HYDROLOCK POLL: PLEASE VOTE EVEN IF YOU HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED IT!!

[Jess Tolbirt]

when i start my bike first time for the day, i put it in gear and rock it back and forth to see if the motor turns over,,,if it dont then i will pull the plugs,,

[rodeo1]

we already did this -- it came out less than 1%

[¿spoom]

FWIW, 150k+ miles, only turn off the gas for long term storgae or places where I feel a fuel leak could get me sued big time i.e. ferry boat, indoor parking ramps, etc.

[scoobydoo]

Mine did it and I was very lucky, no damage. In fact it hydro locked 4 times before I was smart enough to do something.
Asked for help from the board and a guy I never met responded and offered to help, just lived a few miles away. Well he came over and we worked  2 weekends rebuilding the entire carb. bank. Showed me how to remove the rear wheel & desmoged the engine.
Runs like a top now, but I still just bump the starter buttton every time i start it now just in case!
Try to look at things a little different and see the good, If my bike haden't hydro locked I may never had met Lucky Duck the guy who helped me out. We have become good friends and went to Inzane together.
Thanks Lucky Duck anain for the help.
Scoobydoo

[BIG--T]

FWIW, 150k+ miles, only turn off the gas for long term storgae or places where I feel a fuel leak could get me sued big time i.e. ferry boat, indoor parking ramps, etc.

Glenn I'm glad to see you're another that doesn't cut the peckock off other than the reasons you stated. I now leave mine on as of yesterday. I think flipping it all the time like winding a watch will make the seat start leaking and I've been religiously cutting it off bc of HL. Maybe I'm wrong but if people would leave it on as stated in the manual, ride regularly, good gas with an occassional gas cleaner and store it as the manual states , just maybe it would cut the chances of it happening. Just my $.02! 

[Jess Tolbirt]

90% of the time mine only goes from on to reserve and back,,very seldom do i turn it off...

[RP#62]

For what its worth, I've got two valks.  Neither have had the problem, but would only let me vote once.
-RP

[sugerbear]

never happened . never turn off the petcock. very rarely switch to reserve, maybe twice in the last 7 years.(both valks). buddy never turns his off. never a problem.

may be onto something with the "wearing it out"

[BIG--T]

never happened . never turn off the petcock. very rarely switch to reserve, maybe twice in the last 7 years.(both valks). buddy never turns his off. never a problem.

may be onto something with the "wearing it out"

Sugarbear if you haven't voted please do so. I am new to the Valk world only 6 months and it's in the manual. Honda spends a lot of money in R&D...maybe they know something!! 

[Mr Bojangles]

I ride a '98 tourer, It has hydro-locked twice, first time no damage, second time broke tooth on flywheel. I now turn petcock off before shut-down every time, no problems in two years since. I also use the reserve position often. Carb needle on #4 was my problem.
                                           Bojangles

[Rocketman]

Mine did it and I was very lucky, no damage. In fact it hydro locked 4 times before I was smart enough to do something.
Asked for help from the board and a guy I never met responded and offered to help, just lived a few miles away. Well he came over and we worked  2 weekends rebuilding the entire carb. bank. Showed me how to remove the rear wheel & desmoged the engine.
Runs like a top now, but I still just bump the starter buttton every time i start it now just in case!
Try to look at things a little different and see the good, If my bike haden't hydro locked I may never had met Lucky Duck the guy who helped me out. We have become good friends and went to Inzane together.
Thanks Lucky Duck anain for the help.
Scoobydoo

Wow, that sounds familiar.  I met Tinman the same way, and we've been close friends ever since.

[Rocketman]

never happened . never turn off the petcock. very rarely switch to reserve, maybe twice in the last 7 years.(both valks). buddy never turns his off. never a problem.

may be onto something with the "wearing it out"

Sugarbear if you haven't voted please do so. I am new to the Valk world only 6 months and it's in the manual. Honda spends a lot of money in R&D...maybe they know something!! 

I interpret the manual's comments differently.  I think it isn't telling us NOT to turn it off, but is instead telling us that it shouldn't be necessary to turn it off.  I don't see any warning that cycling the valve will damage it.  I believe that the petcock is one of the few (relatively) weak points on the Valkyrie, so I'm going with my own judgement here.  It seems to be far less likely to leak through in the off position, so I feel that turning it off is the right way to go.  There are fewer failure modes in the off position, and the few that exist are less likely to boot.
Of course, I have a Pingel, so it's irrelevant to me.  Those are designed to be shut off all the time.

[Stitch_in_La]

Not an expert by any means but some info I've gleaned that I haven't seen in this thread and sounds like it might help some.  Problem is more specific to the Valk because of the vacuum shut  off (on) on the petcock.  When the vacuum thingie in the petcock dies doesn't matter if you turn it off after riding or not fuel flows.  Not going to reserve can allow stagnant gas to accumulate in the petcock line then when you actually need to use the reserve you suck nasty stuff into the carbs.  You can test your petcock every ride if you want, turn it off while riding wait till you get the lean out signs of running out of gas.  If you never do your petcock is toasted and HL is a stuck float away.

Stitch

[judd]

You can test your petcock every ride if you want, turn it off while riding wait till you get the lean out signs of running out of gas.  If you never do your petcock is toasted and HL is a stuck float away.

Good point............. 

[Bullgoose]

That's my conclusion also. As i said, i had just rebuilt it 7months prior to the problems.
Rode to town one day (13mi) and tried to shutoff the gas. It was already off. Uh oh. We played with it for a coupla weeks. The diaphragm was good. Checked everything else that can be checked numerous times, but couldn't locate the prob. Finally concluded the seats must be warn out. And, of course, 2 needles apparently had a problem.
Anyway, now that I have a pingle, the habit of always shutting the gas off is a good thing. The fuel filter also gives me a little piece of mind. If it takes another 13yrs for this to happen again, I can live with that.

[Rocketman]

When the vacuum thingie in the petcock dies doesn't matter if you turn it off after riding or not fuel flows. 

Not true.  Depends on the failure mode.  The most common failure mode seems to be for the vacuum shutoff to not seal when vacuum is removed.  If it is in "off" rather than "on", fuel will not flow, despite this failure.

Not going to reserve can allow stagnant gas to accumulate in the petcock line then when you actually need to use the reserve you suck nasty stuff into the carbs.  You can test your petcock every ride if you want, turn it off while riding wait till you get the lean out signs of running out of gas.  If you never do your petcock is toasted and HL is a stuck float away.

That is the easiest test to perform, however it is not definitive.  If you have a slow leak, it may not be enough to keep the engine running properly, but it could lock after sitting overnight with that kind of leak.  That's not to say I don't test it periodically that way anyway.  it tells me I at least don't have a large leak.
(At least that's my excuse for going down the road with the fuel still off)

Mark

[Redline +]

(At least that's my excuse for going down the road with the fuel still off)

I frequently test mine too... just ride 'em hard... that's what they like! 

Redline 

[BIG--T]

Not an expert by any means but some info I've gleaned that I haven't seen in this thread and sounds like it might help some.  Problem is more specific to the Valk because of the vacuum shut  off (on) on the petcock.  When the vacuum thingie in the petcock dies doesn't matter if you turn it off after riding or not fuel flows.  Not going to reserve can allow stagnant gas to accumulate in the petcock line then when you actually need to use the reserve you suck nasty stuff into the carbs.  You can test your petcock every ride if you want, turn it off while riding wait till you get the lean out signs of running out of gas.  If you never do your petcock is toasted and HL is a stuck float away.

Stitch

Well i I know mine works cause I forgot to cut the gas on and she started sputtering! I have never rron no more than 1 mile on reserve. Are you saying it might be a good idea to run it say 25 miles on reserve? Or am I asking for trouble if there is crud?

[Ferris Leets]

There is no reserve line.  The only thing you might pick up from the reserve is crud that has accumulated at the bottom of the tank.  I run mine into the reserve almost every tank.  Only because I don't bother to fill up if I have enough gas.  The Valk is not the only bike that has a vacuum operated petcock.  I thin that earlier in the thread there was some discussion of why they are more prone to problems than others.  Part of which might be that these bikes last longer and therefore have a longer time to develop problems. 
     I do not know how many members are on this site but very few (168) have voted on the poll.

[Mofla]

As a new Valk owner owner I was told by previous owner to always turn off gas when not riding. ( No reason givin') After going over owner manual a saw nothing that suggested turning off fuel supply other than seasonal storage. So,,,, I ceased to do that lil' chore. Shortly therafter I was very surprised when ( Katrina) failed to turned over, just bumped.  Very much confused, I luckily thought to roll or bump motor by rollin in gear a little. AT first nothing but tried again. and it fired. From what I have learned since I feel that I am a very lucky man. AT this point I still didnt know what had happened but luyckily had found this forum and soon learned of the dreaded "lock". As fate would have it I experienced it again right after reading the forum and performed necessary procedure to
unlock. Remove sparks plugs and roll. As I rolled her with plugs removed gas shot out of left back cylinder with great relief. Re inserted the plugs and all is well. I now always turn off gas and have not had any problems. Obviously , there seems to be  a problem with the one carb that allowed gas to fill the cylinder. You probably dont have to turn your gas off as long as you are aware to the lock when it happens. I cant imagine what would happen to the engine if she fired with a cylinder full of gas. I carry a spark plug wrench at all times just in case. This forum saved me big time ! Thnks much for all your information. Think I'll go for a ride ! Cheers !

[BIG--T]

There is no reserve line.  The only thing you might pick up from the reserve is crud that has accumulated at the bottom of the tank.  I run mine into the reserve almost every tank.  Only because I don't bother to fill up if I have enough gas.  The Valk is not the only bike that has a vacuum operated petcock.  I thin that earlier in the thread there was some discussion of why they are more prone to problems than others.  Part of which might be that these bikes last longer and therefore have a longer time to develop problems. 
     I do not know how many members are on this site but very few (168) have voted on the poll.

That makes sense just like a vehicle, you never want to run it so low it picks up water and crud.
I know there has to be more members than this surely, but probably bc nothing ever happened they just don't bother to put the positive down and don't care. But the ones that had it or came close is reporting.

[BIG--T]

85.8% never experienced it.

[RoadKill]

85.9 %     

[BIG--T]

85.9 %     

Thank you!

[Rocketman]

Well i I know mine works cause I forgot to cut the gas on and she started sputtering! I have never rron no more than 1 mile on reserve.

Reserve, or off?

You probably dont have to turn your gas off as long as you are aware to the lock when it happens. I cant imagine what would happen to the engine if she fired with a cylinder full of gas. I carry a spark plug wrench at all times just in case. This forum saved me big time !

If a cylinder is locked, and you hit the starter button, nothing but luck keeps you from damaging something.  It's not a matter of firing with a cyl. full of fuel.  She won't turn that way.

[YoungPUP]

Hasn't happened here, but after rebuilding my stock petcock because it was leaking I've gotten in the habit of turning it off.  The harder part is remembering to turn it back on.....

[Rams]

Reading this thread has been somewhat enlightening.  I've learned something but, I wasn't aware out Valks had an issue.  Although I'm pretty sure I have figured out what hydro-lock is, what's the definition?  Apparently this is caused by leaking fuel through one or more carbs into the combustion chamber and it seems that most folks are blaming the petcock.  Am I describing it correctly?

BTW, I never turn the petcock to off and only to reserve if I've run too long on my current tank and I'm still looking for gas.  I also never put my Valk into storage, the longest it might sit is two to four weeks during the winter if the weather is really nasty.  Cold doesn't stop me from riding, slick or icy roads do.   

[Rocketman]

A hydrolock happens when liquid fuel leaks into a cylinder, fills it, and doesn't allow the engine to turn when you hit the starter button.  The most common path is through a leaking or open petcock, then through a leaking needle valve in a carb, then through an open intake valve.
The second path is to leak through a failed pecock, down the vacuum tube, and into the #6 runner, through an open intake valve.
The first path requires two failures and an open intake valve.  The second path only requires one failure, but it's a less common one (especially with a manual Pingel).

[Rams]

A hydrolock happens when liquid fuel leaks into a cylinder, fills it, and doesn't allow the engine to turn when you hit the starter button.  The most common path is through a leaking or open petcock, then through a leaking needle valve in a carb, then through an open intake valve.
The second path is to leak through a failed pecock, down the vacuum tube, and into the #6 runner, through an open intake valve.
The first path requires two failures and an open intake valve.  The second path only requires one failure, but it's a less common one (especially with a manual Pingel).

Thanks,  I guess I need to go see if I have a manual petcock.  Never really looked at it before.  Thanks again.

[Art708]

 I've owned 5 Valks and only the 1st one (98 Std.) hydrolocked...twice. There was no damage either time. After doing it twice in 3 days it never did it again. None of the others has ever hydrolocked....knock on wood!

[rodeo1]

so, what is the best brand of oil to run in my valk ??

[Bullgoose]

The kind that easily flows thru your petcock.

[¿spoom]

so, what is the best brand of oil to run in my valk ??

I use toothpaste

[rodeo1]

ever get hydrolocked using that mobil 1 ???

[Stitch_in_La]

No there isn't a reserve line but the RUN intake is higher than the RESERVE intake.  If you never open the reserve whatever accumulations of water crud shellac varnish etc accumulate at the lowest point.  Then when you HAVE to use reserve you suck more gunk.  If you let it get to reserve redularly, you have a clue your petcock is still working and clear out the accumulated gunk before it gets to be enough to cause a problem.  Don't know if you could actually gather that much gunk but thats my logic. YMMV.

Stitch

[Oss]

I said almost but really dont know

At the last inzane held in Johnson City I had an appt for BigBF to change my plugs (they were fine but I let him change em out anyway) and check the valves adjustment (also fine)
He showed me the petcock was leaking gas and Matt sold me a new petcock assembly and that was all there was.

I did buy a DanMarc which is sitting here for the last 3 or 4 years now protecting me by sitting in the basement with the other spare Valkyrie parts,

So I can say that buying a Danmarc and putting it on the refrigerator in your basement seems to prevent
hydrolock.  I do ride the bike often and year round and NEVER touch the petcock unless taking off the tank for air cleaner work on the permanent air cleaner. Once or twice a year I will put MMO or Seafoam thru the bike.

[Titan]

No there isn't a reserve line but the RUN intake is higher than the RESERVE intake.  If you never open the reserve whatever accumulations of water crud shellac varnish etc accumulate at the lowest point.  Then when you HAVE to use reserve you suck more gunk.  If you let it get to reserve redularly, you have a clue your petcock is still working and clear out the accumulated gunk before it gets to be enough to cause a problem.  Don't know if you could actually gather that much gunk but thats my logic. YMMV.

Stitch

Stitch, the gas never just sits in the bottom of the tank to accumulate gunk and sludge. It would if the reserve tank was a separate tank that never got used, but it's all part of the same tank. So the entire tank gets mixed and sloshed around constantly.

[Rocketman]

You can bet your sweet bippy I'm listening for Hydrolock every time I touch the starter.

Once again, if you hear anything, it's too late.  The only thing saving you from damage at that point, is luck.

[Rocketman]

I ain't superstitious or anything, but there's no way I'm voting in this poll.

Actually, I think that's pretty much the definition of "superstitious".