it didn't look exactly like this. i had been trying to fish the clip out when i stopped to take the pic.

anyone had this happen, or heard of it happening? or hopefully just a one off fluke?

it was my first bit of a decent ride, just looping around the city, about 30mls. being it's winter i always top off the tank again since i don't know when the next ride will be. i was about to hop back on when i saw gas was steadily streaming from under the console. i didn't have any tools with me, and didn't know what i would have done at that moment anyway. i decided it wasn't leaking before, and coming from the top it couldn't leak long.

so for about 5 minutes i watched gas leak out and tried to wipe it up with the napkins at the gas pump. a few drops hit the exhaust and sizzled, which scared me some, but it finally slowed enough that i could wedge a napkin in the spot and stop the flow, then i rode home, about a mile.

it stopped by the time i got home, but it was late so i just put it in the garage...

...and mentally cursed it and thought all the harley rumours were true and called it everything but what harley named it ...

fortunately, the next day was still fairly warm so i got it back out and took a look at it, removed the console and saw the plug and metal plate it was in. first i tightened all the screws on the plate since they all seemed loose, but when i put more gas in i saw it leak out of the plug. it took a minute to see the clip needed to go on under the metal plate (like i said, the pic was me trying to fish it out at first) so all i had to do was siphon out some gas, take off the plate and put the clip back on from the bottom, and all was good. topped it off and took about a 10-12 mile ride with no leaks.

but i'd like to hope it was just a weird one off thing, and not something known for vibrating loose on occassion. i'd hate to have it happen in the summer with a hotter exhaust/engine, or happen at all. even though it was an easy fix, i'd hate to be wondering when it will happen next if it's a common thing. or if i need to do some saftey wiring or something.

so give me some reassurance. thanks for any help.

 

I'll give it a shot. At least you'll get a bump.
There shouldn't be any gas in there. I would guess it's the grommet the wires for the gas gauge go through is rotted. If you use gas with ethanol, ethanol weakens rubber over time.

 

are you saying there shouldn't be any gas when i take that plate off? because it seemed like it was open to the rest of the tank when i took it off. now that i think on it, that's how i siphoned out the gas, through the hole where that plug goes, and i put the hose in pretty far because i nearly emptied the tank. it must be meant to bo open to it, or somethings really wrong in the tank.

 

You need to pull the whole plate and replace the whole rectangular gasket you see above the screws. You do not want to look like a roman candle on the 4th of July..and the family jewels are going first....There is an o-ring under that grommet that is missing in your photo. That is you main problem. However, for you to replace retainer on wire grommet and install a new o-ring requires you to pull whole plate. Why you have it off, replace the fuel filter in the tank and carefully look at the pink french tickler fuel line for any badly worn areas. Some are missed position or too long and rub thru.

 

i wondered if that rectangular gasket was something that had to be replaced if the plate was taken off, like a one time use deal, but when i tightened everything back down it was good.

the o-ring i'm not sure of. i thought it should have one, but after i took the plug out i felt it kind of inset in the plug, unless you mean there's a second one. but again, once i got everything back together it was good. i'll have to run by the dealers and see if i can get an ipb picture, to see what might be missing and know what the filter and pink fuel line you're talking about is. thanks for the help.

 

I did have a similar problem and I also tightened down all the little screws around the plate because I thought it was leaking from there. Didn't take long until it started leaking from that gasket also. I highly recommend getting a new gasket and finding the correct torque for those screws. I ended up with a stain on my tank.

 

If you look at your manual, it describes replacing the gasket and the screws have rubber rings around them to seal the cover and gasket. It is recommended to replace the screws each time you remove them, but some riders have re-used them several times without them leaking.
Yes, the screws have a torque spec and a pattern to tighten them.