Leak from bottom of petrol tank

[xraptor8]

Hi,

A few months ago my mechanic fitted a new gasket to the bottom outlet of the petrol tank of my X Raptor.
The leak has returned and once again I'm seeing green liquid stains running down the frame, inbetween the left side carbon panel just under the seat and the clutch actuator cover.

I told my mechanic and he said it may be due to high ethanol content of unleaded fuel, causing the tank to expand and slightly deform, thus making the outlet too large for the gasket to do it's job. He and another mechanic both said Shell apparently have the lowest ethanol content so I should get petrol from there instead.

Anyone else experienced a similar issue?

I don't like the idea of petrol leaking for obvious reasons, but also don't want to be spending money on labour and parts every few months to stop the problem.

It's only been happening since I had a Power Commander fitted to accomodate new cans after being knocked off in 2011, so this makes me think it might be related to something other than this ethanol issue. The bike has also recently adopted the dreaded 3K glitch, so i'd really love to get all this shit sorted but I'm no mechanic and only know basic stuff, along with knowledge of my own bike's ins and outs.

Any help appreciated,

Cheers!

[Bear of Little Brain]

For the ethanol discussion:
http://www.raptorchapter.org.uk/viewtop ... 4&start=15
I haven't checked lately (maybe I should!), but I found that BP Ultimate was ethanol free back then.
Oddly, Murco was also ethanol free. As for Shell (page 1 of the thread)…

Shell:

"The amount of bio-ethanol blended in petrol for Vpower and Fuelsave
will be max 5 % in volume as stipulated by the British and European
petrol specification BS EN228. The petrol will comply at all times
with the national specifications for fuel quality. There is no
labelling of the bio-ethanol content at the pump. "

Tesco was about 4%
Unless your mechanics actually measured the ethanol content, I'd take their Shell comment with a pinch of salt. There again, the ethanol kit wasn't that expensive (and you can do it yourself, given an accurate, graduated measuring jug thingy - like in chemistry class - see YouTube for videos; there's a link to one on page 2).

However, if your mechanic can show you proof that current ethanol levels do cause damage, I'd really like to see photos, since I remain slightly sceptical as to how damaging ethanol is, even though I obsess about it.

[shedmonkey]

Have you tried tightening it up. the gasket should be able to take up quite a bit of movement of the plastic before leaking.
Is it deffo petrol and not coolant?

[xraptor8]

Thanks for the info BOLB.

Shed Monkey - I assumed my mechanic would have tightened it up adequately when he fitted the new one, I can't do it myself as I do not have a garage or the right tools/expertise.

It's going in for another repair next Tuesday so it'll get checked then. I never leave the bike overnight when it goes in, unless I had to take it for something major that I couldn't wait around for.

Cheers both.

[ozzraptor]

+1 Sounds like coolant ? Maybe they played with the coolant reservoir while fitting pc2 on that side and didnt tighten the hoses up properly , just guessing ,cant see why they would need to remove anything but the seat if fitting pc2. I just did mine , its a squeeze but does go in without any other parts being removed although a bit of pressure is neeeded to lock the seat in place . What map are you using, i am going to experiment soon with a few different maps, currently using a cagiva map with race cans, filter and snorkel removed. It runs smooth around town, starts easy but i still have the feeling it runs slightly lean and could do with more fuel added but almost there

Ah i see it was a pc3 hence the reason for lifing the tank doh !
I used to run bp ultimate until i found out that out of the top three higher octane the ultimate was the worst perfomer to my surprise so now i use shell v power all the time in the raptoress
I didnt know shell v power has an ethanol content in it or is that only in U.K.
The 3k glitch is just a fuelling issue , just needs a better map. my .02c

[Miz]

Can you take some pictures to show us where the leak is?

It would help us to stop guessing.

[Spyke]

+1 on pictures, but as posted today for RaptorJo, taking the panels off and running the bike up to HOT should make any coolant leak show up. From my research it seems that the plastic tank can stretch from Ethanol use, but if it's a gasket issue then some of the threebond stuff mentioned in other threads should be able to fortify the gasket to accommodate any minor change. But try and do your research into the leak prior to dropping it off at the mechanic, knowing your stuff should mean they don't charge for troubleshooting and don't try and fob you off with B/S....