Petcock Leaking Corn Liquour

WTF is up with the Ethanol in our fuel?
I purchased a petcock from Z1E a few months back for my Z1. It has leaked from day one.
Before I purchased it I was reading threads about this problem from other members. I was under the understanding that Jeff had it worked out with different o-rings that would hold up to the ethanol. Maybe mine got missed.
I have had the tank off and propped up for a few months so I have not ridden her in a while (thank god for owning multiple bikes so I can keep riding)

What is the fix here viton o-rings?

It was a cheap item so I can't blame the Z1E crew but the pingle is expensive and I am not liking the design of the pingle. I am ready to ride her now and must wrench on a brand new part which kinda sucks but is not hard to do unless I cant locate what is needed to stop the leaking.

Damn ethanol, I bought a rebuild kit and it gets really hard to turn do to the orings swelling up and getting gummy so I some what know how you feel I thought they were all alcohol resistent when I got mine

I guess I cant pick this up at the local auto parts store.
This is brand new and I am assuming Ethanol did this, anyone else expierence this?

Is that a K&L brand part?
Does the package say where it's made? Thanks.

edit: it just occurred to me that the package may be long gone. :blush:

This is the one I purchased. It says.....Engineered and designed to eliminate all internal O-rings. The innercore design insures against gas leakage while providing maximum flow.
Now I cant find the part on thier website to fix it.

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1745

Just got off the phone with Jeff and he is shipping one out tomorrow. I just cant say enough about Z1E they are the absolute best. Thanks Jeff

Are they sending the same petcock, if so, did they change the type of material the failed part is made of? I have the same problem with one that I got last summer.

I guess over in China they don't use ethanol? Or else they don't really care if the product works or not? I told Jeff I wouldn't mark all aftermarket parts as trash, but I'm afraid some still are and this is one of those cases.

Ron, how often if ever do you have to rebuild yours?
I'm asking, because I may go ahead & get a new oem petcock - particularly if they're super-duper reliable. From cross-referencing stuff, a 2005 police bike unit will fit my 81 650.

JMKZHI wrote:

Ron, how often if ever do you have to rebuild yours?
I'm asking, because I may go ahead & get a new oem petcock - particularly if they're super-duper reliable. From cross-referencing stuff, a 2005 police bike unit will fit my 81 650.

On my original KZ650 with 168,000 miles I had quite a few problems with the petcock early on where the diaphram would stick open like the petcock was on "prime". I didn't even know rebuild parts were available so I just would replace the entire petcock. I did this maybe 3 times in 100,000 miles and not a problem since then. On the KZ1000 with 80,000 miles I've never touched the petcock, it's never even been off the tank to clean the screen. On my 67,000 mile KZ650 I bought the $11 diaphram once and it'd been fine otherwise. I've never had a leak from the vacuum petcock, the same failure always happens and that is the diaphram sticks open and if your carbs are not perfect gas will eventually puddle under the bike. I've been very pleased with the vacuum petcocks, the Kawasaki manual petcocks are another story. They are garbage and always leak around the lever and the lever will always get hard to turn and break off. I'll add my 74 H2 vacuum petcock has never been touched either. Yes vacuum petcock and electronic ignition from the factory way back to 1972 on the H2.

Kawickrice wrote:

I guess I cant pick this up at the local auto parts store.
This is brand new and I am assuming Ethanol did this, anyone else expierence this?

i would think ifthe fuel caused the problem it would look deformed and all stretched out,it looks like something got stuck to me tearing out the center from the picture anyway
ive run e10 for atleast the last 25 years without causing problems in the stuff i drive anyway

PLUMMEN wrote:

Kawickrice wrote:

I guess I cant pick this up at the local auto parts store.
This is brand new and I am assuming Ethanol did this, anyone else expierence this?

i would think ifthe fuel caused the problem it would look deformed and all stretched out,it looks like something got stuck to me tearing out the center from the picture anyway
ive run e10 for atleast the last 25 years without causing problems in the stuff i drive anyway

You may have a point there. After talking to Jeff he said he has seen burrs chew up the seal and advised me to check before reassembly. The seal was a little soft when I took it off so I will check both things to find the failure.