I find that running on reserve for 10 miles or so every other tank helps prevnt gunk buildup... Back to the ounce of prevention... -----Original Message----- Date: Friday, April 09, 2010 12:31:11 pm To: "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" <[email protected]> From: "Dale" <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Fuel Reserve??
Great explanation surfs! I had forgotten about the straw analogy, but that is exactly how my fuels professor taught it too...I had also forgotten about the little filter in the petcock...that being clogged will cause some serious fuel feeding issues...good call... If you find yourself needing to do this (and it sounds like you do...) go to the store and buy a gas can and take the time to drain it...yes you can just turn it to off, tip the tank to the right a bit, and remove the petcock, then shove a rag in the hole while you take it all apart...the problem come in when the rag inside the tank comes in contact with the gas, and then starts to allow the gas to seep out of the tank and onto the garage floor...not too big of a problem unless halfway through the repair your wife wants to go get dinner...when you come back your garage floor, tools, parts boxes, Corvair truck parts that you just painted, tires and battery that is on the charger will be covered in fuel...this is also a very good time to quit smoking... don't worry...when I get home I will post all my misadventures on youtube for your enjoyment... "E" On Apr 9, 8:08 pm, surfswab <[email protected]> wrote: > The way it's supposed to work, is this: > > Picture 2 soda straws sticking up inside the tank -- one long, one > short -- attached to the petcock at the bottom. > > The petcock "on" position accesses the long straw. The "reserve" > position accesses the short one. When fuel is consumed to the level > of the first straw, its head is now "above water," so to speak, so it > stops supplying fuel to the petcock, requiring you to turn the lever > to access the short straw. Since the short straw is still submerged > in fuel you'll have enough to (hopefully) find a gas station. > > It sounds counter-intuitive, but its designed to allow your bike to > run out of fuel temporarily, as a warning that you're about to run out > of fuel permanently (!) > > Bike makers still use them because they're simple, less troublesome > and less expensive than fuel gauges. > > Back in the day, petcocks actually had two brass tubes that worked > like this, along with a "sight glass" bowl that allowed you to confirm > you were outta gas. Now there's only one tube for the main supply, > and the reserve works more like kind of a bathroom sink drain in the > bottom of the petcock. And like sink drains, the design allows all > manner of yuck to collect there. > > So. If you remove your tank, drain it, remove the petcock and > disassemble it, you'll probly find a fair amount of gunk in there > clogging some nylon screens and maybe some o-rings and other rubber > parts that are past their prime. > > Too bad you can't just snake it out, like the guy on TV. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to nighthawk_lovers+unsubscr...@googl -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en.
