verslagen1 wrote on 05/11/12 at 15:46:48:I've seen crap collect inside of the petcock, so that possibly could cause some problems.
Yes, word of wisdom, words you can take to the bank -- crap does collect all around a vac petcock. Crap crawls into it and takes full possession of it, just like sweet little Linda Blair in the Exorcist.
Crap crawls up into the vac line and makes a nest, causing little tiny cracks in the rubber -- the tiniest invisible crack will cause the suction to drop to zero and the vacsucker simply stops working.
Crap crawls into the diaphragm, causing it to stiffen up (lose function). Eventually it cracks and leaks gasoline down the vac line into your carb and from there down the cylinder wall into the oil sump.
I think at last count there were 4 distinct failure modes to a vac petcock (or five if you counted putting the various hoses in the wrong place).
Your odds of having repeated vac petcock problems hits 100% over time unless you subscribe to a rigorous schedule of hose replacement, etc.
Well now, unless you like getting stalled in traffic repeatedly over the years there is really only two paths to take.
1) Become a vac petcock diagnostic expert and repeatedly replace all sorts of little rubbery bits and pieces ahead of time ....
..... repeatedly, mind you .....
OR
2) Yank the stock vac sucker off of there and replace it with a Raptor petcock.
Required reading for understanding where you are with the choices you have to eventually make.
Read up, then ask the rest of your questions.Test your Petcock,.. don't just turn it to Prime..We just know you will have lots & lots of them questions. And if you want to get a leg up on the petcock war that just started (with you as the primary example under question) read up on the subjects here.
Petcock Issues (poll and summary)