Hydrolock Survey

[Valkpilot]

How often does true hydrolock occur, resulting in damage?  How often is it a near miss? 

[hubcapsc]

I've never experienced hydro-lock, but I've seen a Valkyrie in the shop with
the engine out getting it fixed. And I've seen numerous faulty petcocks.

Get a pingle and remember to turn it off every time, or keep track of
whether or not your OEM petcock is functioning and how old its insides are.

Observing that reserve works and that you run out of gas in a mile
or two after turning the OEM petcock to OFF is probably a pretty good
test...

We're supposed to change our airfilters every 10K, I've pulled my petcock off
at that time and done the vacuum test on it...

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/petcock.htm

-Mike

[CISE]

How often does true hydrolock occur, resulting in damage?  How often is it a near miss? 

When mine hydrolocked and damaged the motor, it was in actuallity the 3rd time it had hydrolocked. The first 2 times I was lucky and did not try to restart it right away. The 3rd time I knew I should not hit the starter again, but did because I was in a hurry.

The reason why mine hydrolocked was because I was never in the habit of turning off the fuel. I was too used to my old wing with a fuel pump to get into the habit.

I have rebuilt the petcock since then, but I am still not an advocate of "replace it or it WILL hydrolock".

[Valkpilot]

In this thread, please don't debate or opine on the virtues of particular petcocks or other devices such as fuel solenoids or in-line filters.

I hope just to capture some numbers relative to hydrolock occurence.

[Michvalk]

Mine locked right after I first got it. It had sat for a couple years, and the floats were sticking. I rode it home the day i bought it and couldn't run it at idle. Removed the carb bank, cleaned the bowls and the carb passages with spray carb cleaner, and reassembled. Has run perfect since.

[ricoman]

In this thread, please don't debate or opine on the virtues of particular petcocks or other devices such as fuel solenoids or in-line filters.

I hope just to capture some numbers relative to hydrolock occurence.

OK, no opinion or debate from me.
You're gonna be surprised at all the stuff that comes in that you don't want to read. Oh well, it will be fun to watch.

[Cruzen]

In this thread, please don't debate or opine on the virtues of particular petcocks or other devices such as fuel solenoids or in-line filters.

I hope just to capture some numbers relative to hydrolock occurence.

Once you get yer numbers I think it might be interesting to see if it occures in basically one type of climate or not.  Maybe it's more prone to happen in cooler climates where the bike is in storage for a while or only ridden on weekends or in the opposite conditions where the bike is ridden year round or..... 

[indybobm]

I have never had the problem. Bought my first Tourer in 98 and had it for seven years. No porblems with hydolock. I bought my second Tourer from a dealer in Georgia this last June, another 98. When I went to pick it up, gas was pouring from 4 of 6 carbs when it was running. Shut off the motor and the gas stopped.  I got a good deal on the bike so decided to go ahead and get it and have the carbs cleaned when I got home. The 400 mile ride home on the trailer evidently cleared the gunk from the float needles and it has not leaked since. It had sat for about 11 months, so Sea Foam, Techron, and B12 solved those issues. If the stock fuel shut-off switch had been defective, it would have hydrolocked for sure. I've put over 4000 miles on it since I got it and no problems.

[biguglyman]

Two GW's and now a Valk and never had a hydrolock.  Seems to me it's more a float problem than a petcock problem.  If you turn the petcock off is there enough fuel in the bowl to hydrolock anyway?

[Hoser]

Gold wings won't hydrolock, gas tank is too low, won't run either, if the fuel pump gives out.   Hoser

[hubcapsc]

... Seems to me it's more a float problem than a petcock problem.  If you turn the petcock off is there enough fuel in the bowl to hydrolock anyway?

... I never turn off the petcock (OEM) and have not had a lock. 

On or off should make no difference, our vacuum operated petcocks are busted if
they let gas flow when the motor isn't running...

-Mike

[CISE]

In this thread, please don't debate or opine on the virtues of particular petcocks or other devices such as fuel solenoids or in-line filters.

I hope just to capture some numbers relative to hydrolock occurence.

My apologies Valkpilot - I was out of line. Blame it on office frustration.

[Valkpilot]

In this thread, please don't debate or opine on the virtues of particular petcocks or other devices such as fuel solenoids or in-line filters.

I hope just to capture some numbers relative to hydrolock occurence.

My apologies Valkpilot - I was out of line. Blame it on office frustration.

Thanks, but not necessary.  I wasn't commenting to you in particular.  I was just trying to keep the thread from moving off-focus, which is the number of actual hydrolocks, and not the possible, probable, or speculative causes and preventatives.   

[PhredValk]

I never turn the petcock off except for winter storage. 99 IS, bought two years ago, PO says he never turned it off in the 3 years he owned it. No problems so far.
Fred.

[Earl in Pensacola]

Original owner,'97 Tourer, original petcock, NEVER turned-off at shut down, 245K .

[salty1]

No problems. Always shut the gas off when I'm going to be riding for awhile.

[Earl in Pensacola]

PS--I forgot to say that I've had zero hydrolocks during the 245K and petcock NEVER turned off except during certain maintenance jobs or trailering.

[PaulO]

Had it hapen on an old ZX9 I had many years ago.  Blew out the head gasket.  You could actually see the mist shooting out the head to cylinder seam on the right side cylinder. 

[stude31]

I'm hesitant to vote and reply... I don't want to get jinxed       

[Blackduck]

Have had a "lock"
After carb work and sitting for a couple of days after an intial fire up.
Suspect a sticky float.
Found a problem with the petcock and cured that. Still run with the standard petcock and consider it a "non" issue.
To lock you need at least 2 problems A: faulty needle an seat, dirt, sticky float or whatever and B; fuel flow from the tank.
The damaged diaphram theory needs at least 3 faults. 2 leaky diaphragms and a blocked vent or incorrectly assembled petcock.
I believe the 2 main faults with a standard petcock allowing fuel to flow with a  arean  incorrect installation or a blocked orifice in the internals of the petcock ( the cause of my fuel supply to a sticky float and resultant "Lock")
Cheers Steve

[pistolchamp]

Happened to me after trailering the bike for 300 miles, it was on back of the trailer and got bounced more than usual.  When I started it there was a hesitation and on the next try it fired right up, lucky me.

[Rocketman]

I should probably put myself down for the first AND second options.  I've had fuel-filled cylinders more than once.  Sometimes it was damaged, sometimes not.

Yes, I take a long time to learn my lesson, but I have learned it now.

That being said, I "voted" for only the first option, since that seemed to be the flavor of the request.

Mark

[Bigun]

   My 99 IS is sitting in storage waiting untill I can get the scratch together to buy a complete new motor. the dealership says the whole back side of the motor is trashed and I guess I wont know if they are bs ing me untill I get the motor pulled. The tech told me he had never seen so much damage from a hydrolock and their estimate was over $4,000.
   I'm crushed, the bike has right at 40,000 on the ticker and was in perfect shape. I paid top dollar for the bike because of the condition and passed on lesser or higher mileage bikes to get the one I wanted. I managed to put 5,000 miles on her before the Hydrolock ended my riding for the year. It had one close call prior to the grenading and I suspect that some damage was done to weaken the components. I rebuilt the petcock after the first incident and had no idea they were prone to this condition or I would have just bought a Victory Cross Country.
   I may just part it out to get rid of the loan rather than go through the headaches of fixing her.

[bscrive]

Holy crap,

Why not just buy another engine. 
Here are some on ebay or call a motorcycle wrecker. 
If you live near some of the members they may come and help you swap the engine.  Don't give up on the bike.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/00-Honda-Valkyrie-GL1500-1500-ENGINE-MOTOR-VIDEOS-/190605443102?hash=item2c60f8401e&item=190605443102&pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-Valkyrie-GL1500-LOW-MILES-ENGINE-MOTOR-VIDEOS-/200655029600?hash=item2eb7f8c560&item=200655029600&pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/00-Honda-Valkyrie-GL1500-ENGINE-MOTOR-VIDEOS-/200667444096?hash=item2eb8b63380&item=200667444096&pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

[Patrick]

I deleted my previous post.. Since you're asking for numbers without any extraneous 'stuff'.. 1 11-12 yrs ago.. 5 in as many days 2 months ago..

[deadwood]

2001 I/S, 73,000 Miles .I don't shut off the petcock after riding. Rebuild the petcock at 53K in 2010 "just because".
Never hydrolocked.

[RP#62]

I've got a '97 Tourer with 98K miles.  I'm the original owner.  I never shut the petcock off and I never had a hydrolock . . .until about 3 weeks ago.   I wheeled it out of the garage to go to work one morning, and when I went to start it, it turned what seemed like a half a rev, then locked up solid.  Didn't hear any bad noises, just wouldn't turn.  I put it in 5th and and backed up about 5 or 6 feet and tried it again, and it started right up no problem.  I could smell raw gas when it initially started. 

When I was about a mile from work, I shut off the fuel, came on in to work and parked it.  It started fine when I cranked it up to go home.  About halfway home on the freeway, I shut off the fuel, just to see how long it take to kill the engine (and to make sure it would kill the engine).  I started loosing power just shy of three miles.  For the next week, I made it a point to shut the gas off about a mile from destination and I started checking it on the highway at speed to see how long it took for the engine to loose power.  What I noticed over the course of the week is that it would loose power in fewer and fewer miles and seems to have stabilized at about a mile.

I haven't had any problem since and I've forgotten to turn the gas off a couple of times - once while it was parked for a couple of days, and I haven't had any recurrence.    The only thing I can figure is that I must have had some junk temporarily keeping one of the floats from seating and although the petcock seems to work, it wasn't working that well initially.
-RP

[Willow]

... the dealership says the whole back side of the motor is trashed and I guess I wont know if they are bs ing me untill I get the motor pulled.

I don't wish to promote a discussion hijacking the hydrolock survey thread, but it sounds to me like someone is definitely BSing you or there was something much  more than a hydrolock situation involved.

I'd for sure get another opinion.

[Dirty Dave]

Hydrolocked once even though I turn the petcock off. No filter in the gas tank (bought like that).
No problems since thanks to you guys at VRCC. Have the filter in the tank, an in-line filter and a
Pingel petcock. Life is good.

[Tundra]

Boy I hate this topic. If your bike is clean inside and everything is working like new as designed, you won't have a problem. You don't have to turn off your petcock as many testify they don't, it works on vaccum when the bikes off, it's off. (if everything is working properly) I would get in the habit of turning it off. Simple easy insurance.
  Even if the petcock leaks into the bowls, you should be ok if everything is clean and working properly inside your carbs. (do you know for sure)? If you have dirty sticking old needles and floats, here's your problem. I know several that ride with the mindset  thats "everthings ok" I never had a problem and those several had had expensive hydrolock repairs.
I replaced my fuel valve with a manual selector. I ALWAYS turn it off. My carbs are clean, I try to run non-ethanol when possible. I run fuel treatment often.
Do as you wish, these bikes are getting old and if you don't know the condition of the guts of your petcock and carbs, you could be setting yourself up for a failure. I certainly hope not, I choose to take precautan and learn from others mistakes.

[Bigun]

Holy crap,

Why not just buy another engine.  
Here are some on ebay or call a motorcycle wrecker.  
If you live near some of the members they may come and help you swap the engine.  Don't give up on the bike.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/00-Honda-Valkyrie-GL1500-1500-ENGINE-MOTOR-VIDEOS-/190605443102?hash=item2c60f8401e&item=190605443102&pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-Valkyrie-GL1500-LOW-MILES-ENGINE-MOTOR-VIDEOS-/200655029600?hash=item2eb7f8c560&item=200655029600&pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/00-Honda-Valkyrie-GL1500-ENGINE-MOTOR-VIDEOS-/200667444096?hash=item2eb8b63380&item=200667444096&pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

Just went through a bad divorce and Uncle sugar decided to freeze our pay for 2 years while allowing our medical bennies to continue to escallate in cost. I have to maintain family coverage untill my daughter graduates from college which may or may not be next year. So making the payment and picking up a part or 6 isnt a big deal but a new motor is. Already bought the pingel valve and inline filter so at least thats covered. LOL   And mucho thanks to those who have offered help I'll see if I can get a motor when I have my taxes done, should be able to get away with a short block and just transfer the heads and other parts over.

[Tundra]

  My 99 IS is sitting in storage waiting untill I can get the scratch together to buy a complete new motor. the dealership says the whole back side of the motor is trashed and I guess I wont know if they are bs ing me untill I get the motor pulled. The tech told me he had never seen so much damage from a hydrolock and their estimate was over $4,000.
  I'm crushed, the bike has right at 40,000 on the ticker and was in perfect shape. I paid top dollar for the bike because of the condition and passed on lesser or higher mileage bikes to get the one I wanted. I managed to put 5,000 miles on her before the Hydrolock ended my riding for the year. It had one close call prior to the grenading and I suspect that some damage was done to weaken the components. I rebuilt the petcock after the first incident and had no idea they were prone to this condition or I would have just bought a Victory Cross Country.
  I may just part it out to get rid of the loan rather than go through the headaches of fixing her.

I know one who paid over $3000.00 at a Dealer. I know another who did it himself for about $600.00 in parts and his labor. I wish I had his skill and hope it never happens to me. Look around your area? Maybe you can find someone with knowledge willing to help out?    Best of luck to you

[bscrive]

I just redid my petcock last weekend and I found that my screen was pretty gummed up.  I decided to change the screen and do a petcock rebuild.  I wasn't having any problems but I thought that the bike is 12 years old and has 30k on it so it wouldn't hurt.  I also decided to add a Golan fuel filter and a Dan-Marc fuel shut-off.  I think I really over killed it but the filter was only $50 and the fuel shut-off was only $26.  The $76 is cheap insurance that I will not get this evil hydrolock.  Hopefully the fuel shut-off doesn't screw up because that air box is a real pain in the a$$ to put back in.  On the bright side it gave me a reason to take the bike out last night to try it out.  It was chilly but not too bad.  We are getting some unusually warm weather hear in Ottawa lately.  People are still out on their bikes.  Global warming...bring it on.