Petcock again.

Hi.

Still no joy with the petcock, no matter what position it's in juice still flows.
Am I right in thinking that without the vacumn functioning properly the bike wont run right. I did find yesterday while emptying the tank that the flow kept stopping because of air coming down the hose. Any ideas on why?

Anyone watching Spain last night in the world cup would have seen a Confederate battle flag waving away amid a sea of Spanish flags.

Fahey.

 

Time maybe for a new tap , air? is the vent in fuel cap working. and if fuel flows bike worky , only if the vacum hose is drawing air whilst still connected that is no good for da bike....

 

Having the same problem and according to my mechanic it would be a bad idea switching to a manual (not vacuum-operated) petcock as the original - if working correctly - should adjust the gasflow according to revs/intake air.

I get mine to stop dripping by blowing slightly into the vacuum hose, which makes me believe the spring is the problem. I´ve tried stetching it but it didn´t solve the problem. My next move will be inserting a washer at the end of the spring to raise pressure a little bit.

Don´t know about your fuel flow/air-in-hose problem..

 

Well looks like you have three choices. Two will cost you. First is to emove and disassemble the petcock and stretch the spring, check the diaphraghm for a tear and clean the plunger seat and inspect the plunger for damage or wear. If the plunger or diaphraghm is shot then the other two choices are to buy a petcock rebuild kit. 50% chance of that working. Or buy a new petcock. That's what I eventually had to do.

 

I got my petcock kit from partsnmore.com and have had no problems with it since.
I've heard of folks that have had trouble with new kits not working.

The 1 I bought worked out great.
Good luck

 

I got lucky with this. I had the same issue. I went to the dealer, struck up a convo with the parts guy and he let me have a petcock for $40.

 

Thanks for the advice fellas.

I bought a new K & L petcock repair kit but the only thing that fitted was the diaphragm although according to Sirius, the dealer, it is the correct kit for my xj700. Never seen a whole petcock assembly for sale though I have to admit I have not looked for one.

As for the air in the tube when I drain the tank I don't have a clue, but I think if the vent in the cap was blocked juice would'nt flow at all. Someone wrote in another post that the spring from a ball point pen would do the job I'll give that a try next.

Faighaigh.

 

Checked the petcock out again today and found nothing wrong with it that I could see, though most of it is the original. Still don’t have a vacuum and juice flows no matter what. Now as it worked well enough before I pulled the carbs I’m thinking I have buggered something up or something has been put back on wrongly, but what?

Took the bike out for a test ride yet again and she went pretty good for 1 kilometer but that was either on the flat or down a steep hill, the road is pretty rough so I could not cane her. Turned about to head back up the mountain and within 100metres the revs dropped to1500 and continued to drop. I managed to keep her going and after about 500 metres she picked up a little, got to a flat stretch of road and she was back to normal.

I think I will have to pull the carbs again, I have a new float now to replace the one that was buckled but what else should I do or look for.

Something else that will need attention is the horn, so quiet even the goats ignored it.

Faighaigh

 

You sure your floats aren't leaking? I've heard of the floats developing this with time but have yet to see on. Just a thought. Fiamm makes some great horns of various sizes and price ranges. Good luck finding the right note!

 

Robert.

Certainly something to look into but why only uphill? Thanks for the tip about the horns if I get the bike running I'll maybe invest in one. At the moment it's a toss up between struggling on or getting the bike back to the UK and selling her, possibly buying a Virago to ride back to Spain. Expensive exercise though and her indoors won't be very pleased.

Faighaigh

 

I would implore you to soldier on given what a great bike you have and what you've invested in time and money. The issues as I see it are this:
You have a problem with fuel when the head of the bike is elevated or you place the engine under heavier loads. Have you tried to run the machine on a level surface with a passenger yet? If you do and the problem manifests itself, then you have a fuel delivery issue. If the problem is not obvious with the passenger, than I would be inclined (no pun intended) to say that you either have a float problem or you have what is called a "hanging wire" problem. This "hanging wire" is usually a wire that is exposed hanging down somewhere. On level ground no problem. It tends to manifest itself when under heavy acceleration or on and incline when gravity and inertia get to have their way with the mass of the wire. Anyone else see this or am I just barking up a tree?