My Harley leaks gas from the tank hose, how do I repair it?

I'm going to start this totally practical article by theorizing about the composition of gasoline today.
The gasoline that we find at the moment in the pumps can contain up to 5% of Ethanol (biofuel produced through cereals) without the oil company on duty having to indicate it. The truth is that, except for the classics, most modern vehicles are prepared for this mixture, as long as it does not exceed this 5% (according to various sources, it is increasing by up to 10%). A couple of important considerations to keep in mind are:

• Ethanol is considerably more corrosive than gasoline: it can affect soft parts in carburetors, injectors and other components of the fuel system if the vehicle is not prepared.
• Ethanol should not be left in storage with the vehicle stationary for too long, as it creates varnishes very easily, and can cause the system to malfunction.

Having said this, remember that the current percentage allowed by law is very low, so generally we will not find problems of this type.

The problem
Although the specific cause has not been proven, it is a fact that in recent years there have been failures in the fuel systems of motorcycles related to corrosion in O-rings, which when degraded lose their sealing capacity.
A specific example is the fuel intake of Harley-Davidson motorcycles with injection. This quick disconnect socket is subjected to the pressure of the fuel pump, to vibrations (it joins a fixed part, the chassis, with a “moving” part, the engine) and to extreme heat due to its proximity to the cylinder heads. These conditions (and perhaps the composition of the new fuels) cause damage to the O-rings, leading to the typical loss of gasoline.

Choices
Usually repairing this leak involves changing the high pressure tap of the fuel tank, quite expensive option due to the cost of the components and the time in labor required for the operation.

An American company called Fuel Tool (in the USA the ethanol blends are even higher) has created a inexpensive repair kit that allows us to restore and improve fuel intake, since it uses Viton gaskets, very resistant to corrosion.

As can be seen in the photograph, the manufacturer of the kit also has the repair tool set.

Disassembly
We are going to proceed to repair a leaking fuel intake, we will start by emptying the tank, then we will remove the injection fuse and try to start the motorcycle, this depressurizes the system. We can now disconnect the quick socket, pushing up the lock.

We will now use the hook and the extraction tool marked "A".

After inserting the tool and turning it, we will see that it "punctures" the lower O-ring and we can extract it.

We repeat the operation with tool “B”, thus removing the upper O-ring and the safety valve, which we will also replace.

Mounting
After making sure that everything is perfectly clean, we will lubricate the new gaskets and valve with a little specific oil and insert them into the installation tool.

after which we will gently push the plunger of the installer until we feel a "click" that will indicate that everything is in place.

The last step is to install the lower o-ring, again using tool “A”.

Verification
Once the assembly is complete, we can connect the hose again and refill the fuel tank, we will start the motorcycle and verify that there are no leaks or friction between the components.
As a final verification we can perform a test with the pressure tester of fuel, which will allow us to know at the same time the status of the pump and the pressure regulator. The pressure should be constant in any position of the throttle, and be between 50-60 psi.

Problem solved, we can now go out to shoot, and we have achieved it in approximately a third of the time and economic expense than performing the traditional replacement.

Frank burguera

#mecanicaharley