12v solenoid for fuel, anybody try one?

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He's flooded the case twice with fuel, once when the vacuum petcock failed and once when he forgot to turn off the gas after we modified the petcock.

We are in the process of going back through the carbs and resetting fuel levels.

In addition to that my brother had mentioned trying to use a 12v solenoid that is nominally closed so when the key is on it opens, key off closed.



Something like this


Thoughts?

My first thought is that if you had rebuilt the petcock using factory Kawasaki parts it would (most likely) work as intended. My second thought is that those CV34 Keihin's are very sensitive to fuel level. I've rebuilt three sets and struggled quite a bit getting them to seal up with the proper fuel level. All that aside, I like the idea of a solenoid. My only concern is packaging it properly on the bike and the reliability of the unit.

It is an intriguing thought, but I share Nessism's concerns about reliability and installation. Really, I think it is overkill. In 45 years of riding and owing about a dozen motorcycles (including a 750 twin), I can recall four petcock failures-

Two from letting the motorcycle sit for too many months without riding.
One from old age (about 50,000 miles as i recall).
One from a cheap aftermarket rebuild kit - lesson learned.

The problem with the solenoid idea is you are fixing the symptom not the problem. The problem is the carb floats are allowing fuel to get by. You should be able to leave the petcock on and still not have any fuel overflowing the floats valve. Do the clear tube method on the floats and you shouldn't have that issue.

I understand, I've been through several set of carbs in the past few months.
I'm not asking how to set float levels (this time).
Even on a properly tuned set of carbs leaks can happen.
Case in point, my nephew took the screen out of his gas tank and ran it after we went through the carbs, dirt got in and the needle didn't seal.
Then his crankcase filled with gas.

I had a gas cap that wasn't venting right, full tank of gas on a very hot day and I had gas leaking out of my overflow. I hade ridden the bike several thousand miles and left the gas on several times with no issues previous to that.

This is just an idea to idiot proof the fuel system, insurance for a rider with a bike with no overflow tubes and who might forget to shut his gas off.
just putting it out there to see if anybody can think of a reason why it wouldn't work.
Key on, gas on. Key off, gas off.

MadShad wrote: I understand, I've been through several set of carbs in the past few months.
I'm not asking how to set float levels (this time).
Even on a properly tuned set of carbs leaks can happen.
Case in point, my nephew took the screen out of his gas tank and ran it after we went through the carbs, dirt got in and the needle didn't seal.
Then his crankcase filled with gas.

I had a gas cap that wasn't venting right, full tank of gas on a very hot day and I had gas leaking out of my overflow. I hade ridden the bike several thousand miles and left the gas on several times with no issues previous to that.

This is just an idea to idiot proof the fuel system, insurance for a rider with a bike with no overflow tubes and who might forget to shut his gas off.
just putting it out there to see if anybody can think of a reason why it wouldn't work.
Key on, gas on. Key off, gas off.

If the float needles get fouled the bike will run like crap and the carbs will overflow while riding. There is no getting around the need for good sealing float needles.