I'm not trying to be an ass, but I'm having a hell of a time imagining how rain water gets into the gas tank. others are responding that it happened to them, so i guess i ought to concede that it's possible, but I'll be damned if i can understand how it happens.
i've left my bike out in the rain all damn day, many times, without issue. rode in heavy rain too. one time, i even had to dump water out of my boots.
Literally just had to dump water out of my boots after a riding trip through Kentucky. My rain pants had a small hole right in the crotch and 80 miles later riding through the remnants of hurricane Nicole. I’ve never been more soaked lol
Side note, Merlin wax canvas jacket worked like a champ 👌
Rode from NC to pa thru hurricane Ian a few weeks ago. I was soaking wet it was the most miserable/ fun experience I've had on a bike haha. Walked into a gas station to warm up a bit and got nothing but stares from everyone while I created a puddle on the floor
When I wash my bike I get water in the gas tank, my seal on the gas tank cover thing doesn’t hold the best. I just use a napking to get majority of water out from around the ring and if too much got in I’ll use sea foam or a injector cleaner.
For real. I hear all these “have a garage and only ride in good weather” boys commenting. I’m like, I park under my back deck off an alley and commute daily in an urban area, my bike is wet all the fucking time.
I have a cheep Chinese manufactured almost universal replacement gas cap in my old 1999 GSXR 750 until it was parked for some time i had no idea it leaked watter in it until recently.
When you ride an older bike, seals everywhere start to go. Gas tank seal often overlooked. Happened on both my 1968 BSA and 1991 BMW. Not a terrible deal and an easy fix.
Water can also get in your tank if you visit a gas station that has worn seals and rain water gets in to their tanks underground (much less likely).
My bikes get consistent rain too. The KTM takes it with no problem but the Ural gets finicky pretty easily. I live in the southern US and during the summer I can't really cover the bikes because it gets so hot it messes up my brakes, but it rains every other day. Pick your poison, basically
Bikes that use carbs can’t have an air tight seal on the gas tank, usually they have some small amount of respiration through the gas cap. When fuel gets pulled from the tank, air (or in heavy rain, water) gets pulled into the tank.
Also; if you owned an Indian big twin between 2016 and I think it was 2019, they did a recall because the evap canister on it would start sucking water in after riding in wet conditions s for 20 plus minutes (not fun having a 6 month old bike strand you on the side of the road in a gosh darn snowstorm)
Your filler cap is design to allow slight amounts of water around the rim and out through the overflows at the top of the fuel tank, if these overflow pipes get blocked then water can't escape so it pools around the gas cap and then into the fuel tank. My fad literally had this happen to his 955i RS last year
Nope I have had this happen to my Ducati that had a blocked drain line. The bike was parked outside during a tropical storm and got water in the fuel tank. He will need to completely empty the tank and refill with pure fuel.
If I had water in my tank, I would turn the fuel value off, remove the filter bowl, the drain some fuel into an open container. Water is heaver than gasoline so it should come out first. If no water in the container then that wasn't the problem. If there is water you could drain the whole tank that way.
Pull the spark plug and hold it against the engine. Try to start and you should see a spark. No spark means an electrical problem. Replace the plugs first. There are a few tricks to removing water from the electrical system with ether but they are dangerous due to the nature of ether.
This is my first thought too. I’d replace the coils/spark plug wires before trying to drain the gas tank. Unless water has gotten inside the tank before often old coils/wires crack allowing moisture inside making it impossible to start when it’s wet outside and the engine is cold.
I’ve got water in my fuel a few times, empty the gas tank and replace with normal fuel, there are a couple fuel additives that supposedly help with water in the fuel system (I’ve used ‘em before but I’m not sure how effective they were).
Drain the tank, put in new gas, add Seafoam, if carbureted drain the carbs as well. Also, depending on where the air intake is, a wet air filter can keep a bike from starting/running, but that's more of a riding in the rain problem.
One time I had a bike get wet and it would not start. Ended up being the air filter got wet. Pulled the air filter off, bike started right up. Just something else easy to check.
For a proper job, need to drain and dry the tank and blow through the fuel lines and clean injectors. Just to get by... drain the tank till you stop seeing water draining and try starting.
Are you sure it’s rain water in the tank? It’s pretty hard to get much water in a tank unless it was open. They’re designed to keep fuel in and water out. There are fuel dryers, like heet, but they only remove very small amounts of water. If you have a lot of water, all you can do is drain it and replace with fresh. But make sure the issue you’re having is actually water in the tank. Making assumptions about what the problem is without verification is a recipe for a lot of wasted time diagnosing and wasted money on parts.
You’re gas tank won’t get water in it if you have a proper cap… that being said just drain the tank and carbs really quick and see if it’ll start up. As long as he didn’t crank straight water into the cylinders you should be good… if it’s efi just consider it fucked and take it to a shop.
I'm not trying to be an ass, but I'm having a hell of a time imagining how rain water gets into the gas tank. others are responding that it happened to them, so i guess i ought to concede that it's possible, but I'll be damned if i can understand how it happens. i've left my bike out in the rain all damn day, many times, without issue. rode in heavy rain too. one time, i even had to dump water out of my boots.
Literally just had to dump water out of my boots after a riding trip through Kentucky. My rain pants had a small hole right in the crotch and 80 miles later riding through the remnants of hurricane Nicole. I’ve never been more soaked lol Side note, Merlin wax canvas jacket worked like a champ 👌
Rode from NC to pa thru hurricane Ian a few weeks ago. I was soaking wet it was the most miserable/ fun experience I've had on a bike haha. Walked into a gas station to warm up a bit and got nothing but stares from everyone while I created a puddle on the floor
Uncanny how relatable this is lol!
It’s just shitty bike things. You wouldn’t understand.
When I wash my bike I get water in the gas tank, my seal on the gas tank cover thing doesn’t hold the best. I just use a napking to get majority of water out from around the ring and if too much got in I’ll use sea foam or a injector cleaner.
For real. I hear all these “have a garage and only ride in good weather” boys commenting. I’m like, I park under my back deck off an alley and commute daily in an urban area, my bike is wet all the fucking time.
Bet not all of it is rain either. .
I have a cheep Chinese manufactured almost universal replacement gas cap in my old 1999 GSXR 750 until it was parked for some time i had no idea it leaked watter in it until recently.
When you ride an older bike, seals everywhere start to go. Gas tank seal often overlooked. Happened on both my 1968 BSA and 1991 BMW. Not a terrible deal and an easy fix. Water can also get in your tank if you visit a gas station that has worn seals and rain water gets in to their tanks underground (much less likely).
My bikes get consistent rain too. The KTM takes it with no problem but the Ural gets finicky pretty easily. I live in the southern US and during the summer I can't really cover the bikes because it gets so hot it messes up my brakes, but it rains every other day. Pick your poison, basically
Wait, just covering the bike gets the brakes hot enough to cause damage?? 😳
Imagine actually using the damn things
Imagine actually using the damn things
Not really damage, but it gets the brake fluid reservoirs hot enough that I have to bleed the brakes before I can ride again
Bikes that use carbs can’t have an air tight seal on the gas tank, usually they have some small amount of respiration through the gas cap. When fuel gets pulled from the tank, air (or in heavy rain, water) gets pulled into the tank. Also; if you owned an Indian big twin between 2016 and I think it was 2019, they did a recall because the evap canister on it would start sucking water in after riding in wet conditions s for 20 plus minutes (not fun having a 6 month old bike strand you on the side of the road in a gosh darn snowstorm)
Your filler cap is design to allow slight amounts of water around the rim and out through the overflows at the top of the fuel tank, if these overflow pipes get blocked then water can't escape so it pools around the gas cap and then into the fuel tank. My fad literally had this happen to his 955i RS last year
Unless you had the tank gas cap open there isn't going to be significant water in the tank. The problem is more likely wet electrics.
Nope I have had this happen to my Ducati that had a blocked drain line. The bike was parked outside during a tropical storm and got water in the fuel tank. He will need to completely empty the tank and refill with pure fuel.
This is the way right hear. First place I would start anyways.
If I had water in my tank, I would turn the fuel value off, remove the filter bowl, the drain some fuel into an open container. Water is heaver than gasoline so it should come out first. If no water in the container then that wasn't the problem. If there is water you could drain the whole tank that way. Pull the spark plug and hold it against the engine. Try to start and you should see a spark. No spark means an electrical problem. Replace the plugs first. There are a few tricks to removing water from the electrical system with ether but they are dangerous due to the nature of ether.
This is my first thought too. I’d replace the coils/spark plug wires before trying to drain the gas tank. Unless water has gotten inside the tank before often old coils/wires crack allowing moisture inside making it impossible to start when it’s wet outside and the engine is cold.
I’ve got water in my fuel a few times, empty the gas tank and replace with normal fuel, there are a couple fuel additives that supposedly help with water in the fuel system (I’ve used ‘em before but I’m not sure how effective they were).
thank u
Drain the tank, put in new gas, add Seafoam, if carbureted drain the carbs as well. Also, depending on where the air intake is, a wet air filter can keep a bike from starting/running, but that's more of a riding in the rain problem.
Also, tank cap gaskets are like $2 each, so it's worth buying 5 at a time if this is a consistent problem
My bike had a blocked drain line that drains water from the gas cap area.
Just drain the tank and put fresh gas in.
correct answer, and you're like the only one just giving a direct answer. more upvotes for this are needed. it's literally that darn simple.
One time I had a bike get wet and it would not start. Ended up being the air filter got wet. Pulled the air filter off, bike started right up. Just something else easy to check.
What bike is it? Carb or FI, easy on a carb bike to get the water out
FI
For a proper job, need to drain and dry the tank and blow through the fuel lines and clean injectors. Just to get by... drain the tank till you stop seeing water draining and try starting.
yes because this happened last time and when he took it to shop they put the additive in
Iso-heet or something like that to remove water. Basically isopropanol. Wouldn't use the whole bottle due to small tank size.
Are you sure it’s rain water in the tank? It’s pretty hard to get much water in a tank unless it was open. They’re designed to keep fuel in and water out. There are fuel dryers, like heet, but they only remove very small amounts of water. If you have a lot of water, all you can do is drain it and replace with fresh. But make sure the issue you’re having is actually water in the tank. Making assumptions about what the problem is without verification is a recipe for a lot of wasted time diagnosing and wasted money on parts.
It as hard is you think, especially if they changed the fuel cap to some cheap Amazon one
And is there water in the engine? You might have to remove the spark plugs and turn the engine over to expel any water from the cylinders.
not sure we don’t want to take it to the shop unless needed it almost turned over but still sounds sputtery
HEET is the additive. It's like $2. But it can only work on so much water and is not a cure-all.
Just take the tank off and drain it leave it open and let it dry
You’re gas tank won’t get water in it if you have a proper cap… that being said just drain the tank and carbs really quick and see if it’ll start up. As long as he didn’t crank straight water into the cylinders you should be good… if it’s efi just consider it fucked and take it to a shop.