Gasoline everywhere!!
Road Warrior
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,277
Likes: 1
From: Haney, British Columbia
I'm embarrassed to say this has happened to me... twice.
The first time I not only had gas all over the bike, but I got splashed right up my jacket and my jeans.
I looked around to see if anyone was looking, 'cause I sure felt like an idiot. I was afraid to fire up the bike in case we both blew up. I waited a few minutes, blotting as much I could with paper towels and made my way home.
Change of clothes, washed the bike and just hosed off the jacket on the driveway. No problem, but I carried a slight odour of gas the rest of the day.
The second wasn't so bad. As I was pumping, I glanced over my shoulder and as I did, my hand came up and lifted the nozzel ... splash again. All over the tank, but I was un- touched. It was a real hot day and really didn't want to start the bike, so I rolled it over the the water hose and hosed it off.
I'm extra careful now. Knock on wood.
The first time I not only had gas all over the bike, but I got splashed right up my jacket and my jeans.
I looked around to see if anyone was looking, 'cause I sure felt like an idiot. I was afraid to fire up the bike in case we both blew up. I waited a few minutes, blotting as much I could with paper towels and made my way home.
Change of clothes, washed the bike and just hosed off the jacket on the driveway. No problem, but I carried a slight odour of gas the rest of the day.
The second wasn't so bad. As I was pumping, I glanced over my shoulder and as I did, my hand came up and lifted the nozzel ... splash again. All over the tank, but I was un- touched. It was a real hot day and really didn't want to start the bike, so I rolled it over the the water hose and hosed it off.
I'm extra careful now. Knock on wood.
Thread Starter
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Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 12,653
Likes: 18
From: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
No, it wasn't operator malfunction. This is what I was doing, except I turned my head slightly to see how much had been dispensed. I was holding the nozzle with my left hand and the trigger with my right, and didn't allow it to move, when it happened. That's why my left sleeve and entire front of my leather jacket got soaked.
I'm lucky I didn't have my face over it, like usual, as I would have gotten a gasoline shower, the way it shot up out of the tank.
But all is good now. Still have a little gasoline smell on the jacket, but spent two hours last night cleaning the bike.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 19,982
Likes: 6,110
From: Florida
I almost never fill up at the station. Once a week during my route I fill up a 5 gallon container with ethanol-free premium & use a big long funnel to fill my bikes in the garage. Never a drop on either bike. Since I only run E-free gas, I gotta make a special trip to the only station around me that sells it.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,857
Likes: 7
Happened to me last week...someone wanted to chat about the bike while gassing up. Lost concentration...and sploosh! My only concern was safety....TG there was no ignition around for the first few seconds while she smoked off the engine.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 3,158
Likes: 68
From: Martinsburg, WV
There's no boot on the pump, just a splash guard that isn't much good on a bike. And I have no idea why it did what it did. I was near empty, got about a 1/2 gallon in when all of a sudden it just blew out of the tank like Old Faithful. Freaked me out, and thank God I'd only ridden about a half mile to the station. I hate to think what would have happened had the bike been really hot. Cause gas went EVERYWHERE! Including the engine and my seat.
Gotta go home tonight and do some serious cleaning now. Thanks for the replies everyone!
Gotta go home tonight and do some serious cleaning now. Thanks for the replies everyone!
When I had a Sporster years ago, I had some old geezer on his hog roll up next to me and warn me that I should not be sitting on the bike while filling up, because one drop on the engine could cause the whole thing to go up since the flashpoint of gasoline was so low.
The flashpoint of gasoline is -50F. What he failed to learn when hearing this urban legend is that the autoignition temperature of gasoline is 475F-535F.
If spilling gasoline on a motorcycle engine was enough to cause it to burst into flames and burn the motorcycle and rider to ashes, I'd venture to guess that these things might be a bit illegal and we would have seen several news stories about riders being burned alive at the pump by now.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,780
Likes: 69
From: Al Bu Ker Key, New Mexico
I think this, and dropping a bike, are the two most common events with most riders.
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Tourer
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 357
Likes: 0
From: Chicago, IL
Be careful when pumping gas and don't assume anything about the pump is going to protect you. Ewan McGregor learned that the hard way on his motorcycle TV show where he took a face-full of gas at a station who's pump wasn't equipped with a auto-shut-off/full sensor. I never saw anyone with eyes that red. I think about that every time I pump gas into my bike.