Gas won't flow

Hey guys just wanted your opinion. I just went out on my bike after a pretty extensive rebuild and it left me stranded. It's done this once before, and I think I know what the problem is. When I look at the fuel line, it has a lot of air in it and the gas will flow but it'll trickle the whole fuel line isn't full of gas. The way the bike is acting is like it's fuel starve you'll go to Revit and it'll die and I I think there's just not enough gas getting into the bowls but in my upsetness I didn't see you to see if the there was fuel in the bowls but I'm pretty sure there's not. I took the fuel line off after the petcock and put it on prime and nothing came out I then went and blew through it heard a little bubble a little bubble and then a big bubbling and then when I took my mouth away the gas started pouring out so I think there's some sort of restriction in the petcock or in the tank. What do you guys think could worn out seals in the petcock be my issue, or crud in the tank.

The other thing I was thinking of is that my bike is a 1985 Yamaha Maxim x 700 from California, so it has a breather box that right now is deleted on and on the other side of the tank I just have a rubber cap over it. Could that rubber cap be responsible for venting the tank and what's happening is the tank is acting as a sealed unit so the gasoline won't flow down? Does anyone know exactly how that nipple on the bottom of the gas tank is in the gas tank? I've got a 200 mile road trip coming up on Tuesday and the bike is my only source of transportation so it's got me quite worried.

 

I don’t know much about the cali bikes (other than there is some different ventilation) but it sounds like a tank ventilation problem. Like holding your finger on the top of a straw so the liquid won’t come out.

if it happens again pop the filler cap open to see if fuel flows after that.

 

I'll give an update. Last time it happened I just filled up on gas, and a mile down the road she quit on me. After 30 mins on the side of the highway, I looked at the fuel line and saw it was empty. Flipped it over to prime, fuel started glugging, and bike started right up. Today, right before it stopped running, I had filled up the tank. Fuel was just trickling, lots of air the the line. I came back to the bike after two hours. I had the the petcock on prime, and the line was full of gas, got home no problem.

Would any of this info be helpful in determining a leak?

I saw a post from years ago and the ventilation canister was mentioned, but the conversation moved away from it towards other things...

 

Open the gas cap as suggested above when it happens next time

 

Will plan on it, I'm just nervous because I gotta get home on Tuesday, if it's not the gas cap oh boy!

 

How far are you traveling before the bike splutters to a stop? I had the same problem on a bike 40 years ago. I cleaned the vent in the cap and that fixed it.

 

Only around half a mile down the road after fill-up. The first time I filled up so much gas started weaping out of the gas cap when I straightens the bike up, beginners mistake. Since then I've tried to not over fill it, but with only 3 gallons, I need all the miles I can get so it's a fine line I suppose...

 

My bike was about half a mile too. Fuel should not be leaking check the seal on the cap.

 

Gotcha, I'll go take a gander

 

Maybe you found these and maybe you have already done it but the consensus seems to be you need to replace the gas cap with a vented version if deleting the cannister, or maybe add a filter to that hose end (vent) you have capped off

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/xj700-gas-tank-nozzle-thing.46887/

https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/xj700-maxim-x-problems-from-new-member.47719/page-2

 

Yeah, I went for a drive today, left a key in the gas cap. Got to a stoplight, started studdering, opened the cap, and she was good to go! Thanks for the help y'all