I used to fly a little, and of course talked with the guys at the airport. Every so often they had to drain gas from airplanes, and they were not allowed to put it back because they couldn't guarantee it had not been contaminated. So they burned it in the airport mowers and the fuel truck. All of them said the equipment didn't run as well or start as easily with aviation fuel. Also, the avgas is leaded, and it will eventually foul your spark plug and contaminate your oil with lead. Changing fouled spark plugs is said to be one of the most frequent maintenance tasks on airplanes.

So ANYWAYS... it would be cool to get back to the original topic so we can help out the poster instead of hijacking it to talk about lawnmowers and airplanes  . (seriously, don't ever mention seafoam, tires, or oil here unless you want to sift through pages of opinions). you've heard some arguments for each; if you want to try seafoam, it couldn't hurt unless you need that $8 for smokes or beer.

it looks like i'm in the same corner as Dragonfly. the bike doesn't want to idle on RUN, but if i switch it to REServe or PRIme, it seems fine. definitely a petcock based problem. it seems to run fine in RUN at higher rpm tho. Regardless, i'm going to try replacing the vacuum line, and if that doesn't work i have a spare pet to try. updates will follow. i hope this is helpful.

one thing i can't figure out is why it works in reserve. prime i understand, but i thought reserve was vac controlled too. anyone know?

groupus wrote on 09/17/10 at 18:37:53:

Sorry Groupus, didn't mean to aid in a hijacking. I just noticed your quote,"Maintainence is as much an art as a science". I like it. We kinda got off the subject by talking about the voodoo (art) we use to keep our bikes running. Sometimes the placebo effect kicks in and we think we have helped, because that is what we want to believe. But when your wife or daughter comes in and asks what you did to make their car or 4-wheeler crank so much easier or run better a little light comes on. Usually when I recommend something like an additive to a friend, I'll give them an ounce or 2 or buy them a can. We all want to help. Sorry again for getting off subject.