Petcock failure, I hope…

[Promagnaman]

I just bought a 2000 Interstate. The petcock just turns round and round. Do I need to replace the whole thing or just the plastic parts ?  Thanks for your help...

When I got my 01 std, it was the same way..found that the set control was never set into the petcock and of course the screw to lock it in was just flopping around inside the control..good thing that the cotter key was still in there..re-aligned and tightened it down, all is good now.


Thanks, I'll have to check it out when it warms up a little.  -2 degrees here in ND.

The only thing I see, that I don't like is the cutoff itself.

"Off" is midway between "On" and "RES".

If you don't get it right, can't feel the detent, you may have not shut the gas off!

It only takes a drip - drip -drip to cause a problem if there is a float valve issue in a carburetor.

I like the Pingel for the similar reason. Namely the "Off" is at one end of the swing,,, and "On" is at the other end.  Reserve is half way between.  The way I think it should be and no mistaking when turning it off.

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[John U.]

I just bought a 2000 Interstate. The petcock just turns round and round. Do I need to replace the whole thing or just the plastic parts ?  Thanks for your help...

The knob has a hole in the center and a phillips screw deep in that hole. If you remove that screw and a bolt to the left of the knob, the knob will come off. The problem could be  cracked plastic where the knob meets the petcock shaft.
You should be able to turn the shaft on the petcock with a wrench or pliers. If so you need to repair or replace the knob. If you don't know the service history of the petcock, run the bike and turn the fuel off. The bike should start to lose power in a couple of miles. If not you'll need to rebuild or replace the petcock. If the petcock leaks same deal. If the bike seems to starve for fuel check vacume hose to petcock, if good same deal, repair or replace.