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t595 tank issue

3K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  $hporty 
#1 ·




My 99 blew a head gasket so I couldn't resist this nice looking 97 T595 with 17K miles for 1100 bucks.

Of course it comes with problems:laugh2:. I heard it briefly run and money traveled from one hand to the other.

The owner, an aircraft mechanic, explained that he was tired of trying to fix a stubborn tank leak somewhere at the metal plate and that the fueling was "wonky" with the bike "seemingly starving for fuel" on acceleration.

After disassembling the tank I noticed that he had replaced the usual female fittings with metal ones that have no shut off valves and require a smaller fuel hose about half the diameter of the stock ones. He added an extra length of fuel hose so he could remove the tank with hoses attached. He also epoxied over the two metal drain holes on the left side of the tank that are usually connected to two hoses that empty under the bike.

So before I Caswell the tank, replace the fittings with the usual metal shut off ones with new hoses, new plate gasket, new internal fuel hoses etc. I am a little worried about those epoxied over drain holes since I don't completely understand their function.

Two questions:

What purpose do the drain holes serve? More importantly could closing them off (epoxy) cause a leak?

Could the no shut off metal tank fitting and smaller fuel hose cause a running issue or somehow contribute to a fuel leak?


Many thanks in advance.
 

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#2 ·
So - the two metal drain nipples are important - one is the tank vent!!! (You absolutely need that one!) and the other is the scupper drain from the filler neck (to drain water, not just fuel over-fill). They normally have rubber hoses which drain to the ground,
Those nipples screw into tubes which run up through the inside of the tank (when you remove the pump they will be obvious)
It is not uncommon to get perforation in those tubes - I had this myself!!!! - and fuel from the main cell leaks into the tubes and runs out. It really sounds like this was the issue that the PO 'thought' he was fixing.
I fixed mine originally by painting some epoxy over the area on the tube with the hole (I could actually see the hole in my case) - latterly I sealed the entire tank with Caswell Plating Epoxy Tank Liner.
I would suggest you do similar (you can break out a small amount of Caswell for the initial coat on the tubes, before doing the whole tank once it cures) - or get some JB Weld for the initial coat on the tubes, paint it on with a throw-away brush.
When using the Caswell use the whole batch! the suggested 'half' will never cover the whole tank - there is a LOT of surface area in there.

Hopefully he just epoxied the nipples and not into the tubes themselves! If so, they will need to opened up - even if not epoxied, you may still need to push a thin wire or similar through to ensure the tubes are open all the way through.

p.s. if you do a search in this forum (or maybe the Speed Triple forum) on Caswell Plating you will surely find previous threads which have some good pics showing those tubes inside the tank
Edit - here you go

 
#4 ·
Thanks for the response DEcosse. Thanks for explaining the function of those two internal hoses.

I previously used your suggestion of coating those internal hoses for a leak issue I had with the 99. Worked well.

The epoxy the PO used to cover the drain nipples is hard as a rock. Any thoughts on how I might remove this stuff without damaging the tank?
 
#6 ·
Some people have no clue! That is so ridiculous, makes me annoyed and its not even my bike!
The big question is, how could it possibly have been venting - was it not creating a vacuum in the tank as it was running?

Still might be worth trying to salvage - start with very small drill but ensure is smaller than the thread and ultimately you will need to run a tap in there.
But worth a shot I think, especially if the tank otherwise looks pretty good.
I can't tell you what thread that is I'm afraid - if you can access the other one you can maybe try some screws to see what fits - SWAG at maybe M6 (but it just might be a pipe-thread)
As long as you can open the hole up (especially if its the vent), even if you don't get a perfect seal on inserting the nipple (you can always use PTFE tape or some sealer) - normally there would be nothing in the tubes anyway (the problem with gas leaking from there is only if you have a leak in the tube ..... or overfill it) - so as long as you get it open it's probably not even critical you put another nipple in there.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Was now able to free up what I think is the vent but I'm now trying to wrap my head around some other potential problems.

My new to me 97 T595 VIN 048908 is obviously one of the early ones and I've already noticed many subtle differences between it and my 99 955i so part of the fun is figuring out what is stock and what might have been more bodges by the seller.

Hopefully the pictures of the fuel cell will load. It looks like he might have welded on a piece of pipe which leads up to the fuel filter? At any rate the whole thing looks slightly different than T595 pics I've gathered from internet sources. Am I correct in this?

The tank internals are dark brown. Hard to tell if that is stock or if he coated it. From what I remember the Caswell sealer does not come out dark brown but a lighter color. Yes? The original coating was yellow or orange?
 

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