Don't forget to take your fueltap off 'prime' !!!

[robinjo]

Don't forget to take your fueltap off the 'prime' position like I did, I now have $40 worth of useless brand new engine oil.

[Doze]

Well now I don't feel so bad. Somehow I manage to do that at least once a year Robin.
Doze.

[Philly_Chris]

Not that I plan to do it (namely cause I dont trust the condtion of my needles/floats) but shouldnt a perfectly adjusted system be able to sit in PRIME and not overflow?

[robinjo]

Not that I plan to do it (namely cause I dont trust the condtion of my needles/floats) but shouldnt a perfectly adjusted system be able to sit in PRIME and not overflow?

A perfect system yes, had the bike on prime for several days before and nothing happened but this time it did...so beware!!!

[Anonymous]

was your bike on the side stand or center stand?

[Anonymous]

I left my bike on prime all summer but despite her appearance Betty is a well tuned machine. Even when she was bouncing around in the back of my truck no problems.

Steve

[robinjo]

I left my bike on prime all summer but despite her appearance Betty is a well tuned machine. Even when she was bouncing around in the back of my truck no problems.

Steve

But you have 2 carbs instead of 4 reducing the risk by 2

My bike was on the centerstand, look I don't claim that everytime you leave it on prime your crankcase will be full of gas but that it could happen and that it's going to cost you an oilchange when it does wich especially sucks when you've just changed the oil the day before like I did .

[Anonymous]

is it tru that you must use the prime position often when you live in colder climate??
My suzuki never needs a prime position ( I meant before i put the pingle ona)) that bloody yammy wont start unless i put it in prime for about 30 seconds before cranking????????
Yhe honda is just plain wierd enen needs prim and full choke in 80 degree weather on a cold start.
whi know why???? Not me.

[Anonymous]

Slowpoke: I don't believe so but I've never set my bike on prime to see how much sooner it will start compared to on. Perhaps it depends on how to your off your bike? If you turn it off standing flat and then start it on the sidestand your levels would be different. I left my bike on prime because I couldn't get a vacuum hose for my bike while living on the road and I'd kept on forgetting to turn the thing back to "on" after riding. Now that things are working properly I just set it to on or reserve, I can't think of a single time I've needed prime except for after storing the bike.

Steve

[saaz]

If I don't use the bike for a while, particularly when it is below 0c, I play it safe and use prime so that the bike starts first kick. As the motor is bigger bore and higher compression the battery has a much harder time spinning it in cold weather. When I had a much bigger battery installed (16AH) it was not really an issue.

[Anonymous]

The Prime position is meant to let gas flow into the carbs if they are empty. After a carb strip or running out of gas for example.

If your bike isn't used for a while the petrol can go stale. Particularly since it doesn't contain lead now. (at least in Europe and Japan) As your engine turns and blows out the stale petrol having Prime on can help scourge your float bowls.

Prime bypasses the vacuum part of the tap so if your floats and other bit that meter the gas are leaky the tap will leak gas. The carb overflows are supposed to take care of this, but don't always do so.

I live in a fairly cold country and it really makes no odds when prime is used besides the afore mentioned.

There was a story years ago when some owner left Prime on, on a Honda CBX1000 and the gas filled the engine bores. When he started the bike it suffered a hydraulic lock due to the gas filled bores. But this turned out to be an urban myth... allegedly. The same story also circulated with the Honda being replaced with a Katana

[Anonymous]

Prime is also the bottom of the tank. If you don't have a fuel gauge, it's kind of embarassing to reach down to switch to Reserve and find out that the dealer's mechanic left it on Prime when you picked the bike up in town 20 miles ago. Not that it would ever happen to me, but I sure was grateful to those Goldwing riders who stopped and gave me a Coke can full of gas to get me to a station.

TopCat

[Robert Corrie]

Hydraulic lock is no myth. I put an 82 1100e that had been sitting for 2years onto prime and waited to long to try to start it. Pulled in clutch, pushed loud button, got a turn from the motor and then a "BANG" when the motor locked up solid. Had to pull all 4 plugs and syphon some gas out of each cylinder.

[Anonymous]

Im a newbie to this kinda fuel valve. Let me just get his straight. I should leave my 83 gs550es in the on or res position? when It is not being used. Everything I have has was just on, off, res.

[silverhorse47]

ztec...if your petcock is the same as 83gs750e...there are three positions...1)reserve *points to the front* 2)run *points down* 3)prime *points to the rear*

'prime' runs fuel into the bowls of the carbs regardless of whether the engine is running ie producing vacuum...or not...it is to fill the bowls when they are empty and you want to start the engine without waiting for engine vacuum to fill them.

'run' runs fuel into the bowls only when the engine is running and producing vacuum...via a diaphragm that needs to not have any holes in it

'reserve' runs fuel into the bowls under the same conditions as run: ie. under vacuum, but does so from the top of a maybe 1 1/2 inch tube sticking up into the gas tank...hence if you run 'out of gas' in run position (arrow straight down), where gas is only accessed from the top of the tube, or you can turn the lever on your petcock to "reserve" (arrow straight forward) and your bike will access the bottom of your tank, at the bottom of the tube.

You can check your petcock functioning by clamping the BIG hose of the petcock, routing it into a mason jar (it is important that it is a mason jar), then unclamping it with the engine not running. IF fuel does not run out of it in a continuous stream...your diaphragm is ok. IF it leaks drips or even seeps even a little...rebuild or replace the petcock. If you do not you can fill your cylinders with gas...or your crankcase. Both are discouraging experiences.

If the petcock appears to not leak with no engine vacuum applied...chances are good you can leave your petcock in the on position (pointing straight down) and not worry about anything until suddenly your oil level is WAY high all of a sudden and you have not added oil. This would be an indication that your float needle valves are capooty and that your petcock diaphragm is holed.

Good luck.

S.