Bad day or Good day?

[DaveM]

Well I am not riding today.

Not by choice mind you, I like to get out and melt my tyres every Saturday and Sunday of every weekend of the year + holidays practically ride every day.

I have been having a bit of fun with those durn pesky fuel fittings!

My machine is an '04 Sprint ST with just a micron under 51000kms of mountain riding under her belt.

Shortly after I bought her at the first service there was a fuel fitting recall and the crummy plastic gismos were replaced with superior metal bits after a series of obviously not desirable leaks had occurred.

Normally I meet guys at a servo or gas up on the way and I always start my rides at dawn or before.

Yesterday (Saturday down here) I gassed up late arvo and did my tyre pressures as always thinking I would save a bit of time in the morning and have a cracking early start.

Just after I got home I smell gas in the garage and find my 98 octane fuel was starting to pour out onto sensitive bits.......... like running down the underside of my swingarm and dripping onto my new rear medium comp race tyre Grrrrrr.

After very desperately wheeling her out back (two way drive through garage is handy) onto the concrete and start pulling off the seat and side fairing so I can get to the leaky bits.

It was leaking from the plastic female connector that screws into the fuel pump thingo..........bugger!!!

I found by removing the male metal connector and plugging the end of it with a metal shelf support with plumbers tape on it I jammed this in there and stopped the leak, I also stopped my riding!

I will get the shop to pick her up as it is booked in anyway for new chain sprockets and cush drive stuff which are all totally shagged.

Ho Hum. and all that.

The upside is if this had happened like this morning and I went on my normal ride, you might have had a different post here today from my wife saying I had a bad crash. As OND says fuel + rubber + NO traction and I use every mm of my tyres..............both of 'em.

So I guess it was a good day afterall.

DaveM

[DEcosse]

Originally Posted by DaveM

...It was leaking from the plastic female connector that screws into the fuel pump thingo..........bugger!!!

I found by removing the male metal connector and plugging the end of it with a metal shelf support with plumbers tape on it I jammed this in there and stopped the leak....

That's a strange one Dave -
Not that leaks at these fittings are unusual just a deduction based on how you stopped it that at first seems obvious but I think there's more to it.
First, since you were able to stuff something up the inside & stop it leaking, that means you have a not so untypical dry-break leak - the o'rings shrink/perish & don't seal any more. But this is not a problem when the male is connected as it passes gas (ahem!) through the orifice that the o ring only requires to seal against, when the male fitting is removed.
But you have no external leak on that fitting, which says the female connection itself is not the source of the external leak - although of course it should be replaced because you need that to seal when servicing tank etc.
But if leaking externally when the male is connected, that probably means that the o'ring on the male fitting is actually the one that is defective & causing your external leak (or alternatively where it connects on the hose)
Does that make sense?

But yes - very pleased this did not happen when you were at 30 degrees!

[nmendham]

G'Day Dave,

that sucks man - hope you're not going stir crazy!

Cheers,

Neil

[DaveM]

Thanks Neil and Ken,
I am going stir crazy, it has been a very long time I can't remember even when I haven't had a bike lately.

Yes Ken I think that is correct what you have said. As you all know I am not very good at the tech stuff, but I made myself get very "Heath Robinson" very quickly yesterday afternoon!

Ken I put a tank of fuel in by mistake with enthanol in a couple of weeks ago could that attack the O ring thingy?

We do not have much ethanol fuel here and I normally run BP Ultimate 98 or Caltex Vortex 98 or Mobil 8000 Synergy 98.

Either that or maybe our crappy roads have made it crack the plastic. My suspension is modified and I ride a very firmly set up bike, at the rear in particular.

cheers,
DaveM

[NotSoFast]

DaveM-I know that on older bikes ethanol and the crappy gas we have here in California can attack rubber parts made out of some types of material. They put in additives that are supposed to help keep the air clean.

Newer bikes have "o" rings and such made out of tougher stuff, so whether this is your problem I'm not sure but it's a possibility in my experience.

[iceman]

..... Dave - bad that it happened but good the way it happened - could have been a lot worse.

Anyway I bet your tires were relieved to find they had the weekend off

Grant

[Tankman]

Dave,
thinking of you as I wheel the Dozer out of the Barn and get ready to take her and Mrs Tankman out for a mother's day lunch in town. Never mind mate! Just put your feet up turn on the V8's and have a day off.

Cya The Tankman

[ruscook]

What Tankman said Dave. I won't whinge about having to work instead of going or a ride then. At least I got to ride to work.

Good luck with the bike.
Russ

[KitNYC]

Dave-

Sorry to hear your bike is having leakage issues, but I'm glad it's that & not traction issues!

Just to make you feel better, here's a picture of the rear brake pads I pulled off today:



I thought they were kinda squeaky...

Seriously, I doubt your issue is with ethanol. I have used 10% ethanol fuel almost exclusively as long as I've been riding, in a 1980 Kawasaki & '96 & '04 Triumphs. I think maybe 2 or 3 of the 25-ish tanks I went through on my trip were ethanol-free; you just can't get pure gasoline here. The Kwaka & the Trident both suffered catastrophic engine failure, but I think the Kwaka suffered from my learning how to wrench & the 'dent suffered from previous owners & undocumented miles.

Sorry for the rambling, I'll hush up now.

Cheers,
-Kit

[DaveM]

Ok here is a bit of an update;

I had the shop pick up my bike this morning as obviously I can't ride it with 98 octane pissing all over the exhaust etc. (as well as that I have already disconnected the fuel line and bunged it)

Kit, you are right about it not being the fuel I asked the service dept manager today and he said that wouldn't do it so obviously those "0" rings are Ethanol proof, which is what you State side fellas are saying. Not much of our fuel has ethanol in it yet.
BTW those brake pads do look just a teensy weeny bit worn mate!

DEcosse,
the service guys havent taken the tank off yet but the workshop manager tells me that the plastic female connectors (which are still plastic BTW) are susceptible to cracking with age and use. I guess they can get easily bumped during a service etc especially in a busy workshop senario.

He said they have had to replace them on Sprints before although it isn't all that common.

So without them lifting the tank it would appear to be nothing to do with "0" rings at all.

When I get it back I should have my new sprockets, chain and cush drive fitted also.

cheers,
DaveM