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Question: Have you had any issues with the stock petcock?

No        no issues so far on my bike
Yes          petcock issues took place
Fixed   I fixed hoses/rebuilt petcock
Replaced          I went with a Raptor
My bike was less 10 years old
My bike was 10 to 20 years old
My bike was over 20 years old
Overheating damage done to bike


« Last Modified by: Oldfeller--FSO on: 10/11/10 at 08:32:46 »

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Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock (Read 1278 times)
Routy
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #30 - 10/12/10 at 19:31:28
 
Serowbot wrote on 10/12/10 at 11:24:18:
Seeing as the failure rate is nearly 50% within the first ten years, virtually certain eventually,... and failure causes a massive fuel leak,... and this fuel leak occurs while you are running...


Why don't you set up a pole and see how many times this petcock has caused an external major fuel leak that could even come close to being considered a dangerous situation.
You have been here longer than me, but in my 1 1/2 yrs I have not heard of such a situation here.  
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Rich
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Routy
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #31 - 10/12/10 at 19:45:08
 
Quote:
I wonder how many jets got changed when the issue was really low bowl fuel levels ....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would bet not a one.
Anyone that has a fuel bowl going down, is going to experience a starving, surging, shutdown situation, about the same as when hitting reserve. Anyone capable of changing jets, is surely going to switch to "prime" before going home and changing jets.

IMO, you all are highly exaggerating the  problems blamed onto the vacuum petcock that is so common on .........most motorcycles ?

And yes, pole numbers are just that,....numbers.
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Rich
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Serowbot
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #32 - 10/12/10 at 19:52:27
 
Routy wrote on 10/12/10 at 19:31:28:
Serowbot wrote on 10/12/10 at 11:24:18:
Seeing as the failure rate is nearly 50% within the first ten years, virtually certain eventually,... and failure causes a massive fuel leak,... and this fuel leak occurs while you are running...


Why don't you set up a pole and see how many times this petcock has caused an external major fuel leak that could even come close to being considered a dangerous situation.
You have been here longer than me, but in my 1 1/2 yrs I have not heard of such a situation here.  

No poll,.. but I had it... no fire, but plenty of fuel...

If you ever get it,... it may just change your mind...

I'm not tryin' to imply that it's the Ford Pinto of motorcycles or anything,... but,... as you say I'm exaggerating the danger,... I think the "safety" factor is a little exaggerated too...

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Ludicrous Speed !... ... Huh...
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verslagen1
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #33 - 10/12/10 at 20:08:55
 
Charon wrote on 10/12/10 at 19:28:38:
Oldfeller, I think I'd be a little careful with the poll numbers. As of this writing the poll shows 83 votes, and per your request those who voted YES voted more than once. 1

2The forum has over 13000 members, most of whom are presumably inactive. 83 votes from 13000 members isn't a very high percentage reporting, which in itself may make the numbers suspect.

#1 Look again no 26 yes 17 total 43, This is an odd poll, total displayed is screwed up.  and even though 17 voted yes, 18 are less than 10 years old, so instructions weren't followed.  add salt.

#2 this might be close to the active daily and maybe 25% of the active monthly.
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Oldfeller--FSO
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #34 - 10/13/10 at 01:10:33
 

Charon, just look at the yes I had a problem vs the no I never had a problem.

Think of the sample of members responding as a small random sample of all Savage owners world wide.

Recognizing a generous error of sampling you have approximately 18 had a problem and 27 no problems which maths out to close to 40% of the responders having had petcock issues on the Savage. 18/(18+27)

So, from the sample you can say you have a petcock related issue with the overall population of some significance (perhaps in the range of a third to a half of them).   Or perhaps less than a third, as the data comes flowing in more freely the percentage size of the issue will go down even further to maybe 25-30%.  

That is still a significant issue that is worth fixing.

And what was amazing to me was the bikes were predominately 10 years old or less !!!   This was completely unexpected by me.




Now, I understand your wanting more people to take the poll and respond that they had no issues instead of being slack (like normal people are) and not responding at all.  Can't help you there, any more than I can help that Bill always pokes around all slow like on his scoot and never works on his bike -- ever.  

Some things are outside your control.

Give it time to increase the sample number to close to 100 yes/no responders on the main yes/no situation and the poll results will become more solid and believable.   This will never take place as it will roll off the end of the front page pretty soon and never come back up to the top.  

I might try to do something to try to fix that lack of data, but it will take time to accumulate.    And we can't help people not doing the poll correctly as people won't READ the first post question before clicking with their mice (can't help that either, the poll shows at the top of every page apart from the instructions which are contained in the first post)




So, it is what it is   another BS poll here on the list.

If you want a reliable petcock with a reserve that works, get a Raptor.

If you want an automatic cut off that is issue free, get a Raptor and add in a $22 electric cut off device.







But for heaven's sake, all you newbies out there quit posting these endless "my bike doesn't run right" questions until you have run it in Prime to sort out the petcock issues from the other "real" issues !!!!!!
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« Last Edit: 10/13/10 at 17:57:25 by Oldfeller--FSO »  

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Charon
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #35 - 10/13/10 at 06:53:53
 
OF, I am not trying to pick at you, and I appreciate your effort in trying to find the extent of the problem.

Vacuum petcocks have been on a heck of a lot of motorcycles, of most brands, for at least thirty years. As far as I know they have not caused serious safety problems, and a lack of power in traffic is a safety problem that has been addressed by the NTSB is more than a few cars. In fact, the lack of power has also been addressed by the NTSB in motorcycles, but not in relation to vacuum petcocks. I am not referring to "lack of power" in the sense of a moped on the freeway, but in the sense of failure to deliver power when called on to do so. True, vacuum petcocks do fail, but so do fuel pumps, solenoid valves, and most other mechanical/electrical parts. I have even had failures (mostly leaks) in mechanical fuel valves (such as the Raptor).

In any case, the vacuum petcock is a dying breed, as is the carburetor. Both are slowly being replaced by fuel injection.
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Eschew obfuscation.

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Savage_Amusement
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #36 - 10/13/10 at 08:04:14
 
I said no, but to be fair I took it off when the bike had 8k because I installed a whole different tank.
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2K5, 1975 Sportster tank, blacked out motor, K&N cone, Much more to come later!!
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EJID
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #37 - 10/13/10 at 08:13:21
 
2005 that turned 6500 miles today!!! No issues so far (knock on wood).  Grin
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05 S40 15" Memphis Slim, FXDWG Bars, Moved Rear Signals, Saddlebags, Fork Bag, Mini-Tach, Raptor, Cone Filter, Fishtail Muffler, Mix Screw Out 2.5 Turns, 4" Fwd Controls, 147.5 Main/55 Pilot @ 4500
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #38 - 10/13/10 at 08:18:41
 
Most of the time when a motorcycle doesn't run ride it dirty jet,sticking slide or sticking float,A carb cleaner like Sea Foam will usually clear it up.If you put on differenced muffler and air intake you have screwed up the vacuum that the petcock and carb were made for.
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #39 - 10/13/10 at 08:46:43
 
I like my Raptor...when I joined last year I had an intermittent problem when running to work on cold mornings (stalling). Many here made lots of good suggestions but when I installed the Raptor it stopped. Today it was 35 degrees on my ride in (yep, that's pretty cold) I had no problems at all.
I may have had the same result if I replaced my stock petcock with another stock one but the Raptor was cheaper and makes it easier to get my tank off. Smiley
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'06 lt Blue, Dyna Power pipe, air screw 2 1/4 turns, 52.5 pilot w/ bleed holes, 150 Main, 2/3 spacer, Pirelli MT66 tires, Raptor petcock, 412-4006 Progressive shocks
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #40 - 10/13/10 at 21:31:57
 
Yes I had issues. Cutting out at about 65mph after a 20 or so minute ride. I initially just cut the vac line and clamped it down again. No issues after doing that. As soon as the raptor petcock swap came about I went that route to avoid all the other problems I found associated with the stock petcock on others rides. Been golden ever since. Never seen gas in my nonexistent vacuum line. Never had any flow out of the airbox in my beloved "off" (or on for that matter). Never again had a cut out on the highway because the same now nonexitent vac line had an visually undetectable crack/hole.

Simple usually breaks more often but is easier to fix. Complicated breaks less often but when it does...yikes. If you're smart enough to diagnose and fix complicated go for it. Me like simple.

BTW..anyone want a stock petcock? was working and clean 2 years ago. Been sitting in my room in a box ever since.
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justin_o_guy2
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #41 - 10/14/10 at 19:52:22
 
Cool! Yea, Ill take your petcock,,

Anyone wanna swap me one Raptor petcock, for not one, But TWO stock ones?
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #42 - 10/14/10 at 22:59:04
 
Had an SR250,  the diaphragm leaked so i converted it to manual. But I just dont trust it at all. Prefer to turn on and off as required. Going to convert my LS650 ASAP to manual
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #43 - 10/25/10 at 10:37:01
 
ero4444 wrote on 10/11/10 at 20:00:08:
you left out "had petcock issues and now run it in prime 100%" - that's me.


Me too! leaving it on run leaves me with inconsistant results, so i stick with leaving it on prime, havent really had any issues, except for one.. which was recently.
Most time happens while driving fast, well thats when i notice the put put... Thing is, when i stop and sit idle, sometimes the gas starts flowing, and sometimes it does not until i move the switch back and forth and hit the throttle a little.

Ironically i ran out of gas coming home at 2am this weekend, THANKFULLY i slowly rolled right up to a pump..but pump said see casier! had walk across the highway to the BP...

can i pet the raptor?
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Re: Issues with stock vacuum actuated petcock
Reply #44 - 10/25/10 at 10:46:11
 
I just broke down and bought me  a new stock petcock. I didn't have any issues  when riding, just a little inconsistent idle and having to switch to reserve after 1.8 gallons instead of 2 gallons like it used to. The screen on the old one was clean, so I suspect the diaphragm must have been a little stiff. I dunno. We'll see how it is with the new one. Besides that it was almost impossible anymore to turn the lever without pliers. The new one is all easy and smooth. We'll see for how long.
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