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Post by liamdiversion on Mar 8, 2011 10:33:14 GMT
Hello all, First Post  Bought my first 'big bike' a 1994 diversion xj600s, back in December 10. Has since been stood until it hesitantly started yesterday. In December it had 1/2 Tank of petrol, when I went to start on Sunday the tank was completely empty? Is this normal or do i have a fuel leak (tap was left on the 'on' position) somewhere? An electric fuel pump has been installed to replace the vacuum type - not sure if this affects anything! Also the fuel tap plastic handle is broken. Anyone made up a new handle or know where i can purchase another one? Ebay and internet searches have come up non conclusive. Many Thanks in advance! Liam |
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Post by bobh on Mar 8, 2011 18:58:41 GMT
Definitely not normal for half-a-tank of petrol to disappear in 3 months! It's either a leak or someone's nicked it.
If it's a leak I'm surprised you didn't see or smell any evidence.
It's normal to leave the tap in the "On" position. It's vacuum actuated so (if it's working properly) it won't allow petrol through until the engine's turning over and there's a vacuum in the inlet manifold. The "Prime" position does let petrol through without a vacuum, though, so is useful when the bike's not run for a bit and the petrol has evaporated out of the carbs.
The type of fuel pump shouldn't make any difference - it won't pump if the ignition's off (unless someone's wired it up to be on permanently, in which case you'd have a flat battery or the thing would be ticking away like mad.
All I can suggest is that you put a few litres of petrol in it and see what happens.
Good luck - Bob
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Post by liamdiversion on Mar 11, 2011 8:59:22 GMT
Well the garage it is left in does stink of petrol now. Although i cannot see any evidence of a fuel leak on the floor.
The bike does tick away like made when i flick the kill switch so i can start the bike (the ticking was alot louder when the tank was empty), and i have had to put a new battery in recently as the 2 year old battery in the bike was flat and would not accept a charge!
Does it sound like i need to rewire the fuel pump?
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Post by bobh on Mar 11, 2011 23:05:27 GMT
Well the garage it is left in does stink of petrol now. Although i cannot see any evidence of a fuel leak on the floor. The bike does tick away like made when i flick the kill switch so i can start the bike (the ticking was alot louder when the tank was empty), and i have had to put a new battery in recently as the 2 year old battery in the bike was flat and would not accept a charge! Does it sound like i need to rewire the fuel pump? Do you mean the pump ticks when the kill switch is in the run position but the ignition switch is off? If so that's definitely wrong - the pump shouldn't run with the ignition off. If it does then there may be a wiring fault - has it had an alarm fitted at any time, which might have meant the wiring being tampered with? I'm wondering why you need to operate the kill switch to start the bike - it's normal to leave it in the run position (except for emergencies and when playing tricks on your mates) and just use the ignition switch to kill the engine. |
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Post by peteff on Mar 12, 2011 11:03:30 GMT
If the pump is an after fit and it still has the vacuum tap fitted is the vacuum pipe still on the tap or is it blocked off? The diaphragm went in the tap on the one I did and it leaked fuel out of the bottom of the tap and it stunk. The pump should only run till the floats are full. Here's a repair kit and here's a tap on ebay. |
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Post by liamdiversion on Mar 12, 2011 14:47:57 GMT
Well the garage it is left in does stink of petrol now. Although i cannot see any evidence of a fuel leak on the floor. The bike does tick away like made when i flick the kill switch so i can start the bike (the ticking was alot louder when the tank was empty), and i have had to put a new battery in recently as the 2 year old battery in the bike was flat and would not accept a charge! Does it sound like i need to rewire the fuel pump? Do you mean the pump ticks when the kill switch is in the run position but the ignition switch is off? If so that's definitely wrong - the pump shouldn't run with the ignition off. If it does then there may be a wiring fault - has it had an alarm fitted at any time, which might have meant the wiring being tampered with? I'm wondering why you need to operate the kill switch to start the bike - it's normal to leave it in the run position (except for emergencies and when playing tricks on your mates) and just use the ignition switch to kill the engine. For some reason i use the kill switch to turn the engine off. It only ticks when ignition is on and kill switch set to run. Just took bike out and its now feeling like its running on 1 cylinder and keeps cutting out. Think ill give the fuel tap rebuild ago to see if it gets rid of the petrol leakage. Not sure on the wiring part though as something is draining the battery. |
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Post by maczone on May 10, 2011 0:54:31 GMT
Hi Liam
It might just be your fuel tap that is faulty!
The membrane inside the fuel tap should only allow fuel to flow through if there is enough vacuum created by the vacuum pump.
It sounds like the tap is continually seeping fuel through to the carbs, where the fuel evaporates over time.
I say this because thats what my tap does. If I was to leave the bike with a full/half tank over a few weeks, the fuel level would be significantly down when I went to use it.
I got round this problem by fitting a in-line fuel shut off valve (cost about £4-5) between the fuel tap and the fuel filter.
Before I fitted the shut off valve I was confused why my fuel consumption was higher than it should be. (but only when bike was Left unused for days at a time). I did read that the fuel tap membrane often fails over time, and the fuel tap repair kits you can get are not up to the job, and a new fuel tap costs.
I suspect that a lot of people querying their fuel consumption should check their fuel tap.
Hope this helps
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Post by 1oldman on May 22, 2011 23:23:05 GMT
A word of warning, that fuel can leak thru the carbs and valves and get down into the crankcase. Check your oil for the smell of fuel or any indication that there is more oil in the crankcase than should be. If you run your engine with the oil thinned out by gasoline, petrol to you folks, you can damage your engine. We've had many instances of petrol in the oil over here across the pond.
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