Petcock & Hydro lock question

[Dan-bury]

Over on the New England board there has been talk and questions re: hydro lock. Now I am sure I am opening up an oil thread like ordeal here but just have a few questions for personal information.
         
1) Has anyone that actually always shuts off the petcock manually had a hydro lock problem??

2) From the folks that have had hydro lock, how long was it between rides. (IE: daily rider or once a month Sunday rides)   

3) What cylinder or any other info from those that have had it happen.

Thank you in advance for any info.

[Rocketman]

1)  During the short time that I had the stock petcock, I had three hydrolocks when not turned off.  Zero when it was turned off.  Since then, I have had the Pingle.  Zero hydrolocks, and I turn it off all the time.

2) Doesn't seem to matter.  One of my locks occured after I arrived at my destination, then went back outside ~5 hours later.  Of course, the problem existed when I bought the Valkyrie, so the problem may have been caused by neglect, I don't know.  The actual leaking doesn't take long, though.  Depends on the size of the leak, of course.

3)  If it's leaking through the vacuum line, it will be #6.  Otherwise, it's a crapshoot.  Which one will be defined by which carb has a leaky needle.

[Dan-bury]

Thank You Rocketman, awesome info.

[98valk]

Re: Another hydrolock question

Posted By: 98valk <fitness7days@nospam.juno.com>
Date: 9/4/2008 at 12:30:31

In Response To: Another hydrolock question (G-Man (Gary in NY))

this is from Rider mag sept 1988 about the '88 goldwing Gl1500.
they had the hydro-lock problem and it turned out to be the bowl vent hose was sagging. "the low spotfills with gas and prevents air circulation, much like a sink trap. without a connection to atmosphere, the float bowls pressurize and raw fuel is forced up and out of the carbs through the needle jet. From there gravity takes the fuel down the intake runners. if that cylinder has an open intake valve, hydrolock." "The article states that honda issued a Product Update kit on a fix in feb of that yr which included a metal air-vent pipe and a vacuum fuel valve."
Looking at the service manual pics in the carb section it shows the vent hoses as straight sections just laying loosely on top of other hoses. My 98's vent hoses have a 90 degree end. the end is installed into holes in the rear carb support frame.
So this might be the reason and cause of the problem for some bikes.

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/forum/vrcc_tech.cgi?noframes;read=1274246

honda service bulletin fix

http://www.goldwingworld.com/pages/sb1.pdf

[Patrick]

I always turn the fuel off, habit.. I had a fuel-lock with the Valk after it had been sitting for about an hour[ fuel off, OEM valve].. The OEM valves are noted for leaking when in the off position, the little ball doesn't always sit right.. A Pingle was installed immediately  with no problems since..

[Dan-bury]

Again more Thanks,  I use my OEM valve every time and although have not had a problem in the 80k miles as of yet, I am not naive enough to think I am above a problem. I like info from real experiences to help with my decision if I decide to make a change. 

[Tropic traveler]

Middle cylinder left bank. Happened overnight with the petcock off.
Three things had to happen.
1} Rust/crap in gas tank had to get past the in-tank filter screen.
2} Petcock had to fail.
3} Aforementioned rust/crap from gas tank had to lodge itself under needle & seat on the carb.
This happened to my '97 in 2007 with 78,000 miles. Thank God no damage! Tank was rusty inside which I think is the initial problem. Even if you have NO petcock of any sort or a positive never fail fuel shut off, trash under the needle & seat is the root cause of the problem & will cause a problem of some sort sooner or later.
I put a new stock petcock back on because I like the convienence of the stock design. I had the tank cleaned & coated plus I installed an extra in-line fuel filter. Since then we have purchased 2 more Valks, both of them with non functioning stock petcocks {no reserve is how I noticed}, both from sitting around not being ridden much. Neither one caused a hydro-lock because they have had no needle & seat issues. Both gas tanks look to be MUCH cleaner than my '97 was. Used the Honda petcock rebuild kit & replaced the screen on both of them & the reserve function is fixed.
That's my story.

[Rocketman]

Re: Another hydrolock question

Posted By: 98valk <fitness7days@nospam.juno.com>
Date: 9/4/2008 at 12:30:31

In Response To: Another hydrolock question (G-Man (Gary in NY))

this is from Rider mag sept 1988 about the '88 goldwing Gl1500.
they had the hydro-lock problem and it turned out to be the bowl vent hose was sagging. "the low spotfills with gas and prevents air circulation, much like a sink trap. without a connection to atmosphere, the float bowls pressurize and raw fuel is forced up and out of the carbs through the needle jet. From there gravity takes the fuel down the intake runners. if that cylinder has an open intake valve, hydrolock." "The article states that honda issued a Product Update kit on a fix in feb of that yr which included a metal air-vent pipe and a vacuum fuel valve."
Looking at the service manual pics in the carb section it shows the vent hoses as straight sections just laying loosely on top of other hoses. My 98's vent hoses have a 90 degree end. the end is installed into holes in the rear carb support frame.
So this might be the reason and cause of the problem for some bikes.

I don't understand this.  First, I didn't think there was an active vent for the bowls, but I may be wrong there.
Second, even it that vent is clogged, how would that cause fuel to rise up?  No matter whether there is an overpressure or not, the floats should stop the fuel from flowing into the bowls.  If the float (or the petcock) is not stopping flow, then there shouldn't be any source for the fuel to overflow, or source for more air to pressurize the bowl and force the existing flow.

What am I missing?