Is this normal?

[k3fqi]

MY 2009 RSV had a fuel smell even when gas was shut off for hours after it was shutdown. Should it take the dealer over two weeks to get parts to fix this? he said 3 to 5 days for a carb gasket?

[sarges46]

Sorry to say but up here it takes that long sometimes for parts. The dealers just dont have that much stuff in stock.

 

You are kind of stuck because its warranty stuff as well. Otherwise you could just order it yourself from another source and get in right away.

 

I hope that takes care of the problem for you though.

[BOO]

MY 2009 RSV had a fuel smell even when gas was shut off for hours after it was shutdown. Should it take the dealer over two weeks to get parts to fix this? he said 3 to 5 days for a carb gasket?

 

A carb gasket? Has he had your bike apart and knows that's what it is?

His thinking doesn't calculate for me, hope he gets you fixed and going again.

BOO

[V7Goose]

This problem is not uncommon on these bikes. I believe it is caused by the floats being set WAY too high from the factory. The fuel smell is coming from the overflow vent hoses that exit near the air filter openings. If you look close at the front cowling under the air filters you may see signs of fuel or oily dirt there too. Often the fuel will damage the paint on the inside of the cowling.

 

I have checked/reset floats on over 50 of these engines, and every single one was WAY too high according to the spec. In every case where the owner complained of an occasional gas smell after shutdown, properly setting the floats did solve that problem. It also tends to improve fuel mileage by about 10%.

 

These carburetors do not have "gaskets" per se, the float bowls have rubber o-rings. In my experience, these o-rings virtually never need to be replaced. Even on bikes 10 years old on which I have pulled the carbs and properly set the floats, the original o-rings did not leak at all when re-assembled.

 

HOWEVER - do not fault the shop for ordering these parts - replacing any sealing gasket or o-ring is always a best practice, and they should not be cutting any corners under warranty work.

Goose

[k3fqi]

Hi again, and thanks for the comments. I made another visit to the dealer shop today and he had recieved and put in the"gaskets"..(o-rings on the float bowl) he said that was the problem......I asked about the float adjustments..he said he checked them and they were at spec. Well now with that (done ) we are now waiting for a rear tire to arrive .............thanks again. Bill

[jlh3rd]

i bet he didn't check your floats at all.......according to posts on this site and the manual...it is a tedious job and the carbs have to be upside down to measure the float levels.......but if your problem is solved, good for you....

[V7Goose]

It is unfortunate that your dealer went through all the work to pull the carbs to replace a float bowl "gasket" and did not actually check the floats while it was apart.

 

Of course I have no proof that he did not do the job correctly, but I have done so many of these I'd still put a sizable bet that your floats are way too high. I'd love to have the opportunity to check those myself so I could issue a public apology to the dealer if he is not lying. And I'm even giving him what I consider the benefit of the doubt that he even pulled the carbs at all or you had a float bowl leaking. That is unlikely, but still possible.

 

I wish you the very best and hope he did fix the problem. But be sure to carefully inspect the back of those cowlings below the air filters for signs of fuel leakage. And keep your nose sharp for more fuel smells so that you get it back in quickly when you find the problem was not fixed.

Goose

Edited September 1, 2010 by V7Goose

[BOO]

It is unfortunate that your dealer went through all the work to pull the carbs to replace a float bowl "gasket" and did not actually check the floats while it was apart.

 

Of course I have no proof that he did not do the job correctly, but I have done so many of these I'd still put a sizable bet that your floats are way too high. I'd love to have the opportunity to check those myself so I could issue a public apology to the dealer if he is not lying. And I'm even giving him what I consider the benefit of the doubt that he even pulled the carbs at all or you had a float bowl leaking. That is unlikely, but still possible.

 

I wish you the very best and hope he did fix the problem. But be sure to carefully inspect the back of those cowlings below the air filters for signs of fuel leakage. And keep your nose sharp for more fuel smells so that you get it back in quickly when you find the problem was not fixed.

Goose

 

I have to agree with Goose and he probably don't care if I do or don't. I gotta lay my money with Goose, I'll bet the floats are not right. Like I said before I hope whatever the dealer did cures your problem.

I don't think you mentioned what kind of gas mileage you are getting?

Good Luck,

BOO