WTF!!! Fuel in my sump...

[Nookx]

Finally got a Saturday free to give the bike (M600 Monster) a damn good seeing too and the bloody thing wouldnt start (not something u here often about Ducati's eh...).
Not sure what made me check the oil but when I drained the sump I got 6.5L of a nice fuel/oil mixture...

Any ideas what's up with it now? How to fix it?

It pains me to say this but im thinkin of going Jap...

[PDS]

I know little to nothing about 600 monster's do you have Carb's? if so i would say fuel has run through the carbs and down the bores, into the sump its not unheard of, but i have never experienced this with any of my carb'd bikes, problem with the carbs would my first guess if you have FI i have no idea :)

float in the carb stuck open?????

[He11cat]

Carbs .. Don't think Mr Gremlin is about he knows about this .. My kat did just that !!
Was my carbs .. Dumped fuel down the bores and made a lovely mess .
I knew I had put fuel in it for him and it vanished that's why!!

[gary tompkins]

Oh dear - carbs have flooded as mentioned above

The motor could be FUBAR if it's been ridden any distance like that.. is it rattling or knocking badly?

[He11cat]

Luckily mine was standing when it did it!!
Not been ridden !
So was sorted out and carbs stripped and redone.
Bikes happily bombing about .
I had made sure there was petrol in the bike and it was when I said but I put petrol in it..??
It had done the same..
Sounds like your carbs need stripping cleaning . Was the bike standing for a while?

[He11cat]

I can't fix bikes for toffee unless I have someones guidance and watching me as I have no confidence in myself if I'm honest .
However I do soak up info and store it in my empty melon!
So I do recall things which is odd...
If someone watches me and advises me I'm ok.
But learnt lots about my m600 ..
Carbs was big issue on my m600 ..

[gary tompkins]

Some jap fours have bent con rods after flooding

The vacume taps used to stick open filling the cylider with fuel causing a hydraulic lock

[Gordon H]

So that's why my m900 has a tap on the fuel line...........

[He11cat]

Lol so did the bike that flooded!

[utopia]

Presumably this can only happen if two conditions are met simultaneously.....
1) Vaccuum fuel tap has failed or manual tap is left open while the bike is left standing.
2) One or more of the float valves is sticking open/leaking.
Can anyone confirm this, just to ease my worried mind.

I seem to remember that early 2-stroke Suzukis, fitted with vacuum operated fuel taps, were prone to this.

So what's the concensus on leaving the system full of fuel over a winter lay-up ? Is this a good idea to avoid this problem, or does it make things worse by allowing the seals to dry out and deteriorate ?
Maybe a good compromise would be to siphon the tank dry, but leave some fuel in the rest of the system, so at least any leakage would be minimal, but the seals would stay wetted.
But then there are issues of condensation in the tank causing it to rot, and of gum building up in the carbs from the old petrol.....I didn't realise just how bad this could be until I stripped a 1970s fuel tap a while ago, to find that two of the three holes were so solidly blocked with grey gunge that I couldn't tell that there was a hole there at all, until I picked at the spot with a needle !! ...The holes were 3mm dia, but had completely disappeared.
So, what to do for the best ?
I try to give the bike a full run of 25miles or so at least once a month to avoid too much winter standing time, but I sometimes cop out if the weather is bad and/or there is a lot of salt about. Maybe regular runs, coupled with siphoning the tank in between, is the best solution...??
Not that I'm the worrying kind, particularly, but I am talking about the best bike in the world ever here, so I need to take good care of it........:biggrin:

[Nickj]

Empty tank plus cold damp weather might equal rust.
Seals hould all be viton is similar which is pretty inert, if the fuels got a high ethanol levels then you might see some deterioration but it's unlikely.

[Saint aka ML]

Funny my fcrs dumped all 10l petrol in to engine from saturday till I noticed today.

Thing is no idea if it is float bowls wrong, fuel flow adjuster screw or fuel pump?

[crust]

Funny my fcrs dumped all 10l petrol in to engine from saturday till I noticed today.

Thing is no idea if it is float bowls wrong, fuel flow adjuster screw or fuel pump?

Mine do that occasionally, now I use the fuel tap all the time.

its the float needles and / or their seats. Strip and clean. Then fit a fuel tap as added insurance.

Good news is that it does a good job of flushing the sump.

[Saint aka ML]

Mine do that occasionally, now I use the fuel tap all the time.

its the float needles and / or their seats. Strip and clean. Then fit a fuel tap as added insurance.

Good news is that it does a good job of flushing the sump.

It looked like my bike head diarrhea it was rushing out so fast :)

Faulty fuel pump so link tank carbs was always open.

[crust]

Its not the fuel pump, its the float needles and / or the float needle seat. when the float rises it should stop the flow, doesn't matter about the pump. if you don't cure the float seal problem the bike will flood.