A little over a week ago, I replaced the dead fuel gauge sender in Reaper's gas tank. After installing the new one, I took her for a good long ride (close to 100 miles), filled her up, came home and checked her over for leaks. Everything seemed to be fine. All last week, I didn't have the opportunity to ride, and I was out of town on the weekend, so she sat that whole time with the full tank of gas.

I have been planning to spend a lot of time in the saddle this week, as the weather is finally supposed to be getting nice for a stretch. Last night after getting home from work, I went to look her over, and saw this :



So I pulled her console and tank bag up and found this :



Turns out the brand new gasket I bought from my local HD dealer had swollen (you can see it in the pic below), and gas leaked out for a week, really screwing up the paint...

In case anyone is wondering. I have the service manual, I bought new screws (they're one use only), and I torqued everything to spec. This ain't my first rodeo.



After removing the screwed up paint, and cleaning the affected area, the tank looks like this. Not nearly as bad, but the paint is screwed hard. The gas ate through the clear-coat, and at least a couple of layers of black.



The only slight silver lining is that the Reaper graphic didn't get damaged. Only the background black paint. So, now I have to get that fixed, which means pulling the tank and taking everything off, etc... but it should be repairable.

Needless to say, I am NOT a happy Clam. I am also very concerned that the new gasket I get will do the same thing. Whatever material they used for the one I installed didn't stand up to being exposed to gasoline, and since it seals the top of the gas tank...

 

Is that the stock paint on it...uh her? Situations like this, are why I let the shop do my work because if that happened, I'd be getting a free paint job.

 

Nope. I had the tank custom painted a few years ago. I do most of my own work because I can, "the shop" has screwed up too many times, and I don't like paying their prices. I used to be an automotive tech. I have no problem with repair and maintenance of motor vehicles.

Cheers!

 

Well, I'd try to get some kind of sealer on it the next time it's painted.

As for affording to have it done, I really can't but the way bike are now compared to when I used to do my own work in the 70s, they're way to complicated for me. So it not a choice but a necessity.

 

Reaper's an '05, and carbed. So she's still pretty low-tech, heheh... The paint was sealed/clear-coated, etc... Just soaking in gasoline for over a week killed that section of it. Pretty sure it would do that to just about any finish.

Cheers!

 

Well that sucks big time.....I know what I would feel like if that happened to my bike!

 

Well, Good Luck on getting it fixed and repainted Clammy. Summer's almost here.

 

From what you said,it wasn't leaking after you finished job and checked it.Something softened that gasket up and it should be OK with gasoline.Wondering if Canada has ethanol in their gas like we have in the States.Over 10% of ethanol will cause problems with seals and gaskets which were not designed for use with it.

 

I run Sunoco 94 (up here it's Petro-Canada). It's a 10% ethanol blend. I really HATE corn gas, but Reaper's engine has over 10.5:1 compression, so I need to run the high octane stuff (the highest available non-corn gas is 91, and she pings on that). I've been running that gas in her for the entire time I've owned her - 11 years (bought her new), and never had this issue with any gaskets leaking. I can only assume I got a bad one, that wasn't made of the right material, and am hopeful that the next one I install will NOT react this way with the gas. I'm also worried that it WILL.

Corn gas is SUCH a scam... it's bad for engines, it's less efficient, and causes more pollution to produce. Not to mention it uses up valuable farm land to grow the crappy corn to make this crap. Pure BS.

 

The gasket looks like it was way over torqued to me. I feel for you. I would be sick about that!