Gas Tank Overflow

[Jim4Safety]

What is the best techique to fill the gas tank completely without having gas spill.  The first time I filled it up, it only registered 1/2 tank.  Filled it up tonight and spilled gas on scooter/pavement.  The first time, I inserted the gas nozzle fully and proceeded just like a car.  Ended up with a tank only half full (or that is what it said).  Tonight, I filled it up slowly and did not fully insert nozzle.  It flowed out and everywhere.  Is there a technique?

[scosgt]

The best technique I have found is to fill from a gas can, and I still spill sometimes.

The problem is that most gas station hoses are high pressure, and the filler neck in the SYM is basically non-existant.

So what you need to do is fill very slowly, pulling the nozzle to check the level, and when there is gas visible in the filler neck, you are about done.

[Barnone]

Jim,
I put my HD200 on the center stand and go slow to top it off after the first shut off of the nozzle when I fill it up. If I don't burn off some fuel before I stop, then I put it on the center stand or fuel will leak out when it is leaned over. 

[viennacoup]

Personally, I fill from my gas can at home.  If you can't do that, estimate how much will go into the tank and pay, before you pump, for exactly that much.  The flow on the pump goes way down for the last third of a gallon and you don't have to worry about spills.

[leo.urbis]

• ALYWAYS put your scooter up on the center stand when filling the gas tank.  You will never get it full on the side stand.
• Know approximately how much gas will go into your tank.  At the bottom of the fuel gauge there are 2 red lines.  When you've hit the first red line, you still have plenty of gas left in the tank.  On the bottom line, you still have .5 gallons of a 2.3 gallon tank, so expect to fill up between 1.5 and 1.8 gallons per fill up.  If you've run her until it's dropped below the red line, maybe you can get 2 gallons in there, but I've rarely been able to do that.
• Insert the nozzle completely and fill until the automatic shut off kicks in.
• Pull the nozzle about halfway out and fill up at about half speed.  Depending on the nozzle type, it may or may not automatically shut off again, so watch the gas meter and when it hits ~1.5 gallons, stop gassing, shake the handle to get the rest of the fuel in, and pull the nozzle out.
• Look into the gas tank.  With a truly full tank you can see gas sloshing around at the top.  Not there yet, top it off little by little.  You may still spill a little gasoline, but your gas meter should actually read above full if you've done it right

The fuel gauge on the HD200 hundred is a little finicky.  It tends to go from full to 1/2 at a regular pace, hang at 1/2 full for quite a while, then run down to the red.  Even at the begining of the red, I still think you have a gallon of gas in the tank.

[TonyF]

My mistake, the first time I tried to fill my HD200 was I had it on the side stand.

[TonyF]

Still having the problem. Filled up on the center stand. Actually I may have over-filled it because a added some after the pump automatically clicked off. When I started it, the gauge read over the Full mark.

Anyway rode around, ran some chores. Came back putting the scooter in the garage on the center stand, as usual. Came back to the garage a few minutes later. smelled gas, looked at the pool of gas under the rear tire. It originated from dripping in the hole coming out of the rear of the black air box cover near the rear wheel.

Scooter won't start. Acted like it was flooded. Rolled it out on the driveway, let it set for a few minutes, then tried coaxing it to start. Finally got it to start. Noticed the fuel gauge had gone from Full to almost half empty. Ran it for 20 miles. Parked it in the garage. No gas leak, but the garage still smelled like gas. Aired out the garage.

From other posts, it appears the gas tank reads half full when nearly full. The reason I filled up to begin with was because the needle was nearing the thin line at empty. Another poster seems to think that even at the thicker red empty marker theres gas left in the tank.

I'm in California. The HD200 is a 2008 model. After the ride I was just over 300 miles. Drove it from the dealer to home just 1 week ago.

Is this a recall issue? Do I call my dealer? If I take the airbox cover off will there be an additional gas puddle in there?

[scosgt]

You DEFINATELY need to take that back to the dealer. Knock on wood, the only gas that leaks out of my 2009 is when I go overboard and it comes back out of the filler hole. Something is definately wrong, and gas leaks are downright dangerous.

[TonyF]

I called the dealer this morning and plan on bringing it in. However, I went out riding today. As someone else said, I ran it until the thin red line at empty. Then I ran it until it was on the thick red Empty line. Filled it up until the pump clicked off. Did not 'top it off'. It only took 1.2 gallons. Turned it on and the gauge read between 3/4 and Full. Came home, parked it. No gas puddle.

Clearly it was an overfilling problem, but obviously it should not leak excessively full gas tanks the way it had been.

[Barnone]

Sounds like this thread. Never was fixed.
http://symforum.com/index.php?topic=164.0

[leo.urbis]

I have filled up my tank so much that it has overflowed out of the open gas cap, but have never had it leak into the air box.  I think if it is the same issue as Reynols, etc.,  the fuel petcock malfunctioning and flooding the carb.

Has anyone tested this per the FireDrake's instructions?  Heck, take it to your dealer and tell them to do the test if it's under warranty.  I'm not sure about other SYM Dealers, but mine are always extremely open to ideas and first hand insight from scooter riders/tinkerers/mechanics.  They recently told me that is their biggest complaint about the parts people at SYM, they have not gotten a lot of feed back concerning the HD200, so they can't tell you what will happen if you were to change the roller weights, etc.

I'm very interested to see what is causing this issue.

[The Fire Drake]

Sounds like this thread. Never was fixed.
http://symforum.com/index.php?topic=164.0

That is the thread to look at and we haven't heard if the problem was ever fixed. Did you hear otherwise Vince?

jeff

[Barnone]

Jeff,
No report of a fix. The guy with the problem traded it for a different scooter.

[TonyF]

I brought the scooter in for the 600 mile service. When I told the service tech about the overflowing puddle of gas he explained that if I filled the gas tank up too much the overflow tube would dump the overflowing gas into the air filter area (exactly where I noticed the leak) because here in California we have a law against dumping unfiltered fuel on the ground, CARB (California Air Resources Board) as well as selling 2-stroke motorcycles.

The air filter was in fine shape according to the tech even after the overflow. There was no signs of gas accumulation in the air filter cover either. The scooter merely acted as intended by SYM.

The reason my gas gauge was not reading up to the Full line even when full was also because I have not been correctly filling the tank. You see the first time I filled up the guage read just 3/4 full. No problem, I thought, I'll just add a little more after the pump clicks off. Little did I know that would cause the mess it did the second time I filled up. As I first reported when I returned home after filling up, I found a puddle of gas below the rear tire after I parked it in the garage in an over-full state.

Just for completeness, the tech double-checked the petcock valve and made sure everything was working correctly. Since that time I found the puddle of gas I made sure I did not over-fill the tank and have not experienced a recurrence of the problem. However, because I didn't know how to correctly fill the tank I was not putting in all the gas that the tank would hold, either. Now fully trained, I'd like to retract my notification that there was something wrong with the scooter. Caulk it up to operator error.

While in for the first service I had the shop install a wind screen. Big difference! It makes riding about 50 MPH quite enjoyable and adds 10 MPH to my maximum speed. I'm simply amazed at how fast the scooter will go with my fat ass on it with only 172 cc. I reached over 80 mph (indicated) on the freeway driving home.

[NC Scootin]

So Tony, what is the correct way to fill the gas tank?