I've finally finished treating my tank, and it's been put on the bike. I have another thread where I talked about how I got POR-15 epoxy paint on the threads of the petcock and was unable to get the petcock seated appropriately, but I scraped it all clean with a dental pick and got a good, leak-free seat.

The next thing I knew, gas was leaking out of the riveted area of the petcock. Any contact with the **** would result in gas spraying out from between the riveted face of the petcock and the body. I think the rubber's just failed internally. Wifey paid for a new petcock ($43) from 2-wheel pros.

I also discovered the vent to the top of tank was locked. I blew it out with some high-pressure air - it fought me for a while until it was clear.

I'll report back here when I get the new petcock on.

 

Sorry for the late reply - the petcock failed internally, plus the tank vent had been locked with POR-15. I blew it out with some high-pressure air, bought and installed a new $43 petcock, and all is well.

 

That's awesome to know - thank you.

Curious - Is there anything you could have done to avoid the vent getting locked up? The petcock failure seems to be an unlucky draw.

 

You have no idea how badly that scared me when I finally realized why my tank was puking fuel out of the petcock due to the vapor pressure of the expanding gasoline vapors - I was thinking, "If POR-15 is down my vent tube, I'm screwed..." but whatever was blocking that son-of-a-gun apparently blew out with a half-minute of exposure to 120 PSI air. I just bore down on it until it blew out, thank God.

What could I have done to prevent this? I suspect nothing; the vent tube turns 90 degrees towards the front of the tank and nobody I've read about on line has had the least bit of success getting anything through the curve to block the opening from getting plugged. I read where people stuck guitar strings, mono-filament, and mechanic's wire and none succeeded. The curve of the tube is too severe and short.

 

Holy crap - your post practically made me add "Check Tank Vent Tube" to my weekly maintenance check-up list!

well done, glad your safe!