Annual tank cleaning.

[Barry]

Just did my annual tank draining on a wet Sunday morning. Doesn't seem to be any water in there but I dried it out with hot air just in case.

What has been really worth doing is cleaning the fuel tap. The lever had been getting a bit stiff recently so I thought I'd investigate while the tank was off.

No sign of cork in these Modern! taps just an alloy disc which rotates on a plastic valve plate and they both looked fine. There is an O ring sealing the edge of the alloy disc that could be replaced but it looked OK and it's not a stand type so I haven't got one anyway. Cleaned and polished all the metal bits for a smooth action and put it all back together with some silicone grease. The threaded retaining ring is something of a challenge to get back on against the spring pressure and I can imagine stripped threads and a written off tap could easily occur. It's one of those times to stop and think. You need to devise a means of pressing down squarely on the retaining ring while you rotate it to engage the threads.  Another tip is if you remove the two main and reserve straws make sure to put them back in the right holes.


The lever now moves much more easily. Quite a transformation and definitely one of those "should have done it before now jobs".


It occurs to me that I should have taken some pics but there's a good exploded diagram in the Haynes manual which is an accurate represenation of the various bits and which order they go back in.

[Bob_Roller]

When I first got my '82 LS, the fuel wouldn't shut off with the fuel tap in the 'OFF' position .

The rubber washer inside the tap, had developed a groove between the holes from the metal disc that rotates when the handle is moved .

The plastic inlet tubes were broken, so I went to a hobby store and got some brass tubing, opened up the holes in the tap body so the brass tubes would fit and applied a bit of fuel resistant sealant to keep them in place .

[steve hawkins]

Always a good idea to drain your tank every tear or two.

Its amazing what can get in there.

Mostly water in my case - But with a small amount of water comes corrosion.  I am going to have to stop washing it!

Rev. Light

[Barry]

I think I'm going to stretch the cleaning to every couple of years as I'm not seeing much evidence of water and only a tiny amounts of the red liner particles. My liner is quite good but I do have a few shiny bare metal patches where the liner has been chipped off by the fuel nozzle. Not a spec of rust though.  For over a year now I've been running with a 1:640 ratio of TCW3 2 stroke oil which may help keep corrosion at bay although I'm really doing it for other reasons.