attach to the fuel tap or is it left unattached, is that the vacuum hose?
thanks for your help and patience.
mnet

Attached Thumbnails

 

flipy351

The o ring you need to replace seals the fuel tap housing to the tank. The diaghphram will be ok dont dismantle that. the part number on ron eyeers m/site for bb is : ( 5 ) 16958-MF2-880 O-RING

Ron Ayers Motorsports - Discount Motorcycle Parts

that should make it clear.

Easiest way to empty tank is ot siphon fuel into a container. I use a clear plastic hose that way you can see the fuel coming when you suck on it to avoid getting a mouthful. Works most of the time. By the way E10 fuel taste sweet.

When you go to reasemble stick the filter in tap first then slide o ring over filter and seat onto tap. Filter holds it in place. Also have tank rightway up and put tap in up from bottom. This ensures filter and O ring stay where you want them to be.

4 hoses need to be conected 2 fuel lines one breather for overflow and one vacum line as described by leftlaner above. The vacum opens a valve to alwo fuel to flow when engine is running. If you fail to hook up vacum line you wont get far. Also if u turn fuel of with tap dont forget to turn it back on when you reassemble tank. Trust me it is embarasing having to lift the tank to turn on fuel in traffic.

YO-XX

Monsieur, here is what the Haynes Manual shows about the hoses of the fueltap. And good to hear you are trying to get things done by doing it yourself. You have to start somewhere..After a while it will be all a piece of cake..

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...nekraan2-2.jpg

And here a topic by our member of the B.O.C. Had also a fuelleak..Appears to be rust..It is in Dutch but a pix tells a story. A real good tip is to empty the tank with a plastic pomp which costs almost nothing.

Blackbird Owners Club :: View topic - Tank lek. Mijn Bird was gewond maar ze is weer genezen.

monsieurnet

ok tank removed thank you to all of you for your kind help and the diagrams.
all the hoses were where they were supposed to be.
I labelled them as per the haynes diagram. and hopefully will be able to put them back together.
I emptied the balance of the tank of gas by putting it on its side and took off the fuel tap.
the o ring looked ok ??? there is some corrosion on the tank where the fuel tap meets the tank. but does not look like any holes.
I will clean it up, and clean the filter replace the o ring and then put it all back together again.

I should probably take the opportunity to change whatever else needs to be done while the tank is off. yes the spark plugs have to be changed.
and I guess I will have to check the air filter.
I figure if I can change the oil air filter and spark plugs I will go from techo 1 to techo 2.


well next is how to test the fuel tap

monsieurnet

for the leak in the tank thank you to all of you.
It was the o ring that goes between the petcock and the tank.
it was worn and there was some corrosion there.
sanded the corrosion off, cleaned the filter had the petcock checked at the dealer (no charge, for the checking 4.25 for the o ring)
and now all is back on the tank just waiting to put it back on the bike after the spark plugs are in.



so what I did was...............
I hired this squid kid.
who worked at a local dealer as an junior mechanic during the season.
he has crashed numerous times on different bikes, doing high speeds.
last time on a 2006 1000rr doing a wheelie at 120kmh
he had it considered vga, got full replacement value and now got a 2007 repsol 1000rr , etc etc.

He is pretty good, and honest, and explained he can do basic stuff.
like brakes, exhaust, spark plugs, air filter.
but for the more complicated stuff like carb rejetting, fork oil change he is out of his element.

anyways paid him to come to my garage

he put on my new/old micron exhausts (since he is a squid he is great at aftermarket exhausts)

and I paid him to teach me to do stuff on my bike.
I changed the oil myself (not so difficult)

he changed the brake pads and showed me how.
next week , air filter, spark plugs, and put the tank back on.

thanks again to all for your encouragement and help.

testrider

> he put on my new/old micron exhausts (since he is a squid he is great at aftermarket exhausts)

The sentence in parenthesis just cracked me up. Good one! :-)