TThe crankcase vent passed more oil


than I would like. I’ll have to get under the engine cover to take a look. I bet the bike has the original circular vent system. This can easily be replaced with the updated reed valve system. The other issue I found was that the bike sort of stumbled when going fast. As I was only running on the left-side petcock (a habit of mine, it gives me one more reserve), I turned on the other side and the problem disappeared. Something was blocking the left-side pet- cock. If I had packed a length of fuel line, I could have blown through the valve back- wards, which often clears up a blockage. As it was, I arrived at home with an almost empty tank. I tried the fuel line trick and that side remained restricted. I drained both sides and removed the petcock. The Karcoma units come apart easily. When I got this apart, the source of the problem was obvious. The rubber disc with five holes was swollen and the holes were almost absent. I keep parts for the fuel valves on hand, so it was a quick fix. The repaired valve went back on the tank and I then drained the other side. No problems were noted there, so I cleaned all the parts and reassembled them. I haven’t tested the bike but I get a good, healthy flow from both sides now. That’s about the third time I have seen this particular problem since I started working on airheads back in the late ‘70s. This procedure (pulling the pet- cocks and draining the tank) is a good thing to do every year or two. When the tanks rust out, it is almost always along the bottom seam, due to collected water. This will probably be it for out-of-town


rides for this season. I’m sure once the cold really sets in, we’ll be thinking of Mexico and points south. Susanna’s sister has bought a winter house in Arizona, which may very well become one of the destina- tion points. For diversity, instead of (or in addition to) Mexico, we are also thinking of Costa Rica. It’s hardly been cold at all yet and yet we are already feeling the pull of warmer climes.


December 2015 BMW OWNERS NEWS


53


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