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Help! (Fuel Leak)


HMR

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I've been trying to track down a suspected fuel leak for months. Of course, whenever I get serious about looking for it, it seems to dry up. dopeslap.gif

 

This afternoon I was able to catch it in the act (leak is coming from area next to head of screwdriver):

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Some other views:

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What's going on here? What do I need to replace?

 

BTW-I'm of limited mechanical skill... but I have a great set of tools! cool.gif

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Yup, bad deal. That pipe, and the one on the other side, leads to the fuel pressure regulator manifold that is located in front of the air box. It's a bit of a chore to get to.

 

Short version: You loose the rear frame of the bike so it can be pivoted up, then the air box can be dropped out the rear of the bike to gain access to the manifold.

 

If you decided to tackle it yourself, several of us who have BTDT can give you more step-by-step specifics. It's do-able by a competent DIY'er, but not necessarily for the faint of heart.

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I had a 2002 R1150RT that had a fuel leak ( a warranty item)I believe they replaced that pipe (manifold)....Lots of bikes developed that problem and raw gasoline would drip on top of the cat converter...

Steve

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If you decided to tackle it yourself, several of us who have BTDT can give you more step-by-step specifics. It's do-able by a competent DIY'er, but not necessarily for the faint of heart.

THANK YOU!!!

I think I'm going to give it a shot. I've got the maintenance manual, tools and 2 weeks off from work (so much for riding frown.gif). The one thing I'm lacking is experience but I guess there's no better way to get it, eh?

 

In the meantime, what's the easiest way to drain the tank? I'd like to stop the drip-drip while I'm wrenching.

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Is that leak of a hard pipe? Is there no way to splice in some high pressure neoprene fuel line to block the leak?
Yes it is a hard pipe. A high pressure one at that. It looks like this one is leaking near or at where it passes through the front portion of the air box. So to spice it he's going to have to pull the air box anyway, so by that point might just as well replace it with a new one.

 

I'm not so sure how much I'd trust a splice of a high pressure fuel line anyway. Especially somewhere in the middle at a non-flanged point.

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In the meantime, what's the easiest way to drain the tank? I'd like to stop the drip-drip while I'm wrenching.

 

If your fuel lines do not have quick disconnects on them, then pick up two small close off clamps and simply clamp of the fuel lines before you remove the tank. No need to drain the gas. If they do have quick disconnects, then you can disconnect them and the fuel should not leak out.

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HMR: A & S cycles had BMW fuel line clamp tools, part # 133010 for $16.80 apiece. Pep Boys has small fuel line cutoffs too, don't know if there are Pep Boys parts stores out by you. For my older RT, I ended up getting 2 fuel cutoff clamps from NAPA- they are on the long side however. They look like a set of sidecutters, you put them around the fuel line and then slide a gizmo on the bottom upwards to maintain pressure on the clamp. 1)The pics look like an RT, yet your profile says a KTM. What year RT do you have? Best to update your profile so folks can help you better in your time of need.

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Wolcott- Thanks for the tip. I'm going to Pep Boys to look for those clamps.

 

I sold the KTM 950, totalled my V-Strom (deer strike) and I'm now down to only one bike: a '98 RT. I absolutely love this bike. It's funny how depressed I get when I can't ride it. frown.gif

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Ken- Thanks for the link to the parts catalog.

 

I just got off the phone with the dealer. They said "at least" 8 hours (at $78 per hr) to fix. Just more incentive to do it myself. wink.gif

 

I'm off to the garage... wave.gif

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OK, are you familiar with the procedure on how to raise the tail frame of the RT? It's the first steps in doing a spline lube. Without removal of the drive train of course! Get the arz end of the bike up in the air, then the air box can be worked out the bottom. From there it's pretty straight forward.

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I got this far before the wife got home from work and needed my attention: wink.gif

 

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I marked all of the bolts with painter's tape and laid everything out to keep it organized:

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Hoping to get the rest of the rear end off (and up) tomorrow.

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justthemechanic

I just had the same issue, only it was the return line (lower line right side) that completely failed after a brake fluid change. I had a major fuel leak after start up. I though it was the QD, no such luck. My theory is this. I purchased the bike 3 years ago, and a year later the battery died. I replaced it with an Odyssey battery and discovered the battery had spilled or boiled over and there was acid every where. I neutralized the spilled acid and repainted the damaged battery box. The acid must have collected in the grommet that protects the hard plastic lines where they go through the air box and attacked the plastic. The line that failed was very brittle where it passed through the grommet, I could crush it with my fingers. The rest of the line was still flexible.

 

Also don’t forget to strap the center stand!

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You want to keep the center stand from "folding up" and dropping the bike on the floor. (They are VERY tough to get back up!) You are to tie it to the front wheel, if memory is correct.

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Hoping to get the rest of the rear end off (and up) tomorrow.
Caught this little newanuce... Contrary to what some aftermarket service manuals say, you do not have to actually take the rear end, read sub-frame off. It only needs to be pivoted up and out of the way.

 

Look at where the rear sub-frame is attached to the engine block, two points on each side. Remove the lower bolts completely, but only loosen but not remove the upper ones. Now hook a ratchet strap around the tail, the luggage rack, and the steering head. As you slowly tighten the strap, watching and disconnecting wires, lines, etc. as you go, the tail will raise up.

 

You're going to need the rear wheel out of the way, thus the advice to strap the center stand to the front wheel so the bike can't collapse onto the floor on you.

 

You will end up with a picture that looks something like this. By the time this picture was taken the air box was already out. Also the exhaust is off, but for your purposes it can stay on.

 

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I "second" Ken's comments about the after market (in my case, Clymer's) manuals. My manual had me disconnecting the ABS system, removing the motronic, and a whole bunch of stuff that isn't required. I R&R'd my transmission, clutch, and rear shaft seals, and just got it back together after months. The best resources were the BMW Manual (available online for free), Ted's spline lube DVD, and this forum (search for "spline lube"). I also have a spreadsheet I created to guide me on the step by step process. IM an email address and I'll provide you the spreadsheet and a link to the BMW manual, if you're interested.

 

Overall, this procedure is doable in a weekend or two. The toughest part (as I recall) was heating the bolts/nuts on the final drive and swing arm (BTW, you can do this without separating the final drive from the swing arm, but while you're doing this, you might as well check the final drive carrier needle bearings and swing arm bearings.). I bought a cheap infrared temperature gauge after the first attempts, so I could be certain I didn't "puddle" the aluminum swing arm with the torch (which everyone uses, because the *#@#$ heat guns take forever when heating the nuts).

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I appreciate all the advice. Keep it coming!

 

I'm getting hung up on a couple things... anybody know what these two wires are(taken from rear looking forward, blade of screwdriver is just above left side swingarm pivot)?

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I can't figure out how to unhook them/get 'em out of the way. confused.gif

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Wow! Check this out:

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I barely touched the regulator and two of the hoses just crumbled. They were completely rotted. Last week I took the back way from Vegas to San Diego. I was out in the middle of nowhere for hours. I would've been hurting had this thing let go in the boondocks. I've also got a 4,000+ mile canada trip departing July 1st. Talk about a blessing in disguise!

 

Anyone know the best place to get BMW parts quickly? My dealer says it'll be a week or more.

 

Thanks, again, for all the help!

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Anyone know the best place to get BMW parts quickly? My dealer says it'll be a week or more.

 

Thanks, again, for all the help!

 

If you need to use the bike in the meantime, join the breaks with some fuel hose.

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Good work on getting the manifold out, that wasn't so bad was it?

 

ISFA getting the part, Chicago BMW, Hammersley, and Beemerboneyard are a couple of the big ones.

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  • 4 weeks later...
DavidEBSmith

Arrrgh! There must be an epidemic of this going around. Riding around today I smelled gas (gasoline, thank you) and found it leaking out of the left side of the airbox, right around the hard plastic line. Showing some sense for a change, I decided not to ride it home with fuel pouring onto the catalytic converter.

 

Thanks to Steve Knapp for hauling himself all the way up to Mukwanago WI to cart this bike home once again, and thanks to Ron B for graciously "offering" the use of his garage for bike storage when we showed up on his doorstep. No, we did not roll the bike off the truck, ring the doorbell, and run, although it was tempting (though not as tempting as the idea of letting the bike immolate itself and have the Viking funeral it probably deserves).

 

So, when I start ordering parts, does the regulator come with the fuel distributor or do I have to order that, too? If I take this much of the bike apart, I'm not going to put parts back in that have 157K miles on them.

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ncsonderman

Now that's great work! Glad it didn't leave you out in the desert! grin.gif

 

I'm not that bold yet, but I'm sure soon. Especially for $800 in labor. dopeslap.gif

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I was wondering what could have caused the lines to fail like that and looking at your pictures I notice that you have a fair amount of corrosion at the bottom of your battery tray, probably from some electrolyte overflow either now or at some time in the past and perhaps this contributed to the problem. If so you might want to remedy that while you have everything apart, or switch to a sealed battery if you haven't already.

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DavidEBSmith

I have a spare distributor (new) in my spare parts stash if you need one FAST.

 

Thanks, I probably don't need one FAST - it's looking like it will be some time before I'll be at the point of needing the part. (Don't worry Ron, the bike will be out of your garage much sooner. grin.gif)

 

BTW, I had to replace my battery tray because of overflow back in 2003 or 2005. Another data point for the corrosion theory on this failure.

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