hose disconnects *first post*

[rktmanfj]

I don't swear at people

Hang out here long enough, and you'll probably start...

[Pat Conlon]

Yep, very true....you can, but I can't......although I have been known to throw my coffee cup.

My wife comments, "Honey, you need a break from that place..."

[theLeopard]

so I take the bike to the shop today.
push 4500 cause I need to get there but don't want to turn into a fireball from this fuel leak.
arrive safely, 1/8th of a tank. bike isn't leaking when I pull up.

chill out for a few, ivan walks out and pulls the bike into the back, lets me tag along.
props it up on the pegstand. no leak, at first.
we're talking, chopping it up discussing what I learned here last night, then
the drip. oooooh, the drip. leaves a nice little puddle on the ground.

so we talk a bit more, ivan seems unconcerned. says that's typical behavior if the bike has been on the kickstand as the carb fuel-level is uneven tilted so it's draining the overflow.
alright, that's good news. leak stops on it's own accord. cool! schedule an appointment for next Thursday. says if it leaks while running to be cautious.
I make a joke, if i'm riding it how would I know it's leaking? we both grin and shake hands. it's 95degrees out so I stop for a few hours smoke a cigar and drink a cold beer, head home.

three of us on the 15, i'm slaloming the divider line as we breeze through early-rushhour traffic. hit every weave perfect until I get to 45 and decide to straighten up.
pushing 90 now, ride is good, keeping a good drafting line with the two guys ahead of me, we take turns who's first and eventually settle. i'm still a bit wary so they slowly pull away, 75 is fast enough today.

exit the freeway.
city traffic.
Christ. these red lights take forever.

idling for what seems like an eternity, take a look down and guess what I see: a wee bit of steam and a nice almost-stream leak of gasoline from my overflow hose. fuck.
hit a few more red lights, gotta get home this baby is HOT.
pull into O'Reilleys. nothing on fire, no explosion, still have all my fingers and toes but good lord that sure seems like a lot of fuel there pouring onto the ground.

quickfix: 3/4" heater hose, put the bundle-of-four in the end, grab some electricians tape, fashion a sling for my hoses so it will pour onto the ground instead of my pipes and rockshield.
call ivan.
"ivan I gotta get this done by sunday I have school on Monday"
he's busy.
"call me tomorrow, fit me in if you can"
he says ok, he'll call.

need a phonebook.
too many mechanics. who to pick? aha, but there are a couple machine shops for motorbikes that's exactly what I want.
first call, no answer. cmon baby be good to me. 2nd call hangs up before I get a ring, no way, call again. dave picks up.
and he's honest. say 1-2hours labor I say 2-3 we see eachother and he says to bring it by tomorrow morning.

alright so here's the thing, i'm really trying to avoid exploding on my rocketpropelled bomb here.
not even gonna overcharge me, highballed the price at $200 including labor. i'll probably give him a 20tip.
guy at Motorcycle Dynamics had the same conclusion all the guys here did and rightfully so since you know your stuff: the needles aren't sealing properly into the O-rings.
so far I like him. says he's done a lot of work on his and his friends bikes, and he runs a machine shop local to SoCal (for anyone outside LA).
if everything pans out i'd recommend him for emergency jobs (which this is, I don't have the time to ship a carb to Sacramento atm) if you live near SD.

ok but here we have a new problem. my gas take whistles. this high, piercing, but very quiet whistle. I only heard it when I was trying to replace my lowbeam when I got home.
heard it yesterday too but didn't think much of it.
pop the gascap, whistle stops. close it up. whistle starts again in about 5minutes.
I can only presume the gasket isn't sealing properly but should I be concerned about this? also i'm getting the hunch my performance has been deteriorating conversely with the severity of my fuel leak.

[FJmonkey]

ok but here we have a new problem. my gas take whistles. this high, piercing, but very quiet whistle. I only heard it when I was trying to replace my lowbeam when I got home.
heard it yesterday too but didn't think much of it.
pop the gascap, whistle stops. close it up. whistle starts again in about 5minutes.
I can only presume the gasket isn't sealing properly but should I be concerned about this? also i'm getting the hunch my performance has been deteriorating conversely with the severity of my fuel leak.

That is normal... Flapper valves are singing to you....

[theLeopard]

 
every noise is impending doom until I get this thing squared away which will probably be never so maybe in a month or so lol
I've been noticing a bit of trouble in first (nothing major yet) and the engine sounds a bit throatier than it did two days ago; this is because the carb isn't functioning at 100% I assume.
I hope I haven't caused any permanent damage to the pistons, I rode it pretty good today. only 10-15minutes but i'm babying it from concern.

[FJmonkey]

every noise is impending doom until I get this thing squared away which will probably be never so maybe in a month or so lol
I've been noticing a bit of trouble in first (nothing major yet) and the engine sounds a bit throatier than it did two days ago; this is because the carb isn't functioning at 100% I assume.
I hope I haven't caused any permanent damage to the pistons, I rode it pretty good today. only 10-15minutes but i'm babying it from concern.

The FJ is a noisy bike, it is air cooled and not to be judged by modern standards...

[simi_ed]

Leopard, here's the deal:  Who ever works on your 2 wheel Molotov cocktail needs to remove the needle seats and replace the o-rings under them.  If that doesn't happen, you're done.  Like I told you a few posts ago, either you're gonna have a BBQ'd FJ, or you'll go on your ass.  Make sure they do this or your wasting your time and money, plus you will still have the above (BBQ or crash) problem.  Do this right or don't bother!
Noises?  The only sound you need to worry about is "whoosh" as she lights up.  Ask Dan Filetti, or some of the others.  They didn't have the same problem, but they ended up where you're headed.

[movenon]

Leopard, here's the deal:  Who ever works on your 2 wheel Molotov cocktail needs to remove the needle seats and replace the o-rings under them.  If that doesn't happen, you're done.  Like I told you a few posts ago, either you're gonna have a BBQ'd FJ, or you'll go on your ass.  Make sure they do this or your wasting your time and money, plus you will still have the above (BBQ or crash) problem.  Do this right or don't bother!
Noises?  The only sound you need to worry about is "whoosh" as she lights up.  Ask Dan Filetti, or some of the others.  They didn't have the same problem, but they ended up where you're headed.

++++++ MANY...

"so we talk a bit more, ivan seems unconcerned. says that's typical behavior if the bike has been on the kickstand as the carb fuel-level is uneven tilted so it's draining the overflow."

BULL SHIT...
George

[FJmonkey]

I almost forgot... Piss off all you bastards!!!! Need to curse at least every every fort night....

[theLeopard]

"so we talk a bit more, ivan seems unconcerned. says that's typical behavior if the bike has been on the kickstand as the carb fuel-level is uneven tilted so it's draining the overflow."

BULL SHIT...
George

I've got many vices but deceit isn't one of 'em.

Leopard, here's the deal:  Who ever works on your 2 wheel Molotov cocktail needs to remove the needle seats and replace the o-rings under them.  If that doesn't happen, you're done.  Like I told you a few posts ago, either you're gonna have a BBQ'd FJ, or you'll go on your ass.  Make sure they do this or your wasting your time and money, plus you will still have the above (BBQ or crash) problem.  Do this right or don't bother!
Noises?  The only sound you need to worry about is "whoosh" as she lights up.  Ask Dan Filetti, or some of the others.  They didn't have the same problem, but they ended up where you're headed.

It'll be done tomorrow. I'm lucky I made it home, I know that as well as anyone else though perhaps not in as clear a degree as most.
9:30am and the drive there is less than 3 miles. He knows exactly what to do and said exactly what you're saying now when we spoke on the phone.

[movenon]

This is what you need to replace. Also inspect the float assy for any binding. The list go's on for working on the carbs. Its a matter of fix as required or rebuild.
Sounds like you are in a fix as required mod.

http://www.rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Carb%3AFloatValveG&cat=24

As part of your learning curve, there are 2 different needle and seats. One as the link above is for a gravity feed tank and the other is for a fuel pump model. They look the same but the inlet hole is a different diameter.

Don't worry about the fuel tank singing ..... yet.  Here is a link that might help.  Get the gas leak fixed first.

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=2024.0

Note,  if at sometime you are going down the road and the bike is loosing power or starts to run crappy.  First test is crack open the fuel tank cap.

IMO if you decide to repair it yourself, try to clean the system and make sure the vent hose isn't plugged or pinched.
I wouldn't remove the flapper unless I had to as a last resort.  Ethanol gas likes a sealed system.  Alcohol absorbs water from the air. You do live on the coast right ? No fog etc.....  I am probably over reacting to that but water, rust and corrosion are things that are not good for your fuel tank, carbs, or your wallet.
There are probably a lot of FJ's running around with the flapper removed very successively,  I would just prefer having the system work as designed.

Let us know how it turns out  
George

[simi_ed]

Good,  It sounds like we're all on the same page here.  If this mechanic does what's needed you'll be good for a long while.

I don't think George was calling BS on you, but this 'ivan' that tells you not to worry about a fuel leak.  Fuel leaks are serious shit, things get destroyed and people get hurt.  Nobody here wants that for you or anyone.  As I said, we're all on the same page here.

Please report back to let us know what the outcome is ...


Ed

[simi_ed]

OK, I got is a 'shit'.  I guess I'm covered for a few ...

[theLeopard]

does my carb have a vent from the crankcase to the air filter?
i'm browsing around to see how bad the risk of fire was (exists but it wasn't a fuel-line leak) in case this happens in the future and it seems I'll be changing the oil again asap.

[Pat Conlon]

Yes, there are two hoses on the stock airbox...
1) a large vent hose connecting at the top right side of your engine case that runs to the bottom side of your *stock* air box. It is part of your emissions system. The oil vapor generated by the engine blow by is recirculated back thru the carbs.
2) There is a second smaller drain line that runs from the bottom of the airbox to the ground. It's purpose is to drain off any accumulated oil that collects in the airbox....(oil generated by the crankcase vent)

When removing and reinstalling the stock airbox to service the carbs, this crankcase vent hose (#1) is very difficult to reconnect to the bottom of the airbox...Many times lazy service techs leave this hose disconnected.

We, who have learned how to service our carbs, throw away the stock airbox and install UniPod filters which make this service job much, much easier. On the crankcase vent hose we install a small K&N filter at the end of the hose thus venting the crankcase vapors to the atmosphere....it also keeps our carbs cleaner without all that crankcase oil vapor being pulled through the carbs.