WTF!! OEM replacement petcock allows fuel flow in "OFF" position

[CoachDoc]

I replaced my original petcock a couple of months ago after I accidentally ran the bike with the petcock OFF and discovered that the engine ran forever that way= no fuel shutoff.

It didn't occur to me to check the brand new OEM petcock until I started reading the recent petcock thread on this board the last couple of days. Today I left the petcock OFF and discovered I could ride 16 miles to work and 16 miles back home with the petcock in that OFF position. WTF??? Am I missing something, or did I just get a lemon of a replacement petcock. Those things are friggin' expensive and I am pissed. Replaced it and I still have the same problem. My tank is nice and clean and there was no rust residue or sediment apparent when I switched the petcocks. Any ideas? What the heck is going on?

[Bone]

Can you feel the indent when you reach the off position or hear a click ?

[CoachDoc]

Yes, I'm always careful to feel for the click when the respective positions are reached. It seems to lock in ok, and my old one also did but neither shut the fuel off in the OFF position.

[hubcapsc]

Yes, I'm always careful to feel for the click when the respective positions are reached. It seems to lock in ok, and my old one also did but neither shut the fuel off in the OFF position.

Something's probably wrong with your new valve and you'll probably have to take it
off and have a look at it... but as sort of a what-if idea...

It might be possible to put the dial back on oriented differently than how
is is supposed to be...

noon - reserve
9       - off
6       - on

-Mike

[pago cruiser]

Dang; that's not supposed to happen  .  Was the OEM new one ordered (meaning current Honda stock), or was it sitting on a local dealers shelf for awhile?  If sitting around for a few years, I'm thinking maybe the internal diaphragm got hard and is not seating?

Regardless, hopefully your dealership will take it back and exchange you with a NEW, functional one.

Please post the outcome.

[Chrisj CMA]

My thought is that if both valves did the same thing, there is a better chance its the mounting situation on the bike, not the valve.

If you have engine hangar covers or anything else that uses the bolts and spacers for the hangars then its quite likely the alignment of the switch to the valve is off and preventing it from working properly, or that you simply have the position of the switch in relation to the valve wrong.  Your "off" may not really be OFF.  Go through all three positions if you get a click at the top, middle (forward) and bottom then that would be right, if you get a click somewhere around the 3 o'clock position, then its wrong

[CoachDoc]

My thought is that if both valves did the same thing, there is a better chance its the mounting situation on the bike, not the valve.

If you have engine hangar covers or anything else that uses the bolts and spacers for the hangars then its quite likely the alignment of the switch to the valve is off and preventing it from working properly, or that you simply have the position of the switch in relation to the valve wrong.  Your "off" may not really be OFF.  Go through all three positions if you get a click at the top, middle (forward) and bottom then that would be right, if you get a click somewhere around the 3 o'clock position, then its wrong

Chris, I do note that the switch is a bit off kilter.....i.e. the top "reserve" position is at roughly 2 o'clock rather than 12 o'clock........that's just the way it went back together. I'll post a picture later today when I get home. I'm wondering if this might be the problem.

[Chrisj CMA]

it is possible to have the switch mis-aligned with the valve body and that would throw off the settings...........if RES is near 2 o'clock then ON would be near 8-9 o'clock

[CoachDoc]

it is possible to have the switch mis-aligned with the valve body and that would throw off the settings...........if RES is near 2 o'clock then ON would be near 8-9 o'clock

Yep, that's exactly how it is right now. When I installed this replacement that just seemed to be the way it went back together. Anyone have a method to insure the switch and the actual valve are aligned correctly? I had thought the detentes would automaticall lock in at the right positions......may not be the case.

[Chrisj CMA]

it is possible to have the switch mis-aligned with the valve body and that would throw off the settings...........if RES is near 2 o'clock then ON would be near 8-9 o'clock

Yep, that's exactly how it is right now. When I installed this replacement that just seemed to be the way it went back together. Anyone have a method to insure the switch and the actual valve are aligned correctly? I had thought the detentes would automaticall lock in at the right positions......may not be the case.

When I had the OEM I used OFF as the reference.  Using pliers I turned the square post to the three positions verifying it rested in the OFF position if I had any question as to the setting.  Then when attaching the switch, just make darned sure its set to OFF and you don't turn it while attaching it.  Pretty simple.

[Gavin_Sons]

Send that piece of crap back and go buy a pingle. Dont know how much an oem is but a pingle runs around 100 bucks.

[Ricky-D]

Regarding some types of operation problems with the OEM petcock,

over the years has been discovered the importance of insuring

the axis of the petcock stem and the plastic knob stem are in alignment.

The other important item was the tightening of the screw inside

the plastic knob stem. If any axis misalignment occurred, tightening the

screw exacerbated the aforementioned problems.

***

[hubcapsc]

Regarding some types of operation problems with the OEM petcock,

over the years has been discovered the importance of insuring

the axis of the petcock stem and the plastic knob stem are in alignment.

The other important item was the tightening of the screw inside

the plastic knob stem. If any axis misalignment occurred, tightening the

screw exacerbated the aforementioned problems.

***

What he said... the little plastic knob needs not to be in any kind of bind
WRT to the actual mechanism on the petcock... I bet a lot of people's
axes are misaligned... an o-ring keeps the petcock from leaking where
it threads into the tank... it is easy to have the petcock less-than-square
with the plastic knob.

-Mike "axis misalignment - a good description..."

[John Lane]

When I rebuilt mine I replaced the guts and tested it. I put a piece of tubing on the outlet and pulled a vacuum on it (by mouth) in the closed position with a small brake bleeder manual vac pump on the vac line. Opened it and had flow (yucky taste). Manually it worked fine. Next I put it in the on position and removed the vacuum from the vacuum line. It shut with no flow (no yucky taste), test repeated in the reserve position. Bench test good to go. On road test off position bike covered 2 miles and started cutting out in the off position. Same result with vacuum line pinched shut. If these results didn't occur I would have had to replace the whole valve. Rebuild kit was $17 and just had the diaphragms so a manually valve body failure would not be corrected with the kit.