Tweet
So I just had the carbs cleaned on my 2004 600 katana, and after I parked the thing overnight in the garage I went out there and there was the overpowering smell of fuel. For some reason I decided to turn the petcock from 'on' to reserve/prime and back to 'on' and noticed fuel leaking from it. So I took off the tank to have a closer look, and sure enough the insides of the bike were soaked in fuel underneath where the petcock sits. I then went over to the tank which was sitting on the ground and twisted the petcock from on, to reserve (or prime... whatever) and back to 'on' and it started DRAINING fuel while in the on position as if it were still in prime. I took the petcock apart and nothing seemed to be wrong with the insides, except I suspect perhaps the spring might be too weak to force the seal shut when I turn it back to the on position (although I didn't notice anything visibly wrong with the spring... it just felt weak). As it stands now, anytime the fuel line is above the petcock (whenever I tip the fuel tank right side up) and the petcock is in the on position, fuel runs out of the thing like there's no tomorrow.
Does anyone have any ideas from this brief description what could be wrong? Does it sound like the spring is worn out (too weak) or am I missing an o-ring problem? There doesn't seem to be anything visibly wrong with the o-rings when I took it apart. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
okay, so I just found this from the katrider petcock wiki:
---
A Katana petcock is said to be defective when any of the following issues occur:
1. The petcock permits the flow of fuel in RES or ON without the engine running; this is the most common failure. This is typically caused by either debris [usually rust] build-up in the vacuum-diaphragm passage that the spring would shut off (debris), or by the spring itself no longer being strong enough to do the job (defective spring), or by the synthetic rubber diaphragm being torn/defective. These issues can normally be resolved with a petcock rebuild kit.
---
So if my problem is debris in the vaccum-diaphragm passage, shouldn't I be able to visibly see that and clear it? Likewise, shouldn't I be able to see/feel the diaphragm being torn? I'm guessing the spring is worn, but it seems odd that the spring would no longer be strong enough on a 2004 katana (not that old, obviously).
Does anyone have any ideas from this brief description what could be wrong? Does it sound like the spring is worn out (too weak) or am I missing an o-ring problem? There doesn't seem to be anything visibly wrong with the o-rings when I took it apart. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
okay, so I just found this from the katrider petcock wiki:
---
A Katana petcock is said to be defective when any of the following issues occur:
1. The petcock permits the flow of fuel in RES or ON without the engine running; this is the most common failure. This is typically caused by either debris [usually rust] build-up in the vacuum-diaphragm passage that the spring would shut off (debris), or by the spring itself no longer being strong enough to do the job (defective spring), or by the synthetic rubber diaphragm being torn/defective. These issues can normally be resolved with a petcock rebuild kit.
---
So if my problem is debris in the vaccum-diaphragm passage, shouldn't I be able to visibly see that and clear it? Likewise, shouldn't I be able to see/feel the diaphragm being torn? I'm guessing the spring is worn, but it seems odd that the spring would no longer be strong enough on a 2004 katana (not that old, obviously).
Comment