Fuel Leak

[jdrouin]

So, I left the petcock on after returning from work, and now there's a small puddle of gas under the bike. It was leaking from the little plastic filter bowl under the petcock and dripping onto the floor for 4 hours before I shut it off.

Naturally I'm worried it might have flooded the engine.

Should I start the bike to drain the carb and fuel line, or just change the oil? What do you think?

Jeff

[barenekd]

what makes you think it got into the engine? If the carb needle and float are working right, there shouldn't be any problem. I'd pull the plug  and see if there's any flooding, then go from there. You shouldn't really have any problem at all.
Bare

[LarsBloodbeard]

If it was leaking from the fuel line filter, it shouldn't have gotten into your engine.  I wouldn't worry about it if it was my bike.  I've had similar issues and I just make sure there's no pools of gas on or under my bike before firing it up.

[baird4444]

some of the factory petcocks were junk. They would seep gas which could run uphill and make it hard to tell where it was cuming from. try reclamping the fuel hose, rub bar soap where it joins together...  if gas seeps to it, it will gel and stop leaking. Be careful if you disassemble the tap....   made from recycled pop cans and will strip and cross thread very easy.
      - Mike

[mrunderhill1975a]

I'll add my two pence, I've found that the corner petrol station has been adding ethanol to the petrol, and I think it is in higher amounts than the stated 10%.  The results on my bike is that the plastic in both the fuel line and filters becomes brittle and is prone to cracking.  It also seems to dissolve the gaskets at the fuel tap/tank joint.  It also seems to dissolve the inside of the Indian fuel tap. 

On a related note, in the past I would fix seeps like this with the bar soap method that Mike Baird suggests.  However, I have found now that the ethanol has been added to the fuel, the bar soap method isn't working for me.  The ethanol dissolves the bar soap gel fairly quickly.

My recommendation is to replace the fuel line, gaskets etc. with some sort of rubber that resists ethanol.  Then see if you can find a petrol supplier that supples petrol without the ethanol.

[jdrouin]

Thanks for these replies. I removed the plug and didn't smell any gasoline, so it appears the leak was at the petcock only. I had just assumed it would have leaked through the carb and flooded the engine. The bike started fine and didn't give off a gasoline smell, which it did the last time there was gas in the oil.

It seems the plastic filter bowl was a little loose, so I hand tightened it. Will try the soap trick if it happens again. Thanks for that!

Re: ethanol in the gas. I actually use ethanol free, so-called "real gas" that's available at my local station. This wasn't an option back home in the northeast. At least, I never saw any, but then I was never looking for it. Real gas performs better and gives significantly superior fuel economy to ethanol gas.

[Kevin Mahoney]

Motorcycles with carburetors have a long and proud history of leaking through the needle and seat. This is one of the reasons there is a gas shutoff. Get in the habit of ALWAYS shutting off the gas then you stop the bike.

[ERC]

Get used to using the ethanol, they are trying like hell to up it to 15%.  ERC