Small leak from fuel tap.

[pzkpfw]

Hi,

Have not used the bike for a little while (the Suzuki NZ250 for sale).

Just noticed a small leak from the body of the fuel tap.

My Suzuki Factory manual is a bit vague on the workings of the fuel tap, so a question:

Can I unscrew the tap and replace any O-rings or something?

(I don't mean the whole tap off the tank, I mean the two screws holding the tap onto/into the body of the tap assembly).

Is this (O-ring, gasket, ...?) likely to be a part that Wellington Motorcycles would have in stock?

...or do I need to replace the whole thing (tap and all)?

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers,

P.S. Is the bleed screw in the bottom of the float bowl replaceable? It leaks a bit too...

[F5 Dave]

You can buy rebuild kits for popular models. Erm, that might be an issue. I can’t imagine anyone at WMC being slightly interested.

If you were lucky it may be the same as a DR or something. It's not a vacuum tap is it?

So the turny bit is held on by a plate with a couple of screws. You can take it all apart & clean it up, maybe turn the face gasket around, but it is the outer gasket that seals it from leaking outside. Sometimes you get lucky cleaning it, on my RS I couldn’t buy a rebuild kit so I replaced the gasket with an o-ring. This sealed it, but does make it a prick to turn. Not a prob on a race bike.

Obviously drain the tank and/or rotate it so the fuel is not reaching the outlet when working on it.

[pzkpfw]

Thanks for the good advice (also received via PM).

The guy at Wellington MC (I walked over during Lunch) basically said the fuel taps are a single unit, I'd have to get one from Japan for about $200, and there was no way for him to see what compatible models there might be.

I think the open it up and try to replace the gasket idea looks better.

Cheers,

[Motig]

200 DOLLARS !!!!!!!!! bloody hell.

[pzkpfw]

200 DOLLARS !!!!!!!!! bloody hell.

Yep.

The parts book he was looking at seemed to show an exploded view of the fuel tap, with numbers for each bit; but he did not seem to want to even explore any possibilities.

Cheers,

[F5 Dave]

Tell them you are interested in investing in a Hardleybloodyableson Belt buckle & matching gheyboy chaps & they will perk their ears up.

[pzkpfw]

Tell them you are interested in investing in a Hardleybloodyableson Belt buckle & matching gheyboy chaps & they will perk their ears up.

To tell the truth: after I had convinced myself I was just GOING to buy a Suzuki, and then went in to talk about buying an SV1000; they were SO interested in me I bought a Kawasaki.

(Brendan at Sawyers was 66% of the reason I bought what I did; JIM2 was the other 33%).

Very happy.

Cheers,

[pzkpfw]

PART 2:

Having cleaned up and reassembled the thing, I find it does still have a slow leak.

But now I can see where from.

It's where the body of the tap assembly bolts up against the tank.

Is there a petrol-safe gasket goo kind of thing that I could use to "help out" the rectangular O-rings that don't quite seem to be doing their job?

Thanks,

[imdying]

Go to Engineering Plastics with the tap and oring. Tell them it's for petrol. Get a new square section oring. Mission accomplished.

[F5 Dave]

Failing that clean the area up including the paint & reassemble with some Loctite master gasket & let dry. A petrolchem type friend told me that & I've used it before as such.

[pzkpfw]

The nearest Engineering Plastics seems to be in Palmy (I'm in Wellington), so will give the Locktite a go.

Thanks gents.

Cheers,