How to clean the fuel petcock or shutoff

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noiseguy
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How to clean the fuel petcock or shutoff

Post by noiseguy »

From Jerry:
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When a spree has been stored for a long period the vacuum shutoff valve usually sticks shut and will not allow fuel to flow even under vacuum. ive fixed this problem a bazillion times. heres how.... just dont rush.....
drain fuel from tank. siphon or whatever. remove the left plastic side cover. follow the two hoses from the valve to the carb and intake. remove from engine end and leave attached to valve. unscrew the retaining collar from the tank. lower the valve out and the fuel screen should drop out with it. if not remove separately. clean with carb cleaner and dry with compressed air. spray carb cleaner into the top of the valve where the fuel tank attaches. flip and drain until fluid is clean. you want to remove deposits first. look down into the valve from the top. draw vacuum on the lower hose its also the smaller diameter hose. look into the top and see where the small round rubber tip comes up. thats what is supposed to pull back and allow fuel to flow when vacuum is applied. its spring loaded into the shutoff position. if vacuum is not releasing it then take a small jewelers type screwdriver and gently push down while applying vacuum. once free take a short spray of silicone into the same hole that fuel would flow and work the valve under vacuum several times until working free and easy. note if you apply vacuum and it does not hold the diaphram open the rubber itself is bad and you will have to replace the unit. if you try operating this way you will flood the engine and never get it working correctly.
ive done a lot of them this way and never had to replace one yet.....knock on wood....
scoot safely
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noiseguy
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Post by noiseguy »

As above, but different cleaning method:

i soaked the entire valve in clean gasoline. put it in a mayonaise jar and fill it enough to cover it. make sure to flip it up so the air gets out of the vacuum port and gas outlet. i soaked what i thought was a bad valve for 5 days, it works now.
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