fuelcock/petcock replacement

[bwringer]

Last night I ordered three vacuum petcocks from three different vendors ranging in price from 17 to 27 dollars. As they arrive I will put them on the tank, now removed from the bike, and put in a couple of gallons. I am looking for a completely bone dry fuel nipple after several days of sitting both in the On and Reserve positions. If none of these produce that, I will order some more.
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I like your style, Don. Sometimes you just have to do the science if you want dry nipples. We anxiously await your findings.


And yes, that list at CRC2 is not so much "identical to OEM" petcocks as "petcocks that will bolt to a tank and should do the job". The directions of the gas and vacuum ports on the back often differ as well. Sometimes you just re-route the fuel and vacuum hoses, and sometimes you can remove the back and rotate it to a better position.


Stepping back a bit, a vacuum operated petcock is fundamentally a very, very simple device. I can't see why it would take advanced technology to manufacture these things. Many of us here, me included, have installed very inexpensive and perfectly adequate and functional Chinese master cylinders with no problems.


One detail I'll mention for onlookers: the bolt holes in a GS tank go through into the tank, so the bolt heads must have sealing washers. These are very often "perished", as the British say, rarely noticed or replaced, and have wrongfully condemned many an innocent petcock. The correct metal and rubber Suzuki sealing washers (part # 09168-06023 ) are fairly cheap at about $1.50 each, but I've successfully used 1/4" black nylon washers from a hardware store for many years. Or McMaster-Carr, of course: https://www.mcmaster.com/93786A125

[rphillips]

Unbelievable how things have changed. These new complete petcocks are priced lower than the rebuild kits. I've found the same with some bike master cylinders, Just hard to imagine complete new part cheaper than the few little parts in the kits...Good luck pep, hope you never even get to try the 2nd & 3rd that you've ordered. Awaiting updates.

[dpep]

Last night I ordered three vacuum petcocks from three different vendors ranging in price from 17 to 27 dollars. As they arrive I will put them on the tank, now removed from the bike, and put in a couple of gallons. I am looking for a completely bone dry fuel nipple after several days of sitting both in the On and Reserve positions. If none of these produce that, I will order some more.
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[alke46]

Brian, thanks for link. The one shown for my bike however has the smaller lever arm that I believe began with the '82 models. Those work not at all well for my big fat carpal tunnel fingers. Also it shows both the vacuum and gas nipples extending toward the back of the bike, the opposite of the oem.

They are showing the same part for the '81, '82, and '83 850G and also the '81GL. There is a different number for the '80 850GL and none showing for the 850G. I know guys are competent but that's not how I recollect the model mix/match. Do you know if there are different petcock bolt patterns across the GS models?

I didn't see one listed for the 79 model year of the gs 1000e. Last time I checked with the parts fish at the dealership, they apparently thought their OEM petcocks were made of gold. Nearly $300 if I remember correctly. I just now checked and it appears to be NLA.

[alke46]

Larry, your Pringle is manually operated, correct? My issue is that I would forget to turn off a manual petcock more than half the time and regularly have gasoline in my cylinders, crankcase, and on my garage floor. Too many years with vacuum operated ones for me to unlearn. I would certainly buy oem if they were available.

Since I can buy 3 or 4 of the ebay cheapos for the price of one oem I think that is what I will do. Then just test them on the tank hoping that one of the four won't leak gas in the vacuum off positions. The one i have on there now is a cheapo that does not pass the test.
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Yes it is manually operated and lucky for me, I become a bit anal about stuff like that and I have trained myself to turn it off within the last half mile of my destination. So far, so good.

[dpep]

Anyhoo. Cycle Recycle II downtown (they're about 20-25 minutes from my house) would appear to have petcocks for Don's bike and many others, and in my experience these have worked well.
https://newmotorcycleparts.net/fuel_...cocks_suz.html

Brian, thanks for link. The one shown for my bike however has the smaller lever arm that I believe began with the '82 models. Those work not at all well for my big fat carpal tunnel fingers. Also it shows both the vacuum and gas nipples extending toward the back of the bike, the opposite of the oem.

They are showing the same part for the '81, '82, and '83 850G and also the '81GL. There is a different number for the '80 850GL and none showing for the 850G. I know these guys are competent but that's not how I recollect the model mix/match. Do you know if there are different petcock bolt patterns across the GS models? .
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[bwringer]

Yeah, I also could not be trusted whatsoever with a manual petcock. My wife had a Honda with one aeons ago, and while I didn't do too bad turning it off (and fortunately it didn't fill the engine with gas if we forgot) neither of us was very good at turning the damn thing on until we tried to pull out onto the busy highway and the engine died...

Anyhoo. Cycle Recycle II downtown (they're about 20-25 minutes from my house) would appear to have petcocks for Don's bike and many others, and in my experience these have worked well.

https://newmotorcycleparts.net/fuel_system_parts/petcocks/petcocks_suz.html

[dpep]

Just my opinion but I would say you got lucky. In my past experiences I usually get what I pay for.
When I replaced mine on the gs1000e, I went with the pingle. Sure, more money but like I said, you get what you pay for.

Larry, your Pringle is manually operated, correct? My issue is that I would forget to turn off a manual petcock more than half the time and regularly have gasoline in my cylinders, crankcase, and on my garage floor. Too many years with vacuum operated ones for me to unlearn. I would certainly buy oem if they were available.

Since I can buy 3 or 4 of the ebay cheapos for the price of one oem I think that is what I will do. Then just test them on the tank hoping that one of the four won't leak gas in the vacuum off positions. The one i have on there now is a cheapo that does not pass the test.
...

[alke46]

I got one from Amazon (link) that's been working OK on my 79 GS1000E. Perhaps it's just a matter of time before it will give problems but it's been almost a year. Oddly/sadly the OEM one I got from Partzilla for my GS1100E has issues, prime is not working. I'm not ruling out that the OEM one got something in it, haven't had time to fiddle with it yet.

Just my opinion but I would say you got lucky. In my past experiences I usually get what I pay for.
When I replaced mine on the gs1000e, I went with the pingle. Sure, more money but like I said, you get what you pay for.

[93Bandit]

I'm glad this topic has come back up because I have the same issue. I purchased an aftermarket rebuild kit that I'm going to attempt, but if that doesn't work I'll try the Amazon one and see how it goes.

[oldGSfan]

I got one from Amazon (link) that's been working OK on my 79 GS1000E. Perhaps it's just a matter of time before it will give problems but it's been almost a year. Oddly/sadly the OEM one I got from Partzilla for my GS1100E has issues, prime is not working. I'm not ruling out that the OEM one got something in it, haven't had time to fiddle with it yet.

I am bringing back this months old petcock thread because I am now searching for one for my '81 850G and the conventional wisdom of getting the assembled oem part from a reliable vendor (Parts Shark, Parts Outlaw, Z-1, Bike Bandit) and be done with it does not seem possible in my case. All of those vendors show that part as not available and the one on the GeeorgeFix site that Rich links is for the "81 L model 850 not the standard G.

That appears to leave me with no choice but the $15-25 ebay offerings that most say avoid (and from my experience with good reason). Rebuild kits are still available but that has been discouraged in the past and anyway I am not sure I have all of the pieces of my old petcock

Has anyone had any experience dealing with any of these ebay fuel cock sellers? or does anyone have another vendor/source they could suggest?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=fuel+petcock+for+1981+suzuki+GS850G+motorcycle&_sacat=0

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[dpep]

I am bringing back this months old petcock thread because I am now searching for one for my '81 850G and the conventional wisdom of getting the assembled oem part from a reliable vendor (Parts Shark, Parts Outlaw, Z-1, Bike Bandit) and be done with it does not seem possible in my case. All of those vendors show that part as not available and the one on the GeeorgeFix site that Rich links is for the "81 L model 850 not the standard G.

That appears to leave me with no choice but the $15-25 ebay offerings that most say avoid (and from my experience with good reason). Rebuild kits are still available but that has been discouraged in the past and anyway I am not sure I have all of the pieces of my old petcock

Has anyone had any experience dealing with any of these ebay fuel cock sellers? or does anyone have another vendor/source they could suggest?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=fuel+petcock+for+1981+suzuki+GS850G+motorcycle&_sacat=0

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anyone know if there's any model cross-compatibility for fuel gauge senders?

looking for part 34810-44901. wondering if i can use units from different models

[tom203]

If/ when I do replace my petcock I well buy one from https://www.georgefixs.com/. They make/sell OEM style, year/model specific petcocks all around $50. I have read only good things, but don?t know anyone on this site who?s used one yet.

I would stay away from the eBay cheapos.

I bought one from him 11 years ago.....still working , but lever is getting hard to turn, so I just ordered a replacement as precaution

[Rich82GS750TZ]

If/ when I do replace my petcock I well buy one from https://www.georgefixs.com/. They make/sell OEM style, year/model specific petcocks all around $50. I have read only good things, but don?t know anyone on this site who?s used one yet.

I would stay away from the eBay cheapos.