New from NY

[Gryphon Rider]

I'm not afraid to speak!  I'm active on a bunch of forums about boats cars guns and now motorcycles I'm active on most of them I apologize for my lack of spell and grammar skill you will notice many of my post will be edited because as soon as I hit post I notice spelling issues. Some how no matter how many time I proof read post I don't notice the mistakes until I hit post  
If there is a better place for a thread like this I'm sorry what can I say I'm new
I have pretty thick skin I'm not worried about a few peoples comments trust me!

Another person who doesn't take me seriously...sheesh!   :'(
What people have found with the floats is not that the floats themselves are the issue, but the needle valves that the floats actuate are.  The internal spring (within the needle) softens over time, providing less and less closing force.



See BonS's video for an excellent visual of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuRJcEwW3QY

[Willow]

I'm still unclear as to how a failing membrane could result in Reserve position being fed from the On position.  The petcock switch actually changes the position from which fuel enters the petcock.

As to whether a Pingle is a better solution, you can convert the OEM to a non-vacuum unit if that's what you want.  You need to add a Dan Marc electric fuel shutoff in either case.  The Dan Marc takes the place of the vacuum shutoff.   

[DGS65]

What I found was three separate failures 
1- the shut off valve leaks in the off position and it appears to be leaking from the reserve side.
    (this is what allowed me to run out of gas while I was in the on mode)

2- the membrane that is used to close the fuel off when there is no vacuum was bad and may have
    actually allowed fuel to back flow into the vacuum line.

3- the floats or needle valves which I was under the impression were just changed to the tune of $700
    carb rebuild also failed. 

The combination of all of these things allowed fuel to fill the cylinders and back into the exhaust pipes.  There was gas in the oil as well but not as much as I originally thought. 

I have removed the tank removed the bad petcock and ordered the stock replacement.  I pulled the plugs and cranked the starter to blow out the cylinders.  This evening I drained the oil and as mentioned while there was fuel in it there wasn't as much as I thought.

Once I have the new petcock I will install it along with the tank.  I will fill the engine with cheap oil and crank it over a bit without the plugs again.  Then install the plugs start it up let if warm up a bit and then change the oil with good oil . 

While typing this I just received the new timing belts so I will take care of this as well.
Once all of this is complete I will take it for a nice ride!  I hope this will be the last service I will have to do for a while,  I don't have time as it is I would rather be enjoying driving something.   

[Hook#3287]

The engine did lock up I had to pull the plugs to get it to spin.  I don't believe it did any damage but I won't know until I get the new petcock.  My entire house smells like gas, I didn't sleep well last night as a result in fact I should be fast asleep right now!
the electronic fuel shutoff sounds interesting I'm assuming it opens with the key being turned on?  Where do you tap power for this?

Ya, on with key.  Seen them tapped under the right side cover. 

Just a thought.  With the bike out of commission for so long it's not unusual it locked but you mentioned you had it shipped out. If the shipper did not run the carbs dry prior to loading the bike, they may have increased the potential considerably.

I'm not sure about running the carbs dry before shipping or trailering.

What happened to me made me decide to do so with them full,  like the bike runs.

I trailered to FL and drained all the carbs before pushing the bike on.

First day, while having lunch at a restaurant about 3 miles from unloading, the bike hydro locked, luckily w/o damage, except spraying my buddy with gas when I pulled the plugs and hit the starter.

He wasn't happy.

I rebuilt the petcock and on further inspection, I found two carbs would not stop gas flowing when full.

I tapped them with a screwdriver and it seemed to work.  I was 1500 miles from my shop and I wasn't field stripping the carbs.  Rode out my stay there w/o issue.

When I got back home, I pulled the carbs and replaced the float valves, everything else was good.

It made me decide all that bouncing of the floats during the trip was not good.