Fuel Leak

[Poor Ol Harry]

While stoping for a cold drink ,I had a seat beside my 1999 IS, 60K miles.....I was sitting eye level with bottom of the tank on the curb side....... just below where the seat & tank meet there is a window of daylight about as big as your hand with a few hoses in sight..........I noticed a small hose or cable 1/4 inch or + running front to rear & not up & down was dripping tiny drips of gas as if it was coming from up above & dripping at that point.........I have heard horrow stories about petcock problems.I have never moved the valve off/res in the 2+ yrs. I have had it.Is this drip a warning or any pointers on what to look for.The bike is parked with fuel valve turned to off                                                           HARRY

[Ricky-D]

Yep, a good indication that there is a problem with the petcock.

And you must see that turning it off stopped the gas dripping?

***

[Mildew]

Those 2 petcock diaphrams inside are just nickle size and very, very thin like a balloon. When I took mine apart out of my 98 model recently, I just stretched them a little and saw daylight as it was tearing from dryrotting. I'd say it's time to fix it. Since your not in the habbit to turn yours off, I would buy the rebuild kit for 20-35 bucks.  That way the vacuum part will more than likely save you but it's better to get in the habbit to turn it off imho