petcock question

i know just about everybody says your suppose to cut off your gas every time you park your bike. my question is on my xj700x there is no off there is only reserve to the left on straight down and primary to the right. any suggestions or thoughts would be great. thanks guys.

 

You have a vacuum operated petcock. So long as it's not worn the fuel will shut off whenever you turn off the engine. DON'T set it to prime unless you're filling dry float bowls, or want a crankcase full of gas.

 

And if it hasn't been replaced or rebuilt, 99.9% chance it's leaking by now. Open the oil filler cap and smell for gas.

Chacal has everything for the rebuild, in addition to clear fuel line that will allow you to spot a leak. I just did mine, following the mother of all writeups:

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=25058.html

Amazing.

 

and just for fun; from the owner's manual...

 

Hahaha random story- first time I ran out of gas, I switched it to reserve, but It wouldn't start. I pushed the bike about a mile before I realized I had not put it on prime first- therefore, upon this realization, put it on prime and it fired right up - so I could ride the one last block to arrive at the gas station, haha.

Rebuild your petcock, rotate the little rubber piece, and scrub everything up all nice. Sometimes a good cleaning can do wonders. B

 

There's also a video on YouTube which visually demonstrates the whole process, which is a nice addition to bigfitz's tutorial.

Im on mobile so I can't find you the exact link now, but search xj550 how to repair a petcock, or how to rebuild a petcock, or something like that, and the YouTube user name has "max" in it. Not positive of the rest, haha.

Hope that helps

 

wow alright thanks guys. yea i had gas in the crankcase it probably was from me putting it in the pri position not really sure i tried to many things before i tried to ask for help and that caused too many mistakes i've learned to ask and learn as much as you can but i had to drain it all out thats what caused all my problems. took the carbs off cleaned them up a little put new oil in oil filter just changed out the head gasket now i'm trying to get the vacuum lines dialed in so it will sound good sputters a little bit right now.