hydrolock #3 cyclinder 2 options to fix help me decide

[roadmap]

 1. ok i need and already checked out dan-marc electric shut off 38.85.  does this last a while???
 
 i had for the last few yrs a pingle vacuum valve  but it leaks now you could smell gas in the garage and see gas stains on the valve covers. so i just lightly hit the starter till it hit 3 and stopped gas was pushed back up through the carb and leaked out then hit the starter frozen. removed the left side plugs one plug dripping in gas then hit the starter again ok moving freely hit it hard  everything seems ok
really trying to decide witch way to go,,,, rebuild the pingle vacuum petcock and put new small jets in the carbs and a complete cleaning wonder about the cost for this any ideals??
 or just do the dan-marc thing remove the bowls clean out and run a couple cans of seafoam this way i know the cost would be about 60.00 and some gas to go to church and band-aids for the knuckles i scrape i might say a few bads words

2. one last thing is there anything you all are using beside seafoam to clean the carbs up????

1997 valk 155000 now this is my second time i am down first time was in the canadian rockies i threw my yoke. hey now that was a fun trip  second break down i would say this hydrolock even though the petcock gave me allot of trouble over the yrs left the bike stock  original owner 10-25-1996 it has been fun to own,, been there done that got the t-shirt

[John Schmidt]

FWIW, about five years ago, maybe longer....I went with a manual Pingel, DanMarc shutoff, and an inline external filter. Reason for the external filter was because I had extended the length of the Pingel pickup tube to match the OEM petcock. That gave me the same reserve as the OEM but prevented me from using the Pingel intake screen inside the tank. Just be sure all tubing runs downhill from the  petcock. Some haven't done so and experience fuel starvation when the tank gets low. As for the DanMarc...no problems.

[Pete]

It is not the small jets you need to worry about.

You had 2 failures the petcock and the FLOAT VALVE on number 3 cylinder.

If could be trash or gas tank rust preventing the float valve from sealing.
Or it could be a bad soft tip on the float valve.

[Patrick]

Personally, I suggest a manual pingle[ with a pre-flight/post-flight checklist to make sure you use it ], in-line filter and a good flushing of the offending carburetor.. Keep tapping the start button to help prevent damage and see if the problem is corrected, it'll let you know within short order..

[MarkT]

I installed the Dan-Marc, de-smogged at the same time to help make pulling the airbox worth it.  http://www.horseapple.com/Valkyrie/Tech_Tips/Fuel_Shutoff/fuel_shutoff.html

I think I have the hydrolock problem prevented.  Don't have confidence in the petcock, but with an IS tank I almost never get into the reserve anyway.  However, if I was to go much past the normal reserve point in miles while still on main I wouldn't assume I was suddenly getting great mileage - I'd assume it's that cursed petcock again.  I might yet install a Pingel but I'd probably modify it so I can continue to use the OEM handle extension.  I might also install a filter when I get a round tuit just because I think it should have one - I've cleaned sand out of the petcock more than once so you can't assume gas is clean out of the pump - even name brand gas.  (The story is, different brands of gas come from the same refinery anyway)  I'd like it if a proper filter could be installed INSIDE the tank, complete with main & reserve inlets.  Hey, there's a product idea...

[bscrive]

Last fall I decided to rebuild my oe petcock.  I didn't have problems, I just figured that after 11 years it should be done for preventative maintenance.  At the same time I put on a Dan-Marc shutoff and an inline fuel filter, even though I replaced the oe one in the tank.  As for the vacuum line I highly doubt it is going to leak with the new kit installed. 

[Ricky-D]

My main complaint with the stock Valkyrie petcock is the positions of the knob when finding the working functions.

The "reserve" and "on" functions are at the extremes of the turns of the knob,,,, with "off" being in the middle of the turning.

Thant means you have to depend upon your touch and feel  in determining if your gas is actually and fully turned "off".

The spring and ball within the petcock is not all that easy to feel so there will be times that it may be dripping a little gas if allowed to.

Honda could have taken a little more time in designing it, I feel.

***

[Evie]

I don't get it.    Have 110K on my I/S, run to reserve frequently and the only time it see's off is when I remove the tank.   Seem's to me the OE is a pretty good product.   Why would anyone want to use anything else?

[Ricky-D]

I don't get it.    Have 110K on my I/S, run to reserve frequently and the only time it see's off is when I remove the tank.   Seem's to me the OE is a pretty good product.   Why would anyone want to use anything else?

I think you are in the majority for sure.

You only hear about the problems on the forum never the other way.

That is how it should be. Helps other with the same complaints.

Honda is the best when comparing to all the others. A lot seem to forget that,,, very easily.

With all the thousands of Honda's on the road, and the long life of the units if becomes hard to understand all the bashing, that occasionally surfaces, which I attribute mostly to ignorance.

***

[valkyriemc]

I don't get it.    Have 110K on my I/S, run to reserve frequently and the only time it see's off is when I remove the tank.   Seem's to me the OE is a pretty good product.   Why would anyone want to use anything else?

Go to old tech archives, search "petcock", and see what comes up from years of issues. There are literally hundreds (high hundreds) of posts regarging this subject.