I kind of understand how this works plunger. when I heard the fuel valve on my motorcycle and realized that "PRI" not working, I removed the spring plunger. i replacing it by a simple washer (not to reduce the fuel tube)

 
Joe F,

You are correct, in any layover event on either side, gasoline will come out of the vent tubes.  It is part of their purpose, to allow a gas vapor pathway out of the carburetor and also a way for liquid gasoline to exit (no matter which side it goes down on) during a laydown event.

This makes Routy's point about the vac petcock being a safety device seem a bit weak since it isn't the petcock that does the leaking in a laydown, it is the vent tubes.   I guess he can say the vac petcock limits the gasoline to just enough leakage to set your pants and shirt on fire really really good, but not enought to completely incinerate you to charred dust .....  

(unless it gets your seat foam burning, then you can kiss the gas tank goodby)

But, let's be clear -- you are saying your Raptor had no play in your gas episode, it was the vent tubes doing their thing as the were designed to do.  

No "gas in sump episode", no "leaking float valve episode", no Raptor failure to speak of at all .....



Now, about this airbag that you were attached by .... care to elaborate on that one a little bit?   Curious minds want to know .....

Cavi Mike wrote on 09/20/12 at 21:54:09:
   

This is true.

Now, we are still waiting for the first one of these carb float sticks or float needle valve sticks open to happen once a Raptor is in place (the Raptor is holding the fuel level STEADY right up at the shut off point like a good little petcock should do so the floats and valves are working correctly).

Point I am making here is that without the vac petcock starving the bowl until the float goes down to a hard stop position (and sticks there) there doesn't seem to be any float sticking or float needle valve sticking open going on with the Raptors.  

This may seem a little harsh, but since we are all looking we can look for these little scenarios too.   I will continue to point out that all the gas in sump episodes so far have happened (started) with a stock vac petcock, and nary a one has started with a Raptor.  

And it has been what, two years now?

We shall start counting sticking floats and sticking needle valves according to what petcock is mounted when it first starts too.

Understanding Charon's point that the population of vac petcocks is supposed to be greater in the wild than the population of Raptor petcocks, I will also point out that here on the list that ratio is now officially going the other way, with more (27) Raptors now and only (21) stock vac petcocks.


    the shoe is on the other foot now ....

Think you're totally wrong mike.
vac petcock exist for forgetful owners who can't remember to turn it off and tip overs.

sticky float valves and raptor petcock?  what's going to happen if the owner remembers to turn it off?  nothing.

J C Stokes wrote on 09/20/12 at 23:23:41:

Those white things on the ends of the pickup tubes are filters.
But they may require more frequent cleaning due to their smaller size.

verslagen1 wrote on 09/20/12 at 23:05:46:

Wrong about what? Who says everyone turns their fuel off? I never did because J C Stokes is right, the younger generation(like me) has never had to shut the fuel off for anything so I never thought about touching my petcock except to go into reserve. That was, of course, until I came outside from the store one day and found a puddle of gas under my bike.

Just because you shut the fuel off every time doesn't mean everyone does and it's not like you shut it off every time. I know you've forgotten before because it's inherent in humans to miss something sometimes. You're not perfect so don't even attempt to say you are - you forget things just like the rest of us.

verslagen1 wrote on 09/20/12 at 23:05:46:


I completely agree... this fuel valve is suitable for the forgetful...

Cavi writes:

Wrong about what? Who says everyone turns their fuel off? I never did because J C Stokes is right, the younger generation(like me) has never had to shut the fuel off for anything so I never thought about touching my petcock except to go into reserve. That was, of course, until I came outside from the store one day and found a puddle of gas under my bike.


Aha! In the midst of heated discourse a piece of factual data slipped out and got quickly covered by the spray of debate.

As everyone knows we are all still diligently looking for the first Raptor leaker event, so what I need to ask Cavi for is the particulars for this puddle event.  What bike, what petcock, what was the real problem, ect etc.   Really, take a moment and expand on what happened.

Cavi, you hang in there buddy -- it is important that we have somebody on the stock vac petcock side to keep the rest of us Raptor Nation folks honest.   Really, honest data driven debate is still needed -- so you keep up the good work.

We all now pause to recognize the passing of the stock vac petcock torch, from Verslagen to Routy to Charon to Cavi, each new generation of debaters taking up the good fight until each in turn was overwhelmed by numbers and data and facts to the contrary.

(a moment of respectful silence, please)


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


Cavi responds to a PM asking for the details.   It wasn't a Savage at all.

It was an old KLR650 and it was actually my friends bike. I don't remember the year but had to be late 80's - early 90's with the big funky square headlight and a bright blue seat.