[inamaze]

I have a beater 92 EX500. Pulled all the plastic and pieced together a nice running bike.

After about 100 miles I notices a rattle with the tank. Turns out to be the petcock is hitting the frame...

The tank mounts are fine, they are not bent, and the rubber mounts for them are new (2 front and the flat one on the back).

Another data point is that I bought a 92 petcock rebuild kit and it didn't fit the petcock on the bike...

SO, is it possible this tank is off a 93+ bike? If so what's the difference besides the obvious problem I'm having?

I wonder if I can mount a 92 petcock on the 93+ tank (wondering if it's shorter or something).

(Sorry about the blurry pic, a little shakey due to the Xmas party the night before...)

 

[A2rider]

I don't know if the 93 will fit, but you have to be the first man I've ever known that wanted a shorter petcock! I'm sorry, just couldn't resist.

Someone will see this and answer you question here sooner or later.

I'll go away now........

 

[inamaze]

I don't know if the 93 will fit, but you have to be the first man I've ever known that wanted a shorter petcock! I'm sorry, just couldn't resist.

Someone will see this and answer you question here sooner or later.

I'll go away now........

...man that was cold.

but I guess I walked right into it... sheeeesh

 

[JimmyD]

That petcock is much bigger than on my bike. I have a 95, but the tank is identical to the first gen bikes. The petcock should be the same as well, and it definitely shouldn't be down that far.

PO might have changed it for whatever reason. Rebuild kits should match all years of EX. If it's a problem you might try an old petcock on ebay or a bike graveyard.

Does it happen to have a prime setting? This would be a dead giveaway it's not from an EX.

 

[inamaze]

That petcock is much bigger than on my bike. I have a 95, but the tank is identical to the first gen bikes. The petcock should be the same as well, and it definitely shouldn't be down that far.

PO might have changed it for whatever reason. Rebuild kits should match all years of EX. If it's a problem you might try an old petcock on ebay or a bike graveyard.

Does it happen to have a prime setting? This would be a dead giveaway it's not from an EX.

Ahhhhh, great info....

Two things, first of all, yes it does have a prime setting.
Also, it runs out on the main "tank" way earlier than I think it should (last time I stalled out and switched to reserve, I noticed that the reserve amount of gas was much more than I would have expected. I should have dumped out the remaining gas and measured the volume.

Sounds like it's the wrong petcock.

Mean time I shimmed the tank up a bit and it stopped rattling, but I'll get the right part and go from there.

Thanks !

 

[JimmyD]

If you have other transportation you could probably remove the petcock altogether and take it to the dealer to see if they have any idea what bike it might be off of. I'm assuming there are only SO many petcocks that will fit into an EX tank. Then you can order the correct rebuild kit.

Or, since you have the rebuild kit for an official petcock anyway, just ebay another one. This way even if it needs to be rebuilt, you have the kit!

It could very well be a vulcan 800/500 petcock from the looks of it, but it's been so long and they all look very similar anyway.

 

[inamaze]

I just ran the 250 vs the 500 on parts diagrams and it comes up the same (only about $55 new as well...). There are 250 units on Ebay.

Does your 95 have the lever with only ON and Reserve, the settings being 90degrees apart? (as opposed to the one I have which is down for ON, UP for RES and middle for Prime)

Also, why do they do away with the prime function? I guess you could just crank until the bowls fill up, but is there another reason?

 

[JimmyD]

Nope, mine has "OFF" "ON" in the middle and "RES". Which sucks because I have on at least one occasion turned my bike to "OFF" instead of "RES"

They're like this too...

OFF___RES
___ON

I think my vulcan's was set up like this...


RES
____PRI
ON

I'm fairly sure the 1st gen bikes have the same petcock that the 94+ do. I actually have no idea why there's no prime function, and I have on at least one occasion had to suck on the vacuum line to get gas into the bowls because cranking it wasn't doing anything... lol

I guess "OFF" could be a safety issue but most new bikes have a prime setting so again.. .no idea.