Fueling Questions

[redjay]

I fill my 07 upright to within an inch of the gas cap. No leakage when riding.

MDM44 I had this exact same problem! Your dealer is wrong - You are supposed to fill it with the bike on the side stand or the guage won't read full.

The problem is the gas cap is not venting properly and its building up pressure. Try this: http://www.gadgetjq.com/whistle_stop.htm

When I did mine I snipped 3/4 of a turn off the spring and mine hasn't leaked since

I also have a California Model. I don't beleive its the seal as the gas squirts up from the hole on the outside of the seal on the California model.

[nomad1600]

I fill up to the bottom of the cup and have never had any problem. I would check the gasket or as wolfman says take a little off the spring.

[qvcjim]

I have an 06 and fill on the side stand halfway up the cup and have no leakage.

[ells]

I've never seen any leakage taking it maybe 1/4 the way up in the cup, which according to MOM is overfilling it.

[billmac]

I fill my 2007 tank up to various levels and it has never leaked. Now the cap hums and whistles at me on a regular basis, but if it dont leak, I am ok with it.

Wolfman knows how to find that stuff for ya. The Historian can be your best resource when you have a problem. After all, someone else has probably already fought that battle.

[mdm44]

Thank you all for your input; I really appreciate it. I found a local dealer who is contacting Kawasaki about the problem this week to see what they have to say. If they will cover it, I will go ahead with the replacement. If not, my next step is the spring cut, as Wolfman said (thanks, Wolfman). If that doesn't work, I'll replace the cap myself.

Evidently Kawasaki has really indoctrinated the dealers and service people. Their first response is that the problem is an overfilled tank. After that response, it is hard to get someone to really listen to what you have to day. The dealer I took the bike to for the 600 mile service put less than a mile on the bike, without filling the tank up to the problem area, and said they couldn't duplicate the problem. Needless to say, I won't be going back there.

I really like this bike, and I am not going to let one small problem change my perception of it. It's more an annoyance than anything. This is even better on the road than my last large cruiser, a Valkyrie Tourer.
Mike

[rewindgy]

Got the same problem - anything above the bottom of the cup and the damn thing pukes gas everywhere!!! I tried the removng the little disc thingie and now it doesn't puke onto my lap, but it will still leak if it's just a hair over the bottom on a hot day!!! Dealer / Stealer says it's me and that's that!!! Of course he told me it was imagination when my 06 has started to surge when idling in stop and go traffic! So's I took it down to him on Friday after sitting in Rush hour traffic for 2 hours and he stands there listening to it surge from 1000 - 1250 RPM and has the gall to say ( it shouldn'd be doin that!) No sh*t Sherlock!! And they are the good ( smart) dealers in town!!! Damn good thing it's got a Warranty!
If anyone comes up with a really good fix I would love to hear about it! For the gas puking that is!

Mine's almost 5 years old. I've filled it almost completely full and it's never leaked.

It has puked a little out the overflow of the charcoal canister when I did that twice, but usually it doesn't do that either.

Mine was comming out of the right side of the cap. For some reason on my trip to Laughlin it got especially bad and by the end of the third day I had a white crust all over the right 1/2 of my tank down to the seat. I t was a bear to clean off. Took me about 1/2 hour using different goo gone type liquids but I finally got it all off. Like I said, ever since I cut the spring I haven't had a problem. Yesterday I topped it off just to make sure. Immediatley went and did some figure 8's in a parking lot and rocked it back and forth real good. I noticed 1 little drop in the rim under the cap but not enough to leak out onto the tank like it was doing before so I'm hoping the problems solved.

I've had the gas leak a few times.Always in very hot temperatures.

[bigdave]

I have filled mine about an inch into the cup with no problem

[fish]

I fill to the bottom of cup each time cauce I a nut for checking gas mileage. I have every gas receipt for the bike and van and truck until the kid started to use the truck

[watchman]

You finally stated the bike was new. I thought maybe some one had tried the whistle fix and had not got the cap put back together right. I did just that and caused the cap leak. I did not get the cap back together correctly after cutting the spring and it leaked at the first fill up. Went home, took the cap back apart. Corrected the problem and have not had a leak since.

[dogdoc]

Plus alot of the over flow drains down the first pipe and bakes on, HARD to remove. I fill my '05 just slightly below cup(plate) and dont have a problem, if I fill over plate and its hot out it will dribble over the pipes.