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Friday, April 29, 2011

Always do a leak test

Well, that sucked. I got home at 2:30 from work and immediately started trying to fix the XS before I had to leave. I discovered that the pin hole leaks in the gas tank were still wicking out through the gas tank sealer I had put on. This would never have happened if I just did a leak test before any off this. I assumed it was fine. I'm dumb.

So I got home, put some back-up JB Weld on, and ground down the engine bracket bolts that were still rubbing the tank. I got everything else in order and left at 4 to go to Grass Valley. It was one of the windiest days in quite some time. I made it 40 miles, just before the bridge to Isleton, when I stopped for gas.

I looked under the tank and saw that the tank had shaken around and STILL rubbed the bolts I ground down. This had completely torn apart the JB Weld and Gas Tank sealer. I touched the slow drip and it became a gusher. I had to stick my finger into the stream and push the bike to the side. I sat there, with my finger stopping the pee stream, and tried to figure out a solution. I finally ended up taking the tank off, turned it upside down, and used some electrical and duct tape to try to use pressure to stop the leak.



I went as fast as the XS would let me go and charged home 40 miles. As I pulled into the house, the tape looked good still and was holding. I went inside, kissed my wife, and went back outside to see that the tape had dissolved into a goo puddle.

The culprits.


I need to do a bit of modification to completely clear the bolts. Our new electrical panel gets here May 19, which means I can finally hook my welder up and fix it. Yes, I am completely removing any fumes in the tank first.

1 comment:

Matt Miller said...

An old biker at the local old bike shop here told me that car exhaust will neutralize the gas in it. Just hold the tank up to your muffler and let it fill the tank with exhaust fumes for a while. I just let mine air out and run compressed air into it for awhile and commence to weld, weld, weld. Mine continued to leak from the same spot even after welding it over 5 times.