Smelling gas
Tourer
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 350
Likes: 0
From: Reidsville, NC
Where are you smelling gas from? After riding heat from the engine can heat your tanks causing them to vent. Also the S&S's (I've had 3) were famous for not shutting off completely. So if you leave your petcock on or it leaks by it could be coming from the bowl into the carb throat. Since bike is leaned to the left you won't see a leak unless it is major. I had a super b that would remind you quickly to shut off the gas. Hope this is some help.
Tourer
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 350
Likes: 0
From: Reidsville, NC
Also another thought. Your carb could be "perking". Gas in the bowl getting hot enough to "boil" and vent the vapors. You riding in extremely hot weather and sitting a lot? Ie: stoplights, traffic jams, etc.?
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,898
From: Bedford UK
As a general rule smelling gas indicates the stuff is somewhere it shouldn't be! That suggests either a leak past the carb valve flooding the carb, a leaking petcock or pipe. Any slight leak such as these can evaporate the gas off without it being obvious there is a leak, so worth doing a thorough check of all of them. Left alone you may suddenly find you have a bigger leak!
Many years ago I had a similar experience. Turned out it was the hose, which was a composite construction. The inner had cracked and was leaking, but the outer looked fine, so the gas was coming out of the end of it, past the hose clip.
Many years ago I had a similar experience. Turned out it was the hose, which was a composite construction. The inner had cracked and was leaking, but the outer looked fine, so the gas was coming out of the end of it, past the hose clip.
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Cruiser
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 138
Likes: 0
Thanks yu'll, going to pull the bowl off and clean the needle valve and seat to start with. One of these days I'm going to change out the petcock valve, dont realy like that vacuum crap on the stock one, dont know if it would leak or not. Harley had a re-call on it and thats been done.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 2,856
Likes: 127
From: Middle of Kansas
Mine does that too. After a hard ride in 95 deg. weather, when I park it in the garage. As the tanks heat up it has to vent somewhere, and it does. There is a vent at the top of the tanks with a hose that goes down to a vapor valve. That is where the smell comes from as long as the hose is good going down there.
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Tourer
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 347
Likes: 1
From: port neches texas
i had that happened couldnt find it thought it was normal then it got real bad and i found out the acelerator pump diaphram was leaking out the carb got that fixed didnt smell gas after that.
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