Ducati Monster Forum

Hello!
 It's snowing outside and that means no more riding until the first flies start buzzing around. That was what my grandpa said to me many wears ago. Of course this was advice that I never followed.
I'm unpatiently waiting the new riding season, but before that I have to take care about my precious 1998 Monster 600 Dark. The first thing for now is the winter storage for the coldest days of the year.
 Yesterday I was performing the winter storage procedures on my bike. The last thing was to drain the fuel from the carbs. I started with the front cylinder carburator (on the right side of the bike). No problems with it. The access to the bleeding screw was peace of cake and I drained roughly 100ml wich has to be the fuel from the carb plus the fuel in the instalation up to the vacuum fuel tap, so nothing to bother for now.
 Then I had to drain the left carb. There is no chance to access the bleeding screw with a screwdriver and I have to use 8mm end wrench. I  repeated the procedure, but after draining approximately 200ml of fuel I was a little bit worried. I returned it in the tank and then drained the same amount of fuel again.
 I'm almost sure that there's a problem with the vacuum fuel tap, because the fuel can't stop flowing in the carbs.
I know that this is really dangerous and the engine can be flooded with gas, wich may cause a lot of troubles.
Can it be caused by the low temperatures (around 30°F), or any other mechanical problem.
I'll be waiting for your advices and guesses.

Thanks in advance  [beer]

My guess is the vacuum fuel tap has simply failed.

I would probably lift the tank and pinch the line to the fuel valve with hemostats and get a manual replacement.

  Your local lawnmower shop will have an inline shutoff valve from Briggs & Stratton for about 7 bucks. It's plastic, but won't be affected by cheap, crappy E10.

i was thinking of storing my bike this year, but i think i may hold off. that is as long as i can get a ride in at least 1 every week or 2. the battery is tender is full effect now.

Hi.
Thank you for your answers  [thumbsup]

Maybe there's nothing else to do except replacing the vacuum fuel tap, but it will be really hard to be found here in Bulgaria. Here is official Ducati dealer, but the prices are higher than the prices in USA and I'll have to wait a couple months for it. It's really a pain in the "neck" to service this bikes here, notwithstanding that Italy is really near.

The supposition of using inappropriate fuel is interesting. I'm riding it only with SHELL V-Power 95, and it's working realy great with good fuel economy. The bike burns about 5 liters on every 100km with normal ride. I know that they put in it a lot of supplements for better engine performance, but I'm not shure how they can affect on the non-metalic parts of the fuel system.

Anybody else using the same fuel?

Any other adviceses are welcome   [roll]

They put more additives to make it LESS combustible, actually... You don't need a vacuum fuel tap, you can get a manual fuel valve, and block off the vacuum port. You should be able to find one at any dirtbike/moped/lawnmower/bushcutter store

Many of us are running a "cheapo" manual valve, cheaper and more reliable.  Just mount it where you can get to it easily in case you forget to turn it on.

Thanks  [beer]

I'll install manual valve and use it when the bike is not on the road for a long period of time. I hope it will be only in winter ;D
And I'm planing to order a cheap chinese vacuum fuel tap to replace the failed one. It only needs a suitable bracket to mount it on the frame.
But first this weekend I'll test the functionality if the original one in normal temperatures and if it fails (which is a 99 percent for sure) I'll then disassemble it to see what is the mechanical problem and try to figure out the reason for the failure. I love to disassemble/destroy things just to see how they work, especially if they are no more in use  [laugh]

Hi there.

Last weekend I had a chance to work on the bike and i started with checking the faulty vacuum fuel tap.
I used a pair of hemostats to clamp the fuel line before the fuel filter and then I unmounted the petcock from the bike.
Then I had to make a testing device to check it's functionality.
The device was consisted of a syringe connected to the vacuum port with a piece of rubber hose and my mouth blowing in the intake port  ;D
I was using the syringe to make vacuum and simultaneously was blowing air in the vacuum tap. The damn thing works absolutely great. My one percent of hope was confirmed and that means the problem isn't in the tap.
In the beginning of the winter storage I put the air filter in nylon pouch and then reinstall it in the filter box which makes the penetration of air in the intake manifolds allmost impossible.
It has to be the reason for the vacuum in them and respectively in the fuel tap. I can open the air box and then open the throttle to check my supposition. I'm not sure about it but I can't find any other reason ???

New petcock aside, here's my recommendation:

1 - Add recommended amount of Stabil.
2 - Idle bike for minute or two
3 - Tend to battery
4 - Leave alone

If you ride as much as you say you do, your bike will only be laid up for a month or two which is not nearly long enough to cause issues.  Modern bikes (with modern metals) don't have near the issues that the oldies do and the last thing you want is corrosion in your carbs from being empty with no stabilant. 

Thanks for your reply [thumbsup]

I wish you happy holidays and many many miles in 2011  [moto]