Fuel Petcock

[grslightn]

I woke up to a puddle of gas today. The fuel petcock is dumping fuel in any position and flooded the carbs and started dripping out of the airbox.
Anyway I spoke with an old Harley mechanic here in Dayton and he said that the ethanol swells and makes the o-rings leak. He recommended rebuilding the petcock with "White Vitron" O-rings because a new one will leak eventually. I can get the o-rings from Miami Valley Gasket Co here in Dayton, OH.

My question is: Has anyone rebuilt a petcock? Can it be done for our bikes?
I'll keep everyone up to date with progress and parts numbers.

[GSXFJim]

you may simply have something stuck in the diaphragm...

to answer your question, yes you can rebuild them. If you used the Google site search feature you will find the part number for the rebuild kit.

HA... old harley guys sure know about leaking fluids... :

sorry... i couldn't help myself...

[jbo197]

Your petcock and floats both have issues ...
Suggestion: Run nothing but non Ethanol fuel after rebuilding both.

[grslightn]

Your petcock and floats both have issues ...
Suggestion: Run nothing but non Ethanol fuel after rebuilding both.

I wish I could find non ethanol fuel here in the cornbelt.

[grslightn]

Update...

The Kat is back running today and with more power and a smoother idle. I rebuilt the fuel petcock, disassembled and cleaned the carbs, replaced the fuel soaked air filter and changed the fuel saturated oil.

The small o-ring on the petcock was in bad shape. I was able to find solvent / ethanol safe Vitron o-ring in a multi pack at Advanced Auto for $4. The pack had both sizes needed for the petcock, my diaphragm was okay and sealing fine.

This was also my first time messing with carburetors. It was an easy job once I got the bowl screws out. All of the brass screw heads stripped so I had to dremel a slot for a standard screwdriver. Then I took my time to remove the jets and inspect the floats. The floats seemed to be functioning fine and I dissasembled and cleaned the jets. I went through 1 can of non-chlorinated carb cleaner as it is not as harsh on o-rings for $4. There was only a little varnish in the #4 bowl. I bought new carb bowl, steel hex/cap screws from Home Depot, 16- M4 x 10mm or M4 x 12mm, both sizes are short enough to use and they cost $4 total.

So for $70 and a nice weekend project the Kat is hopefully ready for another 15 years.