Desprate quick fix needed

[crapwacker]

After many painstaking hours of work, minutes from being able to ride, that #@$%!#@#%@!^ abortion of engineering fuel tee is leaking!~ I knew I should have spent the money a week ago, but the fit seemed good. Help before I load up the buckshot and end it all!!!

[TheCafeKid]

what fuel tee???

[crapwacker]

The one between carb#2 &#3, you know, that one with the simulated O rings that requires a tear down to get to.

[TheCafeKid]

ohhhh THAAT fuel T... I have a spare around here probably... Doesnt do you any good tho.. Not much that ive seen that you can do to fix it either. Of course, ive never run into that problem, so there might be something about it in a thread somwhere...

[tkent02]

Sometimes soaking in fuel for a little while will swell the seals or something, I have had a few stop leaking on their own in a little while.

Good luck with that.

[frosty5011]

Just let it sit overnight. It will most likely swell and seal.

My 850 used to be like that. It would drip quite a bit of fuel after the carbs were installed and filled up. I would just let it sit......by the next morning it had stopped and wouldn't leak anymore.......until the next carb tear down.

[crapwacker]

Going to try several wraps of teflon tape. Tore them off and apart in a fit of raged ambition

[rustybronco]

I believe Ms squaredancer once recommended putting an o-ring in each carb port then in stalling the "tee". that might work if the o-ring is the proper thickness.

[TeamDar]

Soaking the tee in fuel will cause it to swell. I actually checked the diameter before the soak and after and it grew quite a bit. I never tried just letting the carbs leak until it sealed. I took them apart to replace the tee and tried soaking it first and it swelled up enough to seal. When I worked as a service technician at a dealership the service manager told me to always bench check any carb rebuilds by filling them with fuel to check for leaks. That saved my ass more than once from having to remove a set of carbs a second time to repair a problem. Dar

[crapwacker]

Dar. Lesson learned! The teflon tape did the trick, but time will tell if it is a permanent fix

[Steve]

I have used a few wraps of Teflon tape in the past. They are still leak-free after a couple of years.

.

[bwringer]

The other approach is to use and exacto knife to carefully cut off the "simulated o-rings" (leaving the rest of the rubber coating) and then use real o-rings.

Simple and works great.

[TheCafeKid]

Anyone ever tried that rubberized plati-dip designed for dipping tool handles??? WOnder how gas resistant it is. Then again, how much gas really gets on that part? It SHOULD simply pass thru it...

[Sandy]

Sounds like you have it fixed. Here's a link to the o-ring fix mention above. Scroll down to post #6

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=79717&highlight=fuel+o-rings

The sequel to the o-ring fix is that last winter I rebuilt the carbs again and in the mean time had no leaks. When I disassembled the carbs the o-rings were powder and no longer functional, don't how long they had been like that. However, the fuel tee and tubes were nice and soft and were not leaking. The carbs were apart all winter so I stored the tees in a small zip bag with a bit of grease on them and when I went to reassemble the carbs they were still pliable and didn't leak. The problem appears to be that the tees dry out if not kept wet. Soaking them as mention above would be a cure but how long do they need soaking. However, keeping them wet seems to be the answer. Glad the teflon worked and the next time the carbs are apart, keep the tees wet and you probably won't need the tape again.

[Nessism]

If you have access to a lathe, making a new Tee from brass is pretty simple. The photo below shows a home made Tee for my old 550. I "think" a part like this could even be made on a drill press using files to cut the grooves if you are careful and know how to braze.

Don't give up, there is always a way.