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Filling the bike up
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I went to a gas station and started pumping the nice swedishly
priced gas at $6 per gallon. As i was doing that, i tried to fill
her up "to the edges" so to speak. To my surprise, as the level
reached the edges and i released the pump handle, the level
slowly dropped an inch or so.
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I'm guessing so, since it doesn't have a carburator, i've been
told. On the other hand, i've been told so in swedish which
might gave rise to misunderstandings due to my limited
eloquency regarding technical terms. Carburator is the thing
one had before fules injectors were installed, right?
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You really ought to do a few things: First, go and wash your bike. Do it
carefully and gently, with a sponge. Get into every nook and cranny of
your motorcycle. Get to know it better than you know your girlfriend.
Next, go and get some kind of technical manual for your motorcycle.
*You*, not all of us, need to develop a technical understanding of its
systems and components. Finally, instead of asking us questions like
what a carburetor is, develop web-search Foo and Wikipedia Foo and look up
these questions on your own.
My search on Honda Varadero in Wikipedia led me to two different models:
Varadero (XL125V) and Varadero (XL1000V). The article on the 125
one for the 1000. However, a web search on "honda xl125v" reveals a
nice-looking machine:
Now the XL1000V is interesting, too.
Varadero_ABS.html
This is the Honda V-Strom. Cool. I wonder why they don't sell them in
the US.
According to
bike has two 22mm carburetors.
What's a carburetor and what's fuel injection? Read:
As for the carbon canister, it doesn't matter whether the bike uses a
carburetor or fuel injection to meter the fuel and mix it with air. It
still needs a way to deal with fuel vapors, and a carbon canister is the
best way so far devised to do that.
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Yes, carburetors were used before fuel injector became more
commonly used. But your gas tank still needs an air venting system and
possibly has a characoal canister to absorb gasoline fumes.
If it does have a canister, it can be mounted in front of the engine,
behind it, between the cylinders, or any place you can imagine.
A charcoal canister may be round, or it may be shaped like a box. The
canister used on a Transalp looked like this:
The phenomenon of changing fuel levels in your gas tank as you fill it
doesn't necessarily point to any problem, as long as you don't over
fill the tank and temporarily flood the canister.
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Well, i though, just as well as to put in some more. As i did it,
the level dropped again. I've done that four times and then
got scared that there was a leak somewhere. There wasn't
any, though.
So, i have two questions now.
1. How can that happen and is it a common behavior?
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I think it's intentionally designed that way to help you avoid
overfilling the tank.
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My guess is your bike has a filler neck that extends downwards,
something like this:
(imagine part "102" not being sealed at the bottom).
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Probably; all my "modern" bikes all have this feature;
the older ones don't.
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2. Is it recommended not to fill the bike up to the edges?
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The user's manual states to fill no further than up to the filler
neck. If you fill it all the way up and then let it sink, you'll be
pretty close to that.
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Any more than that and your bike will put the gas on the ground, and at the
price of gas that will cost you. Not to mention the over flow on your nuts
when you start up.
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Gasoline expands when heated. In the service station storage tank
it is cool because it is stored below ground. Once in your gas
tank it heats up & increases in volume so if you fill up as far as
possible and then park your bike in the hot sun the tank will vent
out gas onto the ground. Not a good thing. :-(
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! WARNING
Overfilling the fuel tank can cause
the fuel to overflow when it expands
due to heat from the engine or the sun.
Spilled fuel can catch on fire.
Never fill the fuel above the bottom
of the filler neck.
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I have a Varadero 2003, if it's of any relevance.
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