Phoneman1981 Posted January 11, 2015 Share #1 Posted January 11, 2015 I ran into another local rider today at Cabela's in Sidney NE. Chatted about the upcoming riding season. He mentioned that last fall he intended to take a ride on his 97 RSTD. However he discovered that his petcock gasket failed, leaked the entire fuel tank contents into the carbs and flooded the cylinders and crankcase. Is this a common problem? Good reason to turn off the petcock when stored? He indicated he was going to have the local dealer look at it. Thoughts, ideas..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campfire12 Posted January 11, 2015 Share #2 Posted January 11, 2015 My thought on that is that if the petcock gasket failed the only thing that would happen is the gas would leak out on the ground. If the neadle and seat would stick open in the carbs the gas should leak out the carb overflow's. don't know what would cause gas to flood the cylinders and crankcase.Just my thought on the subjuct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiCarl Posted January 12, 2015 Share #3 Posted January 12, 2015 His problem isn't just the petcock. You only turn the petcock off to protect you if you have a float bowl over filling. When it over fills gasoline can leak out the vents and/or into the cylinders. If you get enough fuel in a cylinder to hydro-lock it you can bend a rod. So, he has a float problem and if the petcock was switched off it's leaking too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakester Posted January 12, 2015 Share #4 Posted January 12, 2015 That is a carb needle and seat / float sticking problem. Yes it will fill the cylinder with fuel and cause you to bend a rod. I did it on an old RSTD I had. Petcock is suppose to allow fuel to flow when left open( as I always do)when this fails , it will leak externally on the engine or ground. Need to look at the carbs. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaharly Posted January 12, 2015 Share #5 Posted January 12, 2015 Man THAT would be a frustrating set of circumstances... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowdy7 Posted January 12, 2015 Share #6 Posted January 12, 2015 My first thought was " how did it leak past the fuel pump". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted January 12, 2015 Share #7 Posted January 12, 2015 I had the same problem with the '99 after sitting for two years due to health problems. The only way I could stop the leak was putting it on reserve. Any other position and it leaked like a sieve out the side of the petcock. I might also add that the carbs were toast too. Gummed.. corroded??.... up so bad that the butterfly's wouldn't move, and nothing I did would un-stick them. Finally had to pick up another set. Since picking up two more RSV's I haven't been real diligent on getting her back together, so she sits.... with nary a drop of fuel in her. Don't want to go thru that again.... :-) Maybe later on this spring?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaharly Posted January 13, 2015 Share #8 Posted January 13, 2015 I had the same problem with the '99 after sitting for two years due to health problems. The only way I could stop the leak was putting it on reserve. Any other position and it leaked like a sieve out the side of the petcock. I might also add that the carbs were toast too. Gummed.. corroded??.... up so bad that the butterfly's wouldn't move, and nothing I did would un-stick them. Finally had to pick up another set. Since picking up two more RSV's I haven't been real diligent on getting her back together, so she sits.... with nary a drop of fuel in her. Don't want to go thru that again.... :-) Maybe later on this spring?? Well if you ever need to get rid of the ol 99:whistling: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted January 13, 2015 Share #9 Posted January 13, 2015 Well if you ever need to get rid of the ol 99:whistling: Never really gave it much thought. Everything that was screwed up has been replaced with new...'cept the '08 used carbs... Even the tank.. So the only thing left that needs to be done is mount the plenums, and tank... gas'r up and go... Maybe once I get her back together I will think about it??.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaharly Posted January 13, 2015 Share #10 Posted January 13, 2015 Never really gave it much thought. Everything that was screwed up has been replaced with new...'cept the '08 used carbs... Even the tank.. So the only thing left that needs to be done is mount the plenums, and tank... gas'r up and go... Maybe once I get her back together I will think about it??.... Ahh i didnt realize you had so much into her! Glad to hear that youve been doing your work to it. Sounds like it mustve been in pretty poor shape though? How many miles does it have if you dont mind me asking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueSky Posted January 13, 2015 Share #11 Posted January 13, 2015 The sad thing is that if you turn off the fuel valve the fuel in the carbs evaporate if you let it sit for a while and leaves some varnish that can plug the jets. If you leave the fuel valve on, the carbs stay full and the carb is not as likely to plug up. Or at least that was my experience with my old 81 Honda CB900C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowpuc Posted January 15, 2015 Share #12 Posted January 15, 2015 Having never owned a Gen 2 or an RSTD I cant speak directly to them BUT,, I can say this.. Some bikes have a vacuum operated petcock, and I have a fair amount of experience with the failure of such.. It is entirely possible for a bike with a vacuum operated pet cock to get a crack in the diaphram that controls the petcock and leak fuel into the engine thru the vacuum line that is connected to the petcock.. Also,, because this is a vacuum line - any attempt at starting a bike with the diaphram compramised can result in fuel not only leaking into the engine but literally being sucked in by vacuum!! Again,, no idea if the RSTD has a vacuum operated P-Cock but Yamaha did use them - I know the late 70's XS650s had em,, and I believe I rebuilt one on a Virago once... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueSky Posted January 15, 2015 Share #13 Posted January 15, 2015 I owned a 2004 Kawasaki concours for a couple years. It had a vacuum operated petcock and the carbs had NO overflows. So, fairly often someone would post about the petcock diaphragm failing and the carbs needles leaking and hydrolocking the engine resulting in bent connecting rods. A bad day! I'm happy to hear that our Ventures have manual petcocks and carb overflows! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowpuc Posted January 15, 2015 Share #14 Posted January 15, 2015 I owned a 2004 Kawasaki concours for a couple years. It had a vacuum operated petcock and the carbs had NO overflows. So, fairly often someone would post about the petcock diaphragm failing and the carbs needles leaking and hydrolocking the engine resulting in bent connecting rods. A bad day! I'm happy to hear that our Ventures have manual petcocks and carb overflows! I have seen a number of varieties of the vacuum operated petcocks Sky,, some of them are built so they function manually and look just like a normal petcock,, my 78 650 Special was like that - down on the lever was "ON" - pointing rearward was reserve and pointing forward was "Prime" (instead of "off" like on a normal manual pet cock).. The "Prime" position was in case you had a vapor lock and needed to momentarily bypass the diaphram.. Also had a couple Kawi's like this and almost sure I redid a late model Virago that was built like that.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vzuden Posted January 15, 2015 Share #15 Posted January 15, 2015 The RSV's do not have a vacuum petcock. Strictly mechanical Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowpuc Posted January 15, 2015 Share #16 Posted January 15, 2015 The RSV's do not have a vacuum petcock. Strictly mechanical Are the RSTD's for sure the same V? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vzuden Posted January 16, 2015 Share #17 Posted January 16, 2015 Are the RSTD's for sure the same V? Yep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted January 17, 2015 Share #18 Posted January 17, 2015 Ahh i didnt realize you had so much into her! Glad to hear that youve been doing your work to it. Sounds like it mustve been in pretty poor shape though? How many miles does it have if you dont mind me asking? Don't mind at all... Just over 50,000 on the odo. And yeah the fuel system was the worst I'd ever dealt with. And I have no one else to blame. I had plans to work under the tank so parked it with very little fuel in it. Then health went all to hell in a hand basket, and it was two years before I was able even look at her again. The entire system was a mess. Even broke the throttle cable trying to get the carbs to move. Other than the problems she's a beautiful bike with lots of bling and upgrades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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