My wife is about to kick my bike out of the garage as the fumes are getting into the house. Walking into the garage will about knock a person over from the fumes.
The gas caps have good rubber and appear to be sealing well.
The petcock is turned off.
There is no physical sign of any fuel hitting the cardboard under the bike, just a few drops of oil.
When I get home I'm going to run the bike with the petcock closed until all the fuel is gone.
From searching the forums and around it looks like I should check:
The cross-over line between the tanks
The petcock
The hose from the bottom of carb
Needle valve
Float bowl drain screw
Anything else that needs checking, and any particular order I should go with?
What about the carbon overflow tank these catch a over flow from the tank and can smell when there full may need to change it. Bikes made in California have them installed and check your air Filter.
Last edited by PDB17UltraRG; 11-02-2018 at 06:35 PM.
What about the carbon overflow tank these catch a over flow from the tank and can smell when there full may need to change it. Bikes made in California have them installed and check your air Filter.
I don't believe this was ever a California bike. It's been in South Dakota for most of its life for sure, and most likely was sold new here. In any case would that be at the end of the drain hose from the carb bowl overflow?
Originally Posted by johnjzjz
if it has 2 tanks the cross over hose has popped off under the dash
Ok after some closer inspection, the fuel appears to be seeping out between the carb body and bowl, and down the outside of the drain hose. Now I have no idea what carb is on there, but I do know its been swapped out from the original Keihin. I'll have to pull the air cleaner and such to see what I have. Hopefully I can get away with just replacing the bowl gasket as the bike has been running fine. I've been careful to run only non-alchohol fuel but maybe after sitting so long the gasket just dried out and its taken a couple of weeks for the fuel to work its way thru.
The crossover hose is good, and I know the petcock is working as I forgot the other day to turn it on and the bike stopped running. I also was able to run the main tank dry until the bike died, switch to the backup tank and run normally.Took over 5 gallons with some still in reserve.
Oh well, its either going to be wet, snowy or just plain too cold to ride for the next week anyway.
After finishing the honey-dos I poked around a little more and looked at a few vids on you tube. I'm wondering if my information was in error, it looks an awful lot like the stock Keihin that I'm seeing in videos.
How do I get the carb off the intake manifold? I can barely get my hands around the back of the carb to feel the nut/bolt and can't see the front side at all - if I'm reading the parts list/service manuals right its a stud in the back of the carb that goes thru the intake manifold and is bolted on the back side? What is the trick? There also appears to be a thick insulator block between the carb and intake manifold.
Also looks like some change was made to the engine as the support bracket for the air cleaner is attached at the bottom by the pushrod tubes, and not off the front head.
In any case the bike is going nowhere until I get this figured out, there is now a lot of fuel that has seeped out. So a carb rebuild or replacement is now in order. Any thoughts on this - any experts confirm what kind of carb that is, and should I rebuild it, or stick it in a box of original take offs and buy a better aftermarket carb?
Well, I found the problem - my petcock doesn't quite shut all the way off. Needless to say I just filled a couple of days before. There also appears to be some corrosion inside the main tank, so it looks like in addition to replacing all the fuel lines and petcock (It's probably a piece of rust that is causing the problem in the first place). I'll need to do something with the tank. I may just replace them since they aren't original to the bike, the paint is faded and flaking, scratched etc, and the left tank is dented.
Recommendations? Are the J&P ones adequate (that's what is on there now) or should I be looking for something else? Not looking for OEM 3.5g tanks unless they fall into my lap cheap (not holding my breath on that)
Looks to me as if you have a Kehein carb on there as well. In your pics you can see the HD Logo and the start of the word Harley Davidson. Once you pull it it will have a nujber on it that will identify what year and model it came off of. Pic I have added is one off a stock 1978-1/2 FXE
In the above pic you can see the studs protruding from the carb body. They go into the carb manifold and are held in place by a lock washer and nut. However it was common for guys to pull the studs and use allen bolts.
Since you are going to replace some stuff, now would be a good time to pull the carb body and replace your intake manifold gaskets as well. And with the carb body off drop the bowl, check your float level height and replace the gaskets. Both J&P and V-Twin carry the Kehein carb rebuild kits. And you might check ebay as well. There are sellers who may offer a lower price than either.
Re: your tanks. I am unsure if J&P makes their own or they get them from V-Twin. Only aftermarket replacement tanks I have installed were from V-Twin (many, many years ago). They had some fitment issues as far as tab mounts and dash cover. Word is that they are doing a much better job in the current market.
Lastly, since you are going to replace the petcock, consider using a Pingel. Definitely not cheap but the quality is unsurpassed. And should it wear out, Pingel rebuilds it for you for $15.00. Can't beat the price.
Looks to me as if you have a Kehein carb on there as well. In your pics you can see the HD Logo and the start of the word Harley Davidson. Once you pull it it will have a nujber on it that will identify what year and model it came off of. Pic I have added is one off a stock 1978-1/2 FXE
In the above pic you can see the studs protruding from the carb body. They go into the carb manifold and are held in place by a lock washer and nut. However it was common for guys to pull the studs and use allen bolts.
Since you are going to replace some stuff, now would be a good time to pull the carb body and replace your intake manifold gaskets as well. And with the carb body off drop the bowl, check your float level height and replace the gaskets. Both J&P and V-Twin carry the Kehein carb rebuild kits. And you might check ebay as well. There are sellers who may offer a lower price than either.
Re: your tanks. I am unsure if J&P makes their own or they get them from V-Twin. Only aftermarket replacement tanks I have installed were from V-Twin (many, many years ago). They had some fitment issues as far as tab mounts and dash cover. Word is that they are doing a much better job in the current market.
Lastly, since you are going to replace the petcock, consider using a Pingel. Definitely not cheap but the quality is unsurpassed. And should it wear out, Pingel rebuilds it for you for $15.00. Can't beat the price.
Thanks. I can't tell what is on the back of the carb - my hands barely fit. Hopefully pulling the tanks makes some room to work. I also discovered that I have the newer intake manifold with the rubber bands and those funky clamps. I'm guessing that happened when the heads were off and the engine stroked. I haven't seen anything on replacing those bands - they're at least 5 years old, so probably not a bad idea to replace them along with everything else. I may not need to rebuild the carb at least - bike was running great, a lot of power, pulls better than a stock 103 twinkie by my amateur seat-of-the-pants meter. There is a fuel filter in line between the petcock and carb. I read the conventional wisdom is to remove it, but I think it will stay put til I get the tank rust issue sorted.
11-02-2018, 06:00 PM
Fuel fumes/leak checklist
