AndrewS
I have a small fuel leak on my SP3. It's coming from one of two plastic tubes on the left (gear change) side of the engine - they disappear up into the region of the fuel tank. To be honest I don't remember seeing these tubes before the bike was serviced recently. The leak is slow at the moment - about one drip every 15 seconds - but it's near the exhaust...
I'm guessing that the pipe is an overflow or similar for the tank, but I'd appreciate some advice before looking under the tank - sod's law means that the tank is full to the brim, which is 20 litres of so.
Thanks in advance
Andrew
griff851
They be the tank vent and cap drain lines. Open the cap and listen for pressure and look for fuel. Then siphon a litre out. Wait a couple of day night temp swings and open the cap and listen. My guess the tank is over full and the air vent is blocked, but it could just be over full. Just a Pantah pissing fuel out the rear carb because of vent hole blockage in the cap.
AndrewS
Hi Griff
Thanks for the reply, I'd sort of guessed that was what the pipes were.
As it happened I'd already siphoned out some fuel and it's now nowhere near the top of the tank - I can see the sloping part in the tank through the filler cap, if that makes sense. I haven't noticed any hissing when I open the filler cap, and fuel still drips out if I leave the filler cap open.
I must admit I'm not familiar with the plumbing inside the tank on an SP3. I have the Ducati workshop and all it says is to disconnect the overflow and vent pipes when removing the tank. There's no diagram showing said pipes. I'm probably being a bit naive here, but if there is an overflow pipe, shouldn't the top of it be high up in the tank so it only flows fuel when there's too much there? Since it's dripping with only (roughly) three-quarters of a tank, does this point to something being amiss in there?
Thanksagain
Andrew
griff851
Here you go, could be the line from the cap to the bottom rear of tank has a hole or crack in it.
AndrewS
Thanks for that, looks like a tank off job.
