Gas smell when parked

Hey all,

I have a 2005 RSTD. I am trying to find where a gas smell is coming from when my bike is parked. I took the gas tank off to look at that and then get into my carbs. However, when I took my gas tank off I moved it around and turned it upsid down to see if there were any leaks there. Upon doing so I found that the gas cap leaked quit a bit and I proceeded to check the gas cap gasket and found it had some crack in it. I figure that I may need a new gasket. Thee is a pic in this post of it and I was wondering if someone could take a look at it and see what they think. I then looked arund a the hoses and found that there was the hose coming off the top of the gas tank that rides down the right side of the motorcycle and it looked bad with some corrosion looking stuff around it. I had it running right on top of the radiator hose that is next to the carbs. I think that was run wrong and it may have caused the rubber hose to thin out. Can someone look at that as well and let me know if 1. it was run wrong and if so where it would be run and 2. if I should replace it. I think it needs to be replaced but not sure if it is only a breather tube and there isn't any actual gas running through it. Thanks for your help in advance.

Brian

IMHO, while it is possible for that cap gasket to be the problem and it would be a good idea to replace it I would look at some other things in search of the smell issue. You could make sure that the tank is venting properly - not building pressure and then slowly venting after being parked. Also might want to check your overflow tubes on your carb bowls for dampness - if these are damp it means either your floats have gone out of height adjustment or you may have a sticking float valve. Either one can cause some slow drippage of fuel when parked. No idea where or even if your scoot has a fuel filter in front of the pump like our 1st Gens but I have also had the stock filter develop a small seam crack creating the smell like your talking about with very little to none noticeable drippage on the floor - just a dampness on the filter.

Locating the source of a smell like your talking about can take a lot of tedious work, another thing that I have found when working thru it is working in the dark with a real good pen light so my eyes are tightly focused on the small area where the light is showing. This way if there is dampness anywhere on aluminum (such as carb bowls) I can see the reflection of the dampness easier.

Gasoline smell after parking the RSV is a pretty common issue, I had it happen from time to time on mine, it usually a slightly sticking float valve (needle valve) in the carbs. One quick solution is to turn the petcock to the off position when you park the bike, that will stop the fuel from gravity feeding to the carbs and stop and seeping thru the needle valve(s). The other thing I would do when it happen to me was to treat the bike to a good health dose of Seafoam, like half a can to a full tank. Run the bike to get some of the treated fuel in to the carbs and let it soak for a while with the petcock closed. Run the bike with the petcock closed until the engines dies due to fuel starvation. I would normally just leave it like that until my next ride, then I would cuss because the bike would not start and after a few minutes of foul words I would remember that some idiot left the petcock closed.

I learned to trick myself into the remembering the petcock was closed by removing the key from the bike and hanging it on the wall, so when the key was not where it normally was it reminded me that something was different about the bike. Actually worked on my simple brain.

So you could try that.

I would replace that gasket if you can get one, otherwise try lubing it with some silicone grease that may help.

Not sure there is any thing wrong with the hose, but you may want to put a piece of rubber between it and what ever it is laying on, a piece of tubing split would work well for that.

I can not tell you if it a fuel hose or vent hose.

Also make sure the vent hose that comes off the fuel tank near the filler is attached and also make sure it is not plugged, have heard of folks here in the south finding mud daubers leaving there handy work in the open end of that vent line.

Good luck keep us posted.