Had it with the Vac Operated Petcock

[Willow]

Me to ...rode 49 miles last week with the oem in the off position ...thought my pingler would be here today but didnt show.....what are yalls thoughts on that one?//only thing i can think is is flowing all the time.....no good....

Certainly one possibility is the petcock is flowing despite being in the off position.

Another is that it wasn't truly in the off position.  If it isn't snapped precisely into the off position it isn't really off even though the arrow is pointing mostly toward the off label.

I believe in either of those cases the vacuum safeguard is intended to keep it from flowing when the engine isn't turning.

 

[Rocketman]

When I'm riding my Valkyrie with the gas on "off" , depending on my riding style I can go pretty far before a noticeable change in operation occurs.
The change then is very slight, like "what's going on" it doesn't seem to be running correctly.
If I continue on, then it will start to flutter and lose power, but still it will run.
It doesn't shut down the motor if the gas is off but rather starts to have individual carburetors run dry in the order they get their gasoline. Probably the ones further from the gas line first.
Just saying because I don't understand the reason for shutting the gas off prior to reaching the planned destination.
Seems a counterproductive exercise to me.

What do you call "pretty far"?  I can get roughly a mile.  If it goes significantly farther than that, I would question whether things are working as well as you think they are.
Yes, the Valkyrie definitely shuts down slowly.  It is shutting down when it starts to flutter, just hasn't shut down yet.
As for not understanding the reason for shutting gas off prior to reaching destination:
Why is it counterproductive?  It's extremely unlikely that gasoline in the lines will make it to the carbs without a failed petcock, but unlikely does not mean impossible.  Seems like one more line of defense to drain those lines.  Of course, if the petcock fails, the lines will refill and then some, but that has to be protected against via other methods, like testing the petcock operation periodically.
I see no downside, unless you overdo it and don't refill the carbs before you hit the starter.  That would cause it to take a moment more to start up, but that's it.

Mark

[Ricky-D]

Mark,  it would seem to me that if the best a Valkyrie could get is one mile further with the shutting off of the gas supply, that there has been modification to the carburetors such as jetting and/or needle changes, or there are performance problems associated with the motor.

I've had a Pingle for a couple of years now and know it is working properly. Most of my experiences are from failure to turn the gas to "on" when returning to ride, the fluttering starts and I then turn the gas "on". There are instances where this fluttering doesn't start for a few miles more that just "one".
And there are a few times where I just want to see how far I can go with the gas still tuned to the "off" position and find it is quite a few more miles after the stuttering has begun. Most all this is occurring in the urban setting and related speeds.

When I say "it seems counterproductive to me" I am saying I don't understand the goal (desired outcome) from turning the gas "off" prior to reaching the destination.

 

*

[sheets]

If one is familiar with "mile markers (even mile or half-mile)" (and/or "culvert markers" (@ .01 of a mile) on the highway, my driveway is at a 1.50 "mile" marker on a certain highway.  The gas pump I frequent is less than a .10 of a mile from where my route starts.  When I gas up. . .  and shut off "the gas" at the pump, by the time I reach my driveway (1.50) the beast is stuttering.  My driveway is a 0.10 mile long from highway to garage.  Without goosing the gas between here and there, I won't make it to the garage from the gas station.  Don't ask me how I know.  Ymmv,

Just a benchmark for the sake of discussion.  Yrmv,       

[Rocketman]

I can get a mile, or a little more, after shutting off, and before I notice it losing power.  This is my second Valkyrie that behaves in very similar fashion.  I can't say off the top of my head when it goes from losing power to dying completely.  I would expect some variation, but not massive variation.

I'll keep shutting off the fuel while the engine is running.  Sometimes I do that as I'm cruising in my last mile, sometimes while I'm sitting in my parking spot.  If the former, I've added a very slight safety margin.  If the latter, I've performed my shutdown habitual check.  Either way, I'm helping to ensure against hydrolock, and I'm not doing any harm.

[MP]

I get between one and two miles, and it starts losing power.

MP

[Chrisj CMA]

Mark,  it would seem to me that if the best a Valkyrie could get is one mile further with the shutting off of the gas supply, that there has been modification to the carburetors such as jetting and/or needle changes, or there are performance problems associated with the motor.

I've had a Pingle for a couple of years now and know it is working properly. Most of my experiences are from failure to turn the gas to "on" when returning to ride, the fluttering starts and I then turn the gas "on". There are instances where this fluttering doesn't start for a few miles more that just "one".
And there are a few times where I just want to see how far I can go with the gas still tuned to the "off" position and find it is quite a few more miles after the stuttering has begun. Most all this is occurring in the urban setting and related speeds.

When I say "it seems counterproductive to me" I am saying I don't understand the goal (desired outcome) from turning the gas "off" prior to reaching the destination.

 

*

All I can say is that the gas station I usually use is 1.1 miles from my house and I cannot get home from getting gas or get to the gas station if my gas was off .....been that way for 8 years, and my bike runs like new, never rejetted.  Every machine is different, but most valk owners I know report right about 1 mile not more than 2 miles on a shut off petcock as the normal range.  THat should in no way scare anyone into thinking they have a problem, very normal IMHO.  I used to turn my gas off .5 miles from home just to have less gas in the lines in case a hydrolock was going to try to happen.  I dont now that I have the pingel, but it still sounds like a not so bad idea if you think about it

[valkyriemc]

One thing I haven't heard yet, is when can I expect this failure to happen? Age, mileage?

I just bought a Valkyrie IS from Las Vegas, with 43K miles, and need to pick it up and ride it home the end of April, and can't afford to have this kind of preventable failure hapen while on my 1500 mile road tried. Should I get the dealer to quote and maybe replace it before I pick it up, or just chance it and do the job myself when I get it home?

I would be more interested if any rear end service has been performed, both changing the fluid, and Guard Dog-ing (moly grease) the final drive.

[gordonv]

One thing I haven't heard yet, is when can I expect this failure to happen? Age, mileage?

I just bought a Valkyrie IS from Las Vegas, with 43K miles, and need to pick it up and ride it home the end of April, and can't afford to have this kind of preventable failure hapen while on my 1500 mile road tried. Should I get the dealer to quote and maybe replace it before I pick it up, or just chance it and do the job myself when I get it home?

I would be more interested if any rear end service has been performed, both changing the fluid, and Guard Dog-ing (moly grease) the final drive.

I had the dealer send me the owners manual, and I thought I looked through to see what might need to be done now, before the ride, but I don't remember seeing anything immediate that couldn't wait till I get the bike home.

Wouldn't the items you mention have been done (should have) when the wheel is replaced? So the condition of the wheel would say how long ago this would have been.

[junior]

i got sick of the factory petcock and bought a pingle, did you know that there has been such a demand for them that they have one just for the valk?, mine cost me about 100.00

[valkyriemc]

One thing I haven't heard yet, is when can I expect this failure to happen? Age, mileage?

I just bought a Valkyrie IS from Las Vegas, with 43K miles, and need to pick it up and ride it home the end of April, and can't afford to have this kind of preventable failure hapen while on my 1500 mile road tried. Should I get the dealer to quote and maybe replace it before I pick it up, or just chance it and do the job myself when I get it home?

I would be more interested if any rear end service has been performed, both changing the fluid, and Guard Dog-ing (moly grease) the final drive.

I had the dealer send me the owners manual, and I thought I looked through to see what might need to be done now, before the ride, but I don't remember seeing anything immediate that couldn't wait till I get the bike home.

Wouldn't the items you mention have been done (should have) when the wheel is replaced? So the condition of the wheel would say how long ago this would have been.

Yes.

[rmrc51]

i got sick of the factory petcock and bought a pingle, did you know that there has been such a demand for them that they have one just for the valk?, mine cost me about 100.00

I went with the Pingel as well!

[paul]

Installed pingle last night....Works like a charm when you turn the fuel to off she actually runs out of gas and in short order...The OEM fliter was all but rotted out ....

[Rio Wil]

Hey Paul...this subject has been beat to death, but permit me a small curiosity.  When you say it runs out of gas in "short order", are you meaning in a few seconds or in a couple of minutes.  Most valks can go a mile or so with the fuel turned off and that takes more than a few seconds. I guess the thought is, if there is something wrong with the flow capacity of the valve to allow the carbs to empty quickly at idle (when the pingle is turned off,) is there enough flow at higher rpms (with the valve turned on) to keep from possible running the engine excessively lean and maybe feel a bit short on power.....not trying to stir the pot, just wondering...

[Rocketman]

I was assuming that he meant with a mile or two, but for discussion's sake:
If the petcock was not able to keep up with the demand at idle, the engine wouldn't run for very long at high speed.  It would quickly get to the point where it could not keep up speed.
As for the flow being restricted but not shut off, causing the floats to run low:
It would have to be a restriction in a very small range.  At any given rpm, it's going to want X amount of fuel.  If the petcock can't provide X, the float bowls will drain.  As that level goes down, the engine then runs lean, using some smaller amount.  At some point, the engine can't maintain speed, or if at idle, can't maintain it running at all.  So, if the amount the petcock can provide is somewhere between X and the rate at which the engine dies, then it could run lean.  If it's less, it'll just die.  Maybe slowly, but it will die.  I am guessing that "lean running" flow rate window is very small.

/engineerspeak

Not sure if that made sense, or was even worthwhile.  That's what you get at 2:40 AM.

[Rio Wil]

just curious ya know...lol.....isn't that what killed the cat.  think thats what invented teflon too..