I have an 04 Sporty. I went out to the garage yesterday and smelled fuel. So I start looking around and find I lost a screw to my fuel petcock. I go to the hardware store and get a replacement and it worked just fine. I fire it up today but in the on position it acts like it is out of fuel. I turn it to the reserve position and it runs just fine. Made it up to the local shop and back with no problems. I asked a mechanic if he had any idea what was up and he seemed lost. I hope someone here can help its driving me batty trying to figure out why its doing it.

Situation: I turn it to on position and fire it up it runs for a few seconds and dies out lit it is out of fuel;. I turn it to reserve position and it runs like it is in the On position and has zero problems. I drove almost 30 miles with it there and no issues what so ever.

Any help and I would be ever so grateful.

 

Sounds stupid, but are you almost out of gas?

 

Did you mess with the vacuum line for the petcock while you were fixing it?

 

Nope not out of gas its still over half a tank. And no I didnt touch anything except to put a new screw into the missing hole and tighten it down. Not sure whats causing it maybe a clogged screen?? Doesnt make any sense but its the only thing that comes to mind. It didnt start until I put the new screw in it.

 

the diaphram in the petcock could be bad... get a hand vac pump pump up the vac line on the back bottom of the petcock... when in the ON pos will it run then"?? if not then you have a bad petcock... goto harley and get a new one or get a aftermarket that is MANUAL.... be warned though the vac op one is a saftey incase you leave your gas on.... when the engine is off... it will leak!!!!!!

 

In practice, the vacuum controlled diaphragm in the petcock simply turns On/Off fuel flow out of the petcock. The diaphragm is located in the petcock body, below the pick-up tube in the fuel tank and does not differentiate between the petcock being in the On vs Reserve position.

I would remove the petcock from the fuel tank and check for tears in the filter screen, and check that the upper hole in the pickup tube isn't blocked.

This is just a rough diagram of the petcock, but it gives you the idea.


.

 

Thanks fellas will take a peek at it when I get it home from harley. Freize is supposed to be putting in new fork seals today. I called a little bit ago to see if it was done considering it was second in line according to the schedule. They said they dont even have it on a lift yet. so want to talk about pissed. I should have learned from my first dealing with them.

Anyway once I get it home today or tomorrow or hell its Freize it might be Monday or Tuesday I will look into it.

 

Was a dirty screen, easy enough fix. Thanks for the input will try to return the favor someday.