Gas smell when riding?

Gkiller

Supercharged
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Messages
281
Location
Texas
Hello all...I have noticed the past few times I've taken my 06 Rocket Classic out that I can smell gas from time to time...I searched the forums and found posts regarding gas smell in the garage when parked...but nothing about a gas smell when riding. I've noticed the smell mainly when stopped at stop signs or lights. I've searched for leaks, but found nothing. The gas smell was not there until just the past few rides. Any ideas?
 
I dunno about the R3, I just bought mine yesterday.

But on my Valkyrie and my Concours, if the tank was cold in the garage then warms up in the sun or from the engine heat, they would vent gasoline fumes a bit that I could smell.
 
Have you tried closing the gas cap after you fill it up.:D
Kidding
Did you just fill up before the smell started? if so how full did you get it.
 
I have not smelled gas on the Rocket, but I do smell gas when stopped at a light on my America from the exaust. Did you fill up and spill any on the bike?
 
The only time that I had an issue with a gas smell at a traffic light is after eating a big bowl of Total for breakfast. Plenty of gas smell a few hours later!!

Seriously, I had removed the tank last year when doing the triple K&N install and afterward I noticed a pronounced gas smell at lights and in the garage after shutting down. Never saw a leak or anything and thought it was a failed gas cap.

Luckily, one day after a ride I just happened to check and saw a drop of gas come from the banjo bolt at the tank to fuel line connection. Just the one small drop caused the smell. I lifted the tank and gave the banjo bolt a little extra squeeze and the leak stopped.

The next time I had the tank off I replaced the crush washers on the banjo and haven't had the problem since.

You may try lifting the tank and giving the fuel line banjo bolt a small turn. Small as in just barely, not a 1/4 turn or anything like that. Just a small turn.
 
That has been a typical thing I've experienced with every bike I've ever owned. On the older bikes the only vent was the filler cap and it was expected. On newer and newer bikes we all expect them to be like our cars, and some like the Rocket sure can be. But they still have purge valves, vent valves and the air has to go somewhere .... I've smelled fuel on occasion but as often as I'm over this bike, there has never been a sign of leakage. So I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm occasionally smelling vent gasses. Right or wrong, there ain't nuthing leakin' out my dam bike! lol
 
My primary TPS was replaced over the winter and when I finally got my bike back from the dealer and had a chance to ride, I had exactly the same symptoms that Gkiller and tdragger described, so back to the dealer it went. They rechecked the calibration of the TPS and the stepper motor and, in their words, "synched the secondaries". After an hour and a half of fiddling with said settings on their computer they pronounced that they could not find the source of my raw fuel smell problem and that everything seemed OK. The service manager said that sometimes fuel vapors might vent from the filler neck.

Well it was a very windy day last week when this work was done so it was hard to determine if what they did solved my problem. The next day, remembering what the service mgr had said, I checked the tightness on the Allen bolts which fasten the filler neck to the tank and found that they were all a bit loose. Since I 've tightened them, the fuel smell has not reoccurred.
 
Gas smell when riding

Mine does the same thing and I found that a small o-ring around the pipe that sticks up 1/8 inch on top of tank under the lid stops the smell. It works except I keep losing the o-ring when I fuel up
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. Like I said in my initial post...the gas smell thing has only been noticed recently. I've owned a number of other bikes in the past, but no problems with gas smell on those.

I'm taking my bike into the shop tomorrow for scheduled service and will talk to the tech about this issue. Thanks and will post any findings...
 
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