Vac petcocks are failing all over motorcycle land now .... very publicly. Honda and Kawasaki have each issued limited product campaigns to replace certain of their models petcocks (ones that have confirmed actual "burn in place" issues).
The key thing seems to be having a "confirmed burn in place" issue that keys the legal beagles in a company to kick off a limited recall campaign in preference to a DOT, NHTSA or some other Consumer Protection Agency level type recall which would likely be far more widespread, general and far far more expensive.
So far we have had gas in sumps, gas in air boxes and gas on the floor type issues with the Suzuki vac petcock. No actual fires yet though. And it isn't just the Savage as a particular model that has this vac petcock issue .... lookie at this one.
http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/934992-warning-drz-400-petcock-almost-set-my...
Warning DRZ-400 petcock almost set my house on fire!
Started by Mav44 , Jan 08 2012 06:42 PM
36 replies to this topic
Mav44
Posted 08 January 2012 - 06:42 PM
#1
I have my DRZ-400 stored in my garage for the winter. The other night my son came down the hall and stated the back part of the house smelled like gas. I ran into the garage and an almost full tank of gas was coating the floor and under the cars. Worse yet is we have a gas water heater in the garage that was about to cycle on.
I made everyone get out of the house while I opened the garage door, turned on fans, turned off the water heater, removed cars and stated pulling boxes and other items soaked with gas out. After about 2 hours of clean up I was finally able to put stuff back.
As it turns out it was the vacuum ring in the fuel petcock had gone bad and was allowing gas to drain from the tank. What idiot that never put a "off" position on a motorcycle gas tank should be shot or at least sued.
This is really dangerous and if we had been out to a dinner or a movie I could have lost everything. If you have a DRZ-400 without a gas "off" position keep a close eye on the petcock and any gas leaks or better yet change it out so you can shut off the gas.
Posted 08 January 2012 - 06:47 PM
#2
That's a very good reason to install a manual petcock.....
A pat on the back for your son being attentive otherwise it could have ended in tears ....===================
So, we continue to muddle along with the current vac petcock situation,
knowing full well that our vac petcock was never designed to work with 10% alcohol gasoline mixtures and that even using normal full gas with no alcohol it still had historical problems that developed over time in a motorcycle that can last (and many have indeed lasted) for decades.
Over time, this seems to be a poor bet to make, especially if you keep your bike in an enclosed attached garage.