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November 22, 2003 |
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© Bill Allen |
| This
weekend's trip had an inauspicious start. Pulling out of the driveway, I
was attempting my usual tight right hand turn when my cold engine stalled.
This thrusted the bike forward and, unfortunately, over on it's right
side. I made a mad dash into the house to wake my wife, Nancy, for some
help in lifting the loaded beast. Fifteen minutes later, I was repacked,
still determined, albeit aggravated over new scratches in my mirror, valve
cover and pannier lid.
I soon was enjoying the beautiful clear blue skies and brisk temperatures. I traversed Los Angeles quickly in fairly light traffic and soon found myself on PCH in Santa Monica. At the first traffic signal, I get my first sign of things to come. My right foot is slippery on the pavement. The driver in the car next to me is looking at my bike (and not in one of those envious stares I get so often, either). I smell gas. The light turns green and I pull into the Chevron station at PCH and Entrada Drive. I notice my gas gauge reads almost empty even though I have a mere 121 miles on the tank. Something is wrong. I put the bike on it's center stand and observe fuel leaking on the pavement. I unpack my bike, open my tool kit and remove the right side body panel. I discover that the quick connect device on the fuel line has cracked. It's about 8:15am and I'm supposed to meet Steve Smith in Malibu for a weekend camping trip on the coast. The problem is that Steve no longer has a cell phone. I call his home and leave a message, letting him know what is going on. I also call Starbuck's, our meeting place, and have Steve paged with no success. |
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| I call Irv Seaver's and spoke with
Chris, the Service Manager, who says that the device has been known to
fracture after a fall. Well, my "fall" was very, very gentle as
I eased the bike to the pavement. The device shouldn't be that fragile, I
thought. I attempt to duct tape the leak, but even duct tape is no
solution for fuel under 40 psi of pressure. I call Nancy to tell her the
news. She goes to Seaver's picks up a new quick connect and and arrives a
little after noon and I install the new quick connect. Nancy hangs around
long enough for me to fill my tank to make sure it doesn't leak. I give
her the "thumb's up" and she leaves in time to make her 2:00
appointment.
I start the bike, and get ready to ride, when I look down and see more fuel leaking on the pavement! I quickly turn off the engine, thinking that I didn't get the quick connect snapped together correctly. I pull it apart, but notice that the leak is coming from the OTHER quick connect! I fractured BOTH devices! What do I do? Nancy has just left. The day is half over. I'm 70 miles from home. I finally decide that I have a full tank of gas so I should be able to make Irv Seaver's. I take the I-10 East to I-5 South to the 91 to the 57 South. All the time, I see fuel leaking on my jeans and the fuel gauge dropping rapidly. Before I even reach Irv Seaver's, the fuel light comes on and I have to fill up once again. 43 miles and 6 gallons! I reach Irv Seaver's about 1:30 and meet Chris. Fortunately, the fuel is only leaking when under pressure and I don't turn the dealership into a HazMat site. I explain to Barry my predicament. I tell him that, at minimum I want to get home safely, but I would prefer rerouting the fuel lines which would eliminate the quick connects altogether. Now that I have the fuel filter relocated outside of the fuel tank, the only reason I would need to have to remove the fuel tank is to access the fuel pump (which I hope I never have to do). He agrees and this is the plan of attack. Barry squeezes me into his busy Saturday schedule and I settle in and watch the USC - ucla game (you can tell where I went). I really stink up the place since my jeans are soaked in gasoline. Dave and Dale both think the antique BMWs hanging from the ceiling have a leak (even though they were thoroughly drained years ago). Before I leave, I find that these devices have been problematic and several people who know this carry spares in their tankbag. From my perspective, these devices are certainly not one of convenience! Kudos to Irv Seaver's for squeezing me in on a busy Saturday and not giving me grief about the fuel filter I've relocated outside the gas tank. High fives go to Chris Dyer, Barry Nix and Tom Tolz. |
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| Above: the failed fuel line quick connect. |
| I'm ready to roll about 4:30 and get home for
pizza. My pants go into the washer before I'm even in the house.
Even though the camping weekend was ruined, this was a valuable learning experience for me. First of all, I had NO IDEA these devices were as fragile as they are. My mission will be to let everyone know about this and make sure they know to carry spares or re-route the fuel lines eliminating them altogether. Secondly, I realized that my tool kit does not contain a pair of pliers, diagonals (cutters) or a BMW clamp crimp tool. Added 01/23/04: Apparently, I wasn't the only one affected. From the "Salt Lake
Tribune": |