Left the petcock open for 2 days. What now?

[goomicoo]

Finally got it started, gas spewed out of the left carb. Plugs fowled. Is this fun or what? Cleaned the plugs and tried the Italian tune up ( apologies to my Italian friends out there). Still won't idle and it smells rich as all getout. Will this every cure itself or am I starting all over with the carbs? again  :-/

[nhmaf]

Oops, I replied to your question on Tv's thread (power loss) since you mentioned it there as well.

[steve hawkins]

I left a petcock on for a few weeks once - over winter - during a cold/wet period.  My engine filled with petrol.  When I started it up, very quickly I had a mixture of fuel and oil spewing out of my pressure relief valve and all over the drive.  I do not have the airbox fitted so it was very pretty obvious.  

The oil stank of petrol.  The engine was only running for less that a minute, but I then did an oil change and all was well.

You need to check your oil levels, and the smell of the oil.  You might have got away with it.  But you will soon know.

Never forget to turn off your fuel using the petcock.  You cannot rely on your carbs not to leak.

Steve H

[Bob_Roller]

It sounds as if you may have a carb float stuck, or possibly it has gotten fuel absorbed into the foam float material, and now may not 'float' as it should.


Do you park the bike on the sidestand, or the centerstand ?


These bikes don't like to be left on the sidestand for extended periods of time, due to the excessive lean angle.

[goomicoo]

I always park on the center stand at home. The oil level did seem a tad high now that you mention it. Probably a tad thinner now as well! The left plug was glossy when pulled and that's the side that spewed fuel. Having fun now

[goomicoo]

I left a petcock on for a few weeks once - over winter - during a cold/wet period.  My engine filled with petrol.  When I started it up, very quickly I had a mixture of fuel and oil spewing out of my pressure relief valve and all over the drive.  I do not have the airbox fitted so it was very pretty obvious.  

The oil stank of petrol.  The engine was only running for less that a minute, but I then did an oil change and all was well.

You need to check your oil levels, and the smell of the oil.  You might have got away with it.  But you will soon know.

Never forget to turn off your fuel using the petcock.  You cannot rely on your carbs not to leak.

Steve H

That explains the rich fuel smell. What should have been 2.38 quarts of oil in the sump almost filled a gallon container! Good thing I use 20-50 Wt. After thinning with gas I had closer to 5W. Who knows, after 5 miles of driving it may have done a good job of cleaning the journals. Re filled with 20-50, started her up and it ran like nothing had happened. I wonder what the relationship between gas thinned oil and rough running might be? Or maybe the carbs recovered after getting a good nights rest. I'm going to just leave it alone and give thanks that no harm was done (none that I can tell as of yet) Thanks for all the help folks.

[nhmaf]

hopefully you changed the oil filter too - I am not an expert but I don't think that they like being filled with gas, plus there would be some gasoline/oil mix still in there esp if you had started the engine.   Just be very very greatful that you hadn't hydrolocked the engine full of gasoline - you'd have a bent connecting rod and seriously damaged engine within seconds of trying to start it.

[goomicoo]

I left the filter. Any gas left over will just burn off anyway. Luckily the gas flows pass the rings since it's so thin. I definitely lucked out this time though. Lesson learned

[steve hawkins]

You should be okay - I did pull mine to get all the contaminated oil out, but then refitted it.  Change it at the next service though.

Ignition off, petcock off - don't forget.

[Ed Miller]

Well, and fix the carbs so they don't flood.  That shoudn't happen even with the petcock open.  New needles and/or floats, or check the level.

[goomicoo]

You should be okay - I did pull mine to get all the contaminated oil out, but then refitted it.  Change it at the next service though.

Ignition off, petcock off - don't forget.

I won't forget now!

Well, and fix the carbs so they don't flood.That shoudn't happen even with the petcock open.New needles and/or floats, or check the level.

Good Call, I just love pulling carbs  

[Melena]

I did this once too.  But I left it for a couple of weeks.    It was when I got home from a rally, and I had to go to work the next day.  So I just rode in and put her up and didn't think about it again.

I've got my bike in an enclosed cover so I didn't notice anything was amiss until I smelled gas just before I was going to get it ready for a ride the next day.  There was a puddle of gas under the bike, so I knew I'd left the petcock open (again).  I didn't think much about it and turned the petcock off.  Then I checked the oil................. hmmmm, this is a little thin..................and smells an awful lot like gas.  

I'm glad I checked it before I started her up.  I didn't have to worry about pumping gas throughout the whole system.  I ended up dumping all that gas/oil out and changing out the filter and putting in all fresh oil.   No problems.  (whew)

Ed Miller wrote on Today at 8:47am:

Well, and fix the carbs so they don't flood.  That shoudn't happen even with the petcock open.  New needles and/or floats, or check the level.

I have a comment on this.   These carbs are not designed to hold back the flow of gas.  That's what the petcock is there for.  This is even stated on the website.  But, saying that, the carbs should be adjusted/rebuilt so they work at their best just to make sure.

[nhmaf]

Melena is right - the Bing people will thump that into you at the rally if you go see them - "carbs are not petcocks" they say !

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

A good thing to get in the habit of, is turning off the petcock just before arriving at your destination.  

This ensures that you will not have full float-bowls when you park.

I turn mine off when I am about 5 or 6 houses from home, or as I am approaching the driveway into work.

[msbuck]

Well, I have to say that I am BAD about forgetting to turn off my petcocks and I've never had a problem....hmmm.  I guess my carbs are just right!  

See, I'm spoiled, as my sweet hubby always starts my bike for me before we go for a ride (checking to be sure it WILL start) and my other bike doesn't have petcocks...so I just don't think about them.  Bad on me!  

I like Rob's idea.  Now if only I can remember....