There I was cleaning up the car and bike, with a little extra time on my hands. So, I decided to lift the tank and check that loose fuel line I’ve been reading about. It happened.
My long, sad story:
I lifted the tank, and took a peek. Didn’t see anything wrong. So I reached for something to prop it up. Apparently I lifted too far. The gas began to spill. I then start to fumble around to figure out what happened. I’ve never seen gas line with a spring around it, so it took me a few seconds to figure out what I had in my hands. While trying to figure it out, I tried to cap the tank with my thumb, only to find out the system is looped so fuel spills out of both ends of the line. While trying to push the spring down, I pulled the line off the other end. I finally ripped off the spring, so I could see the line, and put it back on. Wouldn’t you know I had just filled the tank.
So, now I have a garage full of gas, and my arms are starting to burn pretty good.(gave them a quick washing) I pushed the two cars out on to the driveway (gas had run under them too). Then I got ready to push the bike off its center-stand, and remembered the previous story where I guy took a spill in the slippery gas. Checked my footing, and let me tell you, a couple gallons of gas on concrete is pretty slick. So I grabbed a hose and started washing out the garage, before taking the bike outside.
Time to put the bike back together. I looked around, and only found one clamp, that was on the lower side of the line. The upper side was just sitting there. I put the line, clamp and spring back in place, and washed down the bike.(plus the other few ounces of gas I just spilled in the driveway).
I can’t believe I fell for this trap. I was even looking for the damn thing. I’ve lifted the tank on every bike I’ve owned, and never spilled fuel! Ah well, live and learn.
What’s next? Falling off the sidestand?
