Take the car... ...

...unless you really liked the movie "Ghost Rider"...



First, I'd check the petcock gasket...  is your tank too full?...
Beyond that,... you need to pull the tank and find the leak...

I will triple check the petcock gasket when I have some daylight and the tank off the bike. Thanks for suggesting I not die in a really amazing fireball on the way to work.

This is what happened to the last guy that had a gas leak while riding.  Admittedly, his leak was much bigger than yours sounds like it is.

http://suzukisavage.com/yabb2.2/Attachments/20140813_150342.jpeg

Here's a link to the thread. http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1407549773/14#14

Holy Fireball!!!!!!!!!!!

SO, I got home during the daylight and pulled the tank. Hard to say for certain where the leak was coming from. I pulled the petcock and put in a new o-ring (I ordered extra when I bought the Raptor) and put everything back together. Filled the tank (on work bench) and thought all was good but I definitely have a leak. 99% certain it is not coming from the petcock. Seems like it is coming from somewhere under the attachment point for the rear mounting bracket. Arrrrgh!!!

Taking tank in to work tomorrow and taking the suggestion to try to pinpoint the leak with compressed air. I guess if i can find it, i can weld it.

Gotta get this fixed fast as this is my only ride.

Never welded on one myself but my daycare center was the fab shop where my dad worked. I'll be checking in with the old man to make certain I don't blow anything apart.

If there is a leak at the back mount - it is a vibration/stress crack and it will not stop cracking unless you weld it.  The bad thing about this kind of crack is that it can be located under the mount, and the only way to get to it is by carefully grinding away the welds and removing the mount.

Getting motorcycle tanks safe to weld is not a big deal, they are small and don't have any baffles to keep them from drying well.  On the first day that you can work on it in the morning, and the sun will be out.....Drain the tank and shake out all the gas you can.  Then use some full strength Purple Power or a similar degreaser mixed with an equal amount of really hot water....about a quart will do it.....and shake it around really well.  Then dump that out and rinse with some really hot water.  Then blow it out as best you can with an air compressor....it will likely flash rust (we can fix that during the coating process).  The set the tank out in the sun to dry.  At the end of the day pick up the tank, put your nose to the filler neck, and most likely you will not smell any fuel.  If you have an aquarium pump they work great for supplying a small amount of air flow while the tank airs out.

Then you most likely will have to cut the mount off, fix the crack, and weld the mount back on.

I would then coat the tank as a precaution.....Here is the link for cleaning and you need to do some of this before the coating process.  
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1386849349

My current favorite coating is the epoxy coating from Caswell Plating.  Be sure to use it when the temperature and tank is warm - the stuff is really thick when cold and hard to get spread out all over the tank.  The Caswell is an epoxy and most likely the most durable of any coatings.  My next favorite is POR15, it has a nice silver color and sets up using moisture from the air....an aquarium pump really speeds up the curing process.  The stuff like Cream and other white coatings have a acetone base....and Caswell and POR15 are far more durable.

You may want to buy or borrow a spare tank to use while you get this work done.....it will take a few days to clean, weld and coat.

Dave


I going to go find the link for the cleaning and coating the tank.      

Hey,

Thanks Dave!!! All good info on prepping the tank for welding and we located the leak today: took it to the sculpture area of our art department and put some soapy water on the outside/underside of tank and used compressed air through the petcock and the bubbles showed right up under the rear tank mounting flange.

By the way I am fairly certain that this stress crack happened because unfortunately the guy who re-jetted my carb did not replace the tank bushings properly. I noticed that the tank was sitting at a bit of a "wonky" angle and figured I would get to it the next time I was doing some work. Looks like I should have corrected that sooner.

Yeah, that is A LOT of pain in the butt grinding to even get the attachment plate off. I am going with the suggestion from one of the old guys in the sculpture shop to use JB Weld Steel Stick. We'll see. My dad certainly wouldn't approve.

I'll be looking for an extra tank in the meantime.