J Mac wrote on Yesterday at 17:32:34:Thanks for warning readers to turn off the petcock. I've seen arguments that a functioning float needle should allow one to leave the petcock on all the time with no penalty. That's never been my experience, .... I could tear apart the carb and rebuild it as an experiment, but turning off the petcock is so much easier.
I've also found that regular use of the petcock helps it to function, when somebody really needs it, instead of damaging the internal seals, because surfaces have seized up inside, resulting in a leaking petcock, not one that is turned off.
Of course, these Suzuki petcocks with their vacuum diaphragms don't have an "off" position. I see that as a good enough reason to replace it with the "dumb" style, but one can also exercise their petcock by switching to "Reserve" setting regularly, which has the beneficial effect of moving any accumulated water out of the bottom of the fuel tank. A good time to do this is right after a fuel stop, when the nasty dregs can be diluted with plenty of fresh fuel, and the engine and carb are nice and warm to better deal with polluted fuel.
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