Gas in the airbox! (Finally resolved)

[DC Concours]

The petcock costs around 80-90 bucks.

[Nosmo]

would an inline "off" valve be a good choice for a future mod? I still cannot understand why petcocks do not have an "off" position.
Mu old bike did and I turned it off for the night when I was don riding. Keeping the fuel where it should be...the tank

http://www.pingelonline.com/prodcat/fuel-valves.asp

Problem solved.  ON-RESERVE-OFF.  YOU STILL NEED OVERFLOW TUBES, because someday you will forget to turn it off.  Pingel has any type valve you want, including vacuum-type.  But they are spendy, and you have to purchase an adapter plate also.

pic below

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

The petcock costs around 80-90 bucks.

check with Murph, but I think it was closer to 65.00. Steve

[Engraverwilliam]

Getting the bike back on Friday. Complete carb rebuild apparently it was filthy +oil change since the gas backflowed that direction as well.

[timsatx]

Didn't they just do the carbs? Have they looked at the condition of the gas tank?

[Engraverwilliam]

I will be asking that when I pick it up. I do know that the tank is shiny nice inside.
What other questions should I ask about the carb job?

[DC Concours]

If they did any carb job last time around why did they not know that it was filthy??

What all they did and replaced this time around?

[Daytona_Mike]

Unfortunately you still need to get overflow tubes installed.
Why did you not have your mechanic install them.? It is inexpensive and simple to have it done especially by a mechanic.

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

Unfortunately you still need to get overflow tubes installed.
Why did you not have your mechanic install them.? It is inexpensive and simple to have it done especially by a mechanic.

  Mike, because I'm your mechanic... not his     Steve

[Engraverwilliam]

Unfortunately, unless someone can come to my house and do it for free I wont be getting overflows anytime soon. this little crap has already cost me 1200 bucks between the repairs and the rental car and paying for parking at my job . Even if I paid another 300 bucks to buy some carbs from someone off ebay and send them to Florida (how much does he even charge) I would still need to pay someone to  change them out for me. Yeah this has been a disaster. If what you are saying that my carbs will just melt down again? I'll install a inline off switch like my old 70s bike had. I had that thing for 5 years only changed oil and gas carbs never gave me trouble. Now I get a bike with no off and it melts down, then I get another bike(This bike) with no off switch and it melts down. sounds like a problem having no off switch rather than a carb problem. I'm sorry If I sound bitter. Getting a bike was supposed to save me money not drain my savings. I LOVE riding. I really like this bike.

/sigh
I im pissed that I bought another lemon of a bike. My wife is not to happy with me either. We where supposed to go on a trip that is now cancled till next year because of this.
overflow tubes. Just cannot do it.

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

 Sorry, but the bike's not a lemon.

  The knowledge of the owners on this board and on the COG forum is superior to any general knowledge you'd hope to find in a general repair shop. You were given advise and chose to ignore it for your own reasons.

 So lets see. If I had done your carbs, top to bottom, including de-racking, replacing the fuel rail orings, kitting with new gaskets and fuel needles, cleaning with ultrasonic then manually cleaning, installing my 2 minute mod jet kit, installing overflow tubes, providing the drain hose system and shipping back to you would have cost you 442.00 and 5 days. I have done you tube video's to help you remove and replace the carbs. I've done over 500 sets of concours carbs at this point, so they will be right the first time.

 You have been told what would work best for you. You've chosen to ignore the advise of those who've BTDT. Now you are blaming the bike for being a lemon. You're stuck in a mental tape-loop that's ignoring the best advise you could have gotten. Now you're low on money and p*ssed at your bike. Sorry, but I think your frustration is misplaced.

  I knew when you posted the 600.00 price tag there was now way you got what you thought you did. Sad, but true.

  There's an old saying "the sweetnesss of a good price is washed away by the bitterness of poor value"... and that's what you have here.

  Sorry to be so blunt, but sometimes the truth hurts. I know I'm not being all huggy and making you feel better. I'm not trying to make you fell worse either, just stating the obvious. I've been a mechanic for 35 years or so, professionally for 30. I've seen all this before. the simple fact is that when you get good advise and ignore it, this is how it works out. Steve

[DC Concours]

I am so sorry to hear this.

What was determined to be wrong and what was repaired!!??

[timsatx]

I would so be on their ass about not cleaning the carbs when they said they did it. At the least you shouldn't have to pay a thing to have them do the work (again?) that they were supposed to the last time.

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

 Even if we give them the benefit of the doubt, and agree they did do the carbs the first time, a good mechanic would have seen trash in the bowls indicating issues with the tank; checked float and fuel levels to be sure there was no mechanism to fail , and called you if they found something that would require further investigation. So this is the mechanic's dilemna; if you don't do a thorough job you get a come-back and an unhappy customer. OTOH, if you find more stuff that needs work and the person is already tapped out financially, they'll accuse you of just trying to run the bill up. Trust me, being an honest mechanic can be rough but it will pay off once folks realise you have their best interest at heart. Steve

[DC Concours]

I think at the last service the mechanic detected the second carb leaking or something along that line. If it was the same carb leaking then you should have a talk w/ them.

Either way, if a "carb service" was done properly and parts replaced as needed, then it shouldn't be leaking less than 25 days later! Bad petcock and all.

[timsatx]

There also shouldn't be dirty carbs if they did the work.

[Two Skies]

@ SISF, everyone.

Engraverwilliam is new to this forum.  Keep in mind that there are a lot of so-called experts on various forums, so I can't fault Engraverwilliam for not understanding how well some of the members here know the ZG-1000.  While we all did mention Steve as the 'go to' guy, as an outsider I don't think William could tell if we were just talking up our buddy or if Steve was the real deal.  Plus, as he mentioned, his mechanic gave him the impression that he would be able to handle this no problem.

So yeah, in retrospect, yeah William should have just parked the bike for a week or two (and incurred the rental cost) and sent the carbs to Steve, but I can understand his predicament.  Some mechanics just seem fairly trustworthy and talk a good game, and can lull you into a false sense of security.  And some mechanics do know their stuff, even when it comes to Connies (a small number of those admittedly), and finding out if you have the right mechanic usually comes out after the work is done...

And I'll stand by my previous statement.  Once the carbs are squared away, these bikes are awesome.  Note that I haven't sent my carbs off for rebuild as of yet (I've kept them fairly clean using a fuel filter and draining the bowls every so often, and she's an '06), but it's on my to do list this year.

So yeah, don't pick on William too hard.  Not all people are gearheads!

@Engraverwilliam

I do hope that the mechanic gets things squared away this time around.  If he does completely clean and rebuild the carbs (assuming he does a decent job), you should be good for a while (read: at least a few years assuming you keep the fuel & tank clean), but I'd definitely keep an eye out for an extra Connie Carb to send to Steve, so that you don't have to deal with down time while Steve works his magic.

[timsatx]

Yeah, I don't blame him for not having sent them off. Heck, I haven't done it yet but it is on my list to do next year. I mostly blame the stealer for the work done. It sounds to me that they did not do the carb work they said. Either that or the tank is dirty and you just can't see it.

Have you tried pulling off the petcock/filter and looked at it to see how clean it looks?

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

Have you tried pulling off the petcock/filter and looked at it to see how clean it looks?

  He shouldn't have to, if there was a question the mechanic should have done it and reported it to him.

 And just a clarification - I'm not upset that Engraverwilliam didn't send the carbs to me, that's not it at all. What I really don't like is when someone proclaims a vehicle a "lemon" because he had a mechanic who was a lemon. The c-10's, like I said in my intro video, are about as bulletproof as a mechanical contraption can get. 2 things kill them - hydrolocks and crashes. We can easily control one of those things. Steve

[timsatx]

I don't disagree with the mechanic contacting him, but my point is that something either wasn't done (the carbs) or there is incorrect info about the status of the gas tank. Since he had this problem it wouldn't hurt to check it out the filter.