Furbird Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 OK, this one has me relatively stumped. I've been smelling gas for a while and noticed increased fuel consumption lately, so after doing some searching on here, I came to the conclusion that it's more than likely the regulator. Replaced it with a used one off of a spare set of throttle bodies I had, no big deal. I ride the bike to work and noticed that it hesitated once on the way, but I didn't think much of it. When I go to leave work, I crank the bike (it has remote start) and the starter stops for like a half second or less, then continues to fire up. On the way home, I'm still smelling gas and fuel consumption is still high. This was Monday, 10/15. It's rained all week, so the bike has been sitting in the garage, on the sidestand. I go out there tonight to bolt on the flags for a Patriot Guard mission I have tomorrow. I open the door and get blasted with a wave of just raw fuel smell. Before I touch anything, I raise the tank and can see wetness on the 2 left throttle bodies, rubber boots, and it continues down the side of the engine. I figure that the regulator I put on must be leaking, so I replace it with the original one. I get that done, and with the tank still up, I turn the key on and find the problem. The main fuel line is leaking, from BOTH crimp fittings, so it's a hella leak. I drained the tank and replaced that fuel line with a spare one. No leaks now, so I decide to go ahead and attempt to start the bike to make sure there's no more leaks (base of injectors, other lines, etc.) A couple of turns, and the starter stops. Hmm. Hit it again, and you hear the relay click and the lights get dim. WTF. So I move the tank out of the way and pull the lid off the airbox. Cylinder 2 has fuel sitting level about 1/4" ABOVE the closed throttle body plate. I open the throttle up, and Cylinder 3 has fuel standing, but not quite so high. Shit. Off comes the airbox, coils, and plugs. Now I get the wonderful fun of bumping the starter and washing gasoline off my motor, but only if it hasn't bent a rod. Yay for me. I bump the starter, and I am not kidding, fuel sprayed all the way to the ceiling. 1,2, and 3 were completely full of fuel. My rattlecan paint job is ruined, I have gasoline sprayed all over the garage, myself, and the entire bike is covered. I sprayed the enitre bike down with a spray bottle. I'm lettting it sit overnight to make sure it doesn't fill up again, and to try and make absolutely sure all 4 cylinders are cleared before I reassemble it. So now the question is WTF happened?!? There is evidence that fuel had been standing in the left end of the airbox, which is understandable since it was sitting on the sidestand. I'm missing about a gallon of fuel from the tank, but trust me, I found that in about 1 second when I hit that button. I originally thought that fuel had been running down that fuel line all week, and filling up the air box, eventually finding it's way into cylinders 1,2, and 3. But the more I looked, the more I realized that for that to happen the fuel would have had to have done some weird snaking around to get into the airbox. I'm also thinking that the intake valves on 1 and 4 were opened, hence the cylinder full of fuel on 1, and they were closed on 2 and 3, hence the throttle bodies full of fuel on those two. Another possible explanation would be that the regulator is bad on the vaccuum side, but if that were true, then cylinder 4 should have had fuel in it too. Other than that, we would be talking about a fuel injector sticking, but if that were the case, it would have had to have been #3, since 4 (which is uphill of 3) was the only dry one of the bunch. Then again, maybe the fuel was in the box, and when I put it on the centerstand to start working on it, it poured all that fuel into 1,2, and 3, but why didn't it make it to 4. I'm trying to make sure I don't run into this again, and every scenario I can think of has something telling me that can't be right. As it stands right now, I'm back to the original fuel regulator (since it obviously wasn't the problem, the fuel line was) and I've replaced the fuel line from the pump to the rail. I have no fuel leaks now from the pump to the rail and back to the tank. That's the only thing I know for absolute sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beondwacko Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 The only thing I can even begin to think here is that you may have possible picked up some bad fuel, and it beat the crap out of the seals on 3 injectors. There's really no way that the volume of fuel you speak of could have even gotten into the airbox from how it looks. Even though the fuel rail,regulator and fuel hose can only hold so much fuel, I guess it was enough to soak/hydo-lock the motor? That doesn't make sense either. :icon_think: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 I thought about injectors leaking, but there is no fuel around the injectors, which means the only way it could be leaking would be inside the injectors. I have a fuel pressure gauge on this line, so I pressured it up last night before I went to bed. If the pressure holds, it's not the injectors. The fuel I bought is from one of only 3 stations in town I buy gas from with any regularity, and my van has gas from the same station in it now with no problems. Yes, it most assuredly hydro-locked the motor, that's why I had to pull the plugs. I also checked the bottom part of the airbox again last night, and fuel had been standing in it at least 1" deep near cylinder one, and about 3/4" deep near cylinder two, judging by the water line (in this case fuel) on the velocity stacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northman Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Regulator is bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 Northman, if the regulator is bad, please explain to me how it could be bad. What do I need to do to see if it is really the problem? How is fuel getting into the engine? Through the vaccuum line? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironmike Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 'Gotta agree with the bad fuel pressure regulator diagnosis... When the internal diaphragm is compromised/torn, raw fuel will find its way through your vent/vacuum hoses (trace your hoses and you'll see), and pursuant to the laws of gravity flood any cylinders it can access. Seepage past the rings will then flood to bottom end, thoroughly contaminating your oil... Fresh oil and a new filter are a must. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 I had installed another fuel line last night (the one I use for nitrous, which actually now has a fuel pressure gauge in the position of the fuel feed for the nitrous system), and it held pressure all night long. I dry fired it with no plugs again, and no fuel came out of the cylinders, and there was no fuel evidence in the throttle bodies, as all the stuff I found last night had evaporated. I pulled the vaccuum line off of the regulator, and no fuel is coming from it, either sitting or running. Now keep in mind this is NOT the same regulator that I had on the bike earlier this week, so now I know this one is good. No leaks anywhere, and it maintains pressure over time, so I should be good to go. I fired it up for about 3 seconds with the existing oil, and it made no weird noises, so I'm hoping that the hydrolock (since it was on startup) didn't do any damage. I'll know in about 30 minutes or so when I go test ride it. The oil is draining now, and it has got at least a quart more fluid in it than it had when I changed the oil about 1,000 miles ago, so that takes care of 1 quart of my missing fuel. The rest I'm chalking up to the leaking main feed line and the fact that my garage will smell like gas for about another month. Oh, and not to mention that whole having to repaint the entire bike again thing. I believe that I got enough water poured on the gauges and handlebar controls so that they are not stained or foggy, so that's one less thing I'll have to worry about hopefully. I'm going to call University Motors on Monday and get a new main feed line, new regulator, and all the corresponding sealing washers. If I start smelling fuel again, I'm just going to start with those things and work my way forward from that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmacza Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 I had a similar problem with my '97 a couple months ago. Found that while the diaghram wasn't torn or otherwise damaged, there was enough of a sediment buildup from the crap grade of fuel we have here to cause a slow leak into the cylinders. Cleaned it up and it hasn't happened since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbrxxquad Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 I had the exact same thing happen, but when I turned the starter over,,,,, I was looking down the plug hole. Glad I was wearing glasses. Had all the injectors stuck open from a bad fuel filter. Old ebay shit. I had to do it the cheap way to fix, so I sprayed carb cleaner in each injector the correct way fuel would go and then blowed backward with compressed air. Blowed the rusty shit out. Had it happen two times, then changed tanks and filter and pump with good stuff. Then had the reg go bad. Found it by pulling the vacumn line and fuel would run out. Also had the leak with the fuel line. Hope that will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 It's all up and running fine now. I took it out after I changed the oil and got it up to operating temp. Rode about 15 minutes or so, then put it up to the limiter on a "pass" out on the highway in first and second. No issues. Fuel pressure is still holding just above 30 psi after 2 days so it's not leaking anymore. I did go ahead and call University Motors and order all those parts I posted about earlier just so I can have them on standby if the shit hits the fan sometime in the future. I'm also going to take my main feed line to a hydraulic shop sometime tomorrow and have them make me a new one that is longer with some additional fittings. That way I can have a fuel pressure gauge and my nitrous feed line all hooked up at the same time when I put the gas back on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Dave Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 So this whole episode was just a good and roundabout way to justify a new line for the NOS?? Good job!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted October 24, 2007 Author Share Posted October 24, 2007 There's not enough nitrous in the world to clear the cylinders of all the gasoline that was in them. Sometime this coming weekend I get the wonderful task of once again painting the bike, thanks to the 6 foot pressure washer of fuel from 3 different cylinders that hosed my garage down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbrxxquad Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Just be glad you were not looking down the hole,,,Knocked my hat off and hit the roof of my 14 ft shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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