Strange petcock issue

[BamaDrifter64]

I bought a second Valk this summer and haven't been able to ride much due to work.  Maybe close to 500 miles on it.  Previous owner never touched petcock, so I haven't either.  Planning to do like my other bike & install a Pingel this winter.  Anyways, got it out this Saturday morning for about 30 miles and filled it up before going home.  Noticed gas smell coming from it that afternoon but didn't see any gas under it, so shrugged it off.  Got in from church Sunday noon and wife said she smelled gas and there was a puddle under the bike.  I checked it and there was a small puddle under the bike.  Checked the petcock and it was dripping off the bottom of it so I figured it had gone bad on me.  Figured the bike would be sitting there for awhile, so turned the petcock to off.  That seems to have stopped the leak completely, which confuses me.  The whole bottom of the petcock appeared to be wet and I saw drips from the bottom of the petcock itself.  Now no drips, no wetness, not even a gas smell.  Any explanations?

Dave

[gordonv]

First, from what I have read, not personal experience.

The dripping sounds like dripping from the weep hole in the bottom of the petcock.

As for why, if it isn't doing it anymore, I would think it is because it wasn't in the correct position, and was leaking by the ball stop inside. By changing the position, you allowed it to seat properly, and not drip past it.

I'm sure others will reply, and you'll get a better feel for what to check.

I like the oem petcock, others will just tell you to change to a pingle and get ride of this "weak link".

[Mo Lee]

Having mine apart right now waiting for the rebuild kit, it has two diaphrams inside I guess one could be called a vac diaphram and the other a fuel, the weep hole is between these two. I think if I read your post correctly the fuel was not shut off until you noticed the leak. This would indicate the fuel diaphram has a hole in it. Appears the way this thing works is one side has the ball shut off and if and only if it is turned on then the vac shut off comes into play and opens the fuel flow to the carbs with the engine running.

[hubcapsc]

My buddy's Valkyrie started leaking from the weep hole when his diaphragm
went  bad like this:



The PO of his bike knew about it, and had "fixed" it like this:



Since the gas couldn't drip out at the weep hole, it filled up the petcock body
and ran down the vacuum hose to carb #6... I'm glad he didn't get a
hydrolock before we fixed it, but it did shoot raw gas out of the end of the mufflers and
from the holes in the bottoms of the mufflers (where condensation drips out) when
he started it.

-Mike

[Chiefy]

My buddy's Valkyrie started leaking from the weep hole when his diaphragm
went  bad like this:

The PO of his bike knew about it, and had "fixed" it like this:

Since the gas couldn't drip out at the weep hole, it filled up the petcock body
and ran down the vacuum hose to carb #6... I'm glad he didn't get a
hydrolock before we fixed it, but it did shoot raw gas out of the end of the mufflers and
from the holes in the bottoms of the mufflers (where condensation drips out) when
he started it.

-Mike

LOL, if the PO had a slow leak, I guess he would have pumped the tires up to 100 psi.

[Fritz The Cat]

My buddy's Valkyrie started leaking from the weep hole when his diaphragm
went  bad like this:

The PO of his bike knew about it, and had "fixed" it like this:

Since the gas couldn't drip out at the weep hole, it filled up the petcock body
and ran down the vacuum hose to carb #6... I'm glad he didn't get a
hydrolock before we fixed it, but it did shoot raw gas out of the end of the mufflers and
from the holes in the bottoms of the mufflers (where condensation drips out) when
he started it.

-Mike

LOL, if the PO had a slow leak, I guess he would have pumped the tires up to 100 psi.

Good idea.