gas left in ims 4 gal tank

[Meanjoegreen87]

hey guys,

 

I have a 4 gallon ims tank on my 2000 drz s.  I have a manuel petcock.  I have been getting into the habit of draining my tank so no gas sits and damages the petcock gasket.  I had my tank off my bike becasue I was installing some parts over the past month.  I finshed all the installs and attached the tank and went for alittle ride.  When i got back disconnect the hose from carb and attached it to another hose into a gas jug.  I turned the petcock on reserve and started to drain the tank.  the gas stopped flowing.  I looked into my tank and there was still a good amount of gas left in my tank.  My quesiton is should i be concerned?  if there is some gas that can't make it to my petcock I could get stuck somwhere and still have gas in my tank.  any suggestions would be awesome.  

[DougBurgoyne]

Since you aren't running an oem petcock (vacuum actuated), the reserve positon should drain your tank down to the bottom of the reserve tube screen. Not sure why it isn't, unless something wrong with your petcock. What brand/style petcock are you running? I have the yamaha raptor with oem reserve (main tube is longer than the stubby main tube that comes with the raptor). 

 

I also have the IMS 4 gallon (actually 4.25 gallon fyi) and there is fuel in the "wings" that doesn't make it to the reserve. You can lay the bike on the left side, and raise the bottom (wheels) of the bike up off the ground a little to flow that gas into the left wing...something of a "reserve reserve", if you will. But the fuel down in the left wing towards front of the bike isn't really usable fuel. That is why IMS made the tank actually a 4.25 gallon, so you can have a quart of un-used fuel and still have a full 4 gallon capacity of usable fuel. 

 

not sure if I answered your question or not.  It sounds like you are saying your manual petcock is on reserve position, but if you look down inside the tank with flashlight (love how the petcock tubes are super visible inside this tank!) there is still gas above the bottom of reserve tube screen...but fuel isn't coming out. If there is gravity, it should be flowing. Perhaps remove the petcock and see about dissassembly/clean? 

[pumptrack]

I have the same tank. Besides leaning your bike over to the left (petcock) side to move the fuel from the right lobe, I imagine the only way to get all the fuel out would be a fuel pump.

Even if you were to install a hose from the reserve pickup down to the bottom of the tank, it wouldn't drain to the carb as the lowest part of the tank is lower than the bowl of the carb.

In an emergency, I suppose you could move the bike to an incline and get the fuel to slosh back in the tank towards the pickup and get a little further down the road.

[pumptrack]

Ha! Doug beat me to the punch. I must have been typing as he was posting.

[DougBurgoyne]

I have the same tank. Besides leaning your bike over to the left (petcock) side to move the fuel from the right lobe, I imagine the only way to get all the fuel out would be a fuel pump.

Even if you were to install a hose from the reserve pickup down to the bottom of the tank, it wouldn't drain to the carb as the lowest part of the tank is lower than the bowl of the carb.

In an emergency, I suppose you could move the bike to an incline and get the fuel to slosh back in the tank towards the pickup and get a little further down the road.

Haha.  I think it goes like this;

1) go until you start to run out of gas.

2) switch to reserve and keep going until you run out again.

3) lay on left side of bike and raise bottom to slosh fuel to left wing. Keep riding until you run out again. 

4) ride a wheelie to the gas station! 

[Syanur]

It might be your aftermarket petcock tubes are positioned reverse somehow. Just uninstall it and see. Or may be a real dirt in the tubes.

 

Otherwise there is no reason for not flowing.

[38super]

water head and surface tension on reserve screen

[Rhinoracer]

Did you remove the gas cap?Maybe the tank isn't venting somehow.

[Noble]

There is no need to drain the tank to preserve the petcock gasket.  Yes the old IMS rubber gaskets were not up to the task.  IMS will now sell you a Viton rubber petcock gasket for about $10.00 (they should give it in my opinion but don't)  Probably need to order direct from IMS.

[Spud786]

You shouldn't have to drain gas to avoid petcock gasket damage, as it shouldn't be getting damaged in the first place, you need an appropriate gasket for gasoline.

[150ron]

That sounds like a whole lot of work to do after every ride... 

[Signman606]

I have the same tank. Besides leaning your bike over to the left (petcock) side to move the fuel from the right lobe, I imagine the only way to get all the fuel out would be a fuel pump.

Even if you were to install a hose from the reserve pickup down to the bottom of the tank, it wouldn't drain to the carb as the lowest part of the tank is lower than the bowl of the carb.

In an emergency, I suppose you could move the bike to an incline and get the fuel to slosh back in the tank towards the pickup and get a little further down the road.

Can't you drill another hole in the other side and have twin petcocks that "Y" into the carb? I know the Acerbis tank has twin petcocks.......maybe too much trouble?

 

Tipping the beast over for me would be a pain....I'd have dualing petcocks...... ?

[DougBurgoyne]

Yeah, that stock flat rubber gasket IMS used to use is total crap imo. Well, perhaps that's harsh....with ethanol in our fuel, it's crap. I know only put ethanol free 92+  octane fuel in the bikes...but still. I replace that rubber gasket with standard O-ring type and no issues so far.  Also, on that IMS tank, sometimes the mating surface isn't perfectly flat. I had to take a file and file that surface flat (takes off some plastic and some of the brass bolt inserts) and then rinse the tank. I've heard of others that had to do the same. 

[bliksem]

So did I make a mistake installing the rubber gasket that came with th tank. Installed new raptor petcock on the ims

[pumptrack]

Can't you drill another hole in the other side and have twin petcocks that "Y" into the carb? I know the Acerbis tank has twin petcocks.......maybe too much trouble?

 

Tipping the beast over for me would be a pain....I'd have dualing petcocks...... ?

Sure, you could do whatever you want. I'm not here to regulate anyone.

 

As far as tipping the bike over, just try to dump the bike to the left for a nap. ?

 

All kidding aside. In the 3 years and 6k mi. since buying the bike, I've only had 3 occasions when I actually switched to reserve. In those instances, the reserve was plenty to finish the ride. You could reasonably expect to ride ~175 miles before having to resort to tipping it to the side.

 

Tank was on the bike when I got it and it's designed to bolt up to the lower radiator shroud hole. All things considered, I do like the tank and it's inherent radiator protection.

[Meanjoegreen87]

I mainly wanted to drain the take to save the pet cock and stop from gas leaking into my case.  It sounds like i don't need to worry so much about that.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Meanjoegreen87

[sdhydro]

If you use an on/off like the Yamaha raptor petcock and turn it off after every use than theres no way gas can leak into the case.  Draining the tank after every ride would make me not want to ride lol

[DougBurgoyne]

So did I make a mistake installing the rubber gasket that came with th tank. Installed new raptor petcock on the ims

Not really. If it ain't leaking no worries. Could last years.  BUT, if you need to replace (leaking) use standard viton o-ring type (should have come with your raptor). Those IMS rubber ones (at least the older ones like I had, start to crack and leak). Lay a nice straight edge (like stainless ruler) across the mating surface of tank to make sure it's nice and flat. If it isn't, you may want to file flat as noted above. If it's very close, the o-ring could probably take up the "slop", but I wanted mine perfectly flat.  

 

Now,  regarding that tank draining issue.  Way to much work, and not needed at all...except for maybe if you do long term storage of your bike without running it (like several months). Even then, there are fuel stabilizers you can add to tank to resist moisture intrusion and keep fuel from varnishing/fouling. Just remember to turn your petcock OFF when not riding and gas cannot get into  your crank case (even if o-ring at float valve seat fails).  Maybe add a little carabiner clip to your key ring that you can hook to your handle bars, or put a sticker someplace obvious to remind you to turn off the petcock (since no longer using vacuum type) until it becomes habit.  

 

One thing you can (and should) do if your bike is going to sit for longer than a week or two...is while your bike is running,  turn off the petcock and let the bike consume most  of  the fuel in the float bowl where it can varnish up the works. It will simply die when fuel is gone. Many guys do this routinely, and even know where to flick the petcock to "off" when they are a block or two from the garage so it is about there when they get home. 

[Meanjoegreen87]

I had an on/off petcock and I always leave it off and run all the gas out of the carb and I still gas a ton of gas in the case.