This was a fun fuel leak

Well, I was riding home a couple of days ago when all of a sudden I felt something cold on my left leg. I had just washed the bike, so when I looked down and saw a wet spot on my left pantleg, I figured it was just water dripping from under the seat. I looked down again after a couple of seconds to see the wet spot had grown substantially, and there was a liquid streaming over my left side cover. I stopped the bike at the side of the street to inspect what was going on.

It turns out the 90 degree elbow that comes off the petcock (the one the rubber line attaches to) had come right out of the petcock, and leaked a gallon of fuel onto my sidecover, transmission, exhaust pipe, and my BRAND NEW pair of jeans.

I have to find a way to get that elbow piece to stay in the petcock. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I would take it off, clean it up degrease it and use Locktite 609 to keep it in place. They are a press interference fit so should work well as long as you let it cure properly.
next.henkel-adhesives.com/us/en/products.../BP000000153471.html

Not spontaneously, but had one come out when a hose was pulled to be removed.  Long time ago.  Don't remember what we used as adhesive to reconnect but, remember it was tapped in gently with a wooden mallet.  Cra-z1's suggestions sound good.  We might have used epoxy.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

wrote:

I would take it off, clean it up degrease it and use Locktite 609 to keep it in place. They are a press interference fit so should work well as long as you let it cure properly.
next.henkel-adhesives.com/us/en/products.../BP000000153471.html

Some flavor of green Loctite is definitely the right answer.  The 609 mentioned by Cra-z1 looks like a very good fit.  These products are designed to permanently bond close fitting metal parts together, and are specified for use in the presence of gasoline and oil and other solvents.  The datasheet has a nice table that shows the resistance to gasoline and ethanol.

datasheets.tdx.henkel.com/LOCTITE-609-en_GL.pdf
 



 

I roughed up the part of the brass barb that goes inside the petcock with a pair of slip joint pliers, then tapped it back in place with a rawhide mallet. Never had a problem with it again.

seal-all and permatex liquid metal. some hardware stores carry seal-all. permatex products at auto parts stores. I've never used seal-all but it should suffice. with the permatex I applied it to the petcock fitting, then pressed it into the orifice.