Well, my stock petcock has gone the way of all (flesh?), replaced with a Raptor petcock as so many here have done. My thanks to the many here who have offered their advices on the subject, with special thanks to txsizzler; after watching his YouTube videos 2-3 times, by the time I actually did it I felt like I'd already done it. MOST useful for the faint of wrench.

I concluded I needed to make the switch even w/o doing Serowbot's petcock test, based on the bikes behavior - spontaneous silence followed by reluctance to start. When I pulled the vacuum line this afternoon, sure enough, there was gasoline therein, a sure sign of vacuum petcock failure. On a 2007 with just over 3000 miles on the clock. (!)

Anyway, to my question: While I didn't smell any gasoline in the sump, is it's presence in the vac line cause for alarm?

 
If you can't sniff it at the oil fill hole or can't see any rise in oil level, don't sweat it.   It is only there temporarily anyway.

Tiny amounts of gasoline will stay in suspension in the oil until normal engine heat causes them to evaporate into the crankcase vapors that our engines constantly re-digest through the huff tube from the head which goes to the post filter side of the air box.  

Your various crankcase vapors then get sucked back into the cylinder and burned with the normal charge of gas vapor.

I just installed it yesterday, but I'll comment more as I get more familiar with it. One thing I think I noticed was reduced low speed surging, at the beginning of my ride, which I'd been attributing to unsteady operator input. In fairness, though, it's cooler here now so I was using a little choke, which may have mitigated that issue. I'm planning a longer ride today & will do my best to pay attention to (the bike's) behavioral differences. What should I expect? If it only ceases to shut itself off at inconvenient times, I'll be delighted.

BTW, for all who may be following this thread, with all the verbal and video help availavble here, removal/installation couldn't have been easier. Piece o' cake.

Alpha,.. check your vac line for presence of any fuel... if that's okay,.. you can try running on prime...
... but,... a cold engine will always be a bit persnickety... probably normal...
...

AlphaBarney wrote on 11/12/11 at 11:30:04:


Its not the petcock ! Any of you that think a Raptor is going to fix any lower speed problem, when it still will run at hi speed, is suffering from the petcock paranoia that has set in here. And the paranoia is getting so bad that imagination has taken priority over common sense,.....like seeing stuff that ain't even there,.....like gas being sucked up a vacuum hose, but not ending up anywhere.
Keep it up OF,...you're doing a great job,....you should really be proud !

Arrg there, matey !!  

Routy believes you to be delusional,  you be seeing vac hose fuel whut isn't there ....

Summat like them 'oliphants what he sees, when he's a crying in his cups late at night.

Routy ain't seen no bad vac petcorks nowhere -- so's obviously there AIN'T any, nowhere.

Nottin' of whut all the dozens of Raptor folks have seen with their own eyes is REAL (sez Routy with assurance).

I have infected you all with a fictitious virus thingie, and you is all in a pitched fever from it -- surely you can see whut he means, can't you?

I have made you all see imaginary fictitious thingies whut ain't there .....



     


me be a 'orrible bad pirate fer doin' it to ye, surely surely so

 
Nay, Serrobot, I canst be a doing it unless Routy he be saying it be so ....

The magic of the delusionment she lays with Routy .....   not wid me.

He has to be convinced I done give'd it to ye beforin' it will be so.


           



T'is a strange sort of odd magic, this be sure & true enough .....

 
Seriously,

Has anybody that put on a Raptor not seen needed improvements?    

Speak up, we really want to know.



==============



This is apart from getting rid of all the vac petcock confusion so you could clearly see a real carb issue if it existed?  

There have been a few of those, but not very many ....