[knaveen]

There was heavy rainfall for the past couple weeks in Chennai. Last weekend i made a weekend trip to Coimbatore. Left my bike parked in the office parking lot over the weekend. This turned out to be a bad idea.
There was continuous rains for during those two days. When i got back on tuesday, while leaving from office started the bike, everything was fine.
No issues on the bike for the first two days, it was riding normally.
Then on thursday, noticed that there was noticeable loss of power especially when revving, it was like as if the bike was running out of fuel. But it would'nt stall completely. Problem got worse after a day and i couldnt go over 20kmph yesterday. Took it to a local mech near my house. I initially suspected the airfilter and the spark plug. They were just fine. Then he suspected the CDI ignition coil, blowed compressed air, that did not work.
Finally when the carburetor screw was loosened, there was some water flowing out. Still the problem persisted.
Then he tried to check if there was a problem with the fuel supply, there seemed to be traces of water when we opened the fuel line, so we drained all the fuel out. Funny thing is that the fuel flow was normal when the fuel tap was in "ON" position, when in "Reserve" it was not freely flowing.
Drained the fuel completely and found there was no water in it. Put back the fuel and bleeded the fuel line. Now things were normal again.
The Bike was revving as usual, i did notice the RPM was a bit uneven when using steady throttle. Later today was riding it for a while and the problem started happening again.
Luckily, a bajaj *** was near by and I managed to ride the bike there. Explained them the problem. They checked the fuel line and there was a little bit of water coming out and the fuel flow was jerky.
They told me that the fuel tank, Carburetor and jets need to be cleaned and I can pick up the bike by Monday. Came back home by PTC.

Can water get inside fuel tank if parked in rain? This never happened in the past two years almost every time the bike was in the open in my office.
If water entered the carburetor, my assumption was that the bike wouldn't even start. How come there was an intermittent issue like this?
Have i done any long term damage by riding the bike with water still in the tank?

[knaveen]

The bike is a Pulsar 180 UG4. Forgot to mention the earlier post.

[libranof1987]

With water in the tank, there are chances the inside of the tank might start rusting.

And it is very possible for water to get into the tank; esp. for old bikes where the threading becomes loose.

Have the tank completely drained, the fuel line checked; you should ideally get the carburator cleaned and spark plugs changed.

[fash_1]

Dont worry dude water seeping into Pulsar's fuel tank is something that Pulsar owners learn to live with (like the horrible gear box). Having to park the bike under the open sky right from the day i bought it have been facing this issue and it has happened so frequently that I no longer consider it an issue!

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by knaveen

Can water get inside fuel tank if parked in rain?

Yes! Check the fuel filler cap, and the rubber.

If water entered the carburetor, my assumption was that the bike wouldn't even start. How come there was an intermittent issue like this?

The bike will start, but there will be missing. There will be traces of water inside the tank, which isn't really a flat/round/even surface, hence the intermittent issue.

Have i done any long term damage by riding the bike with water still in the tank?

No, but please remove the tank, and clean it thoroughly. Also, this should the right time to clean the carburetors, jets, float, lines etc.. Also, change the fuel filler cap, to avoid facing this issue again.

[knaveen]

Originally Posted by desideep

Sir when you post please mention what Bike cause Bajaj Makes several fo them.

Sorry about that. Realized it just after posting it. It is a two year old Pulsar 180 UG4.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

With water in the tank, there are chances the inside of the tank might start rusting.

And it is very possible for water to get into the tank; esp. for old bikes where the threading becomes loose.

Have the tank completely drained, the fuel line checked; you should ideally get the carburator cleaned and spark plugs changed.

Thanks man. The service center guys told me they are going to do this.

Originally Posted by fash_1

Dont worry dude water seeping into Pulsar's fuel tank is something that Pulsar owners learn to live with (like the horrible gear box). Having to park the bike under the open sky right from the day i bought it have been facing this issue and it has happened so frequently that I no longer consider it an issue!

Thanks a lot. This really helps. I searched elsewhere and found no such issue on online forums. Hence was a bit paranoid

Originally Posted by dhanushs

Yes! Check the fuel filler cap, and the rubber.

The bike will start, but there will be missing. There will be traces of water inside the tank, which isn't really a flat/round/even surface, hence the intermittent issue.

No, but please remove the tank, and clean it thoroughly. Also, this should the right time to clean the carburetors, jets, float, lines etc.. Also, change the fuel filler cap, to avoid facing this issue again.

The Service Center guys told me they are going to clean them. Will know by tomorrow when i get the bike.

[SushilBajpai]

Originally Posted by knaveen

There was heavy rainfall for the past couple weeks in Chennai. Last weekend i made a weekend trip to Coimbatore. Left my bike parked in the office parking lot over the weekend. This turned out to be a bad idea.
There was continuous rains for during those two days. When i got back on tuesday, while leaving from office started the bike, everything was fine.
No issues on the bike for the first two days, it was riding normally.
Then on thursday, noticed that there was noticeable loss of power especially when revving, it was like as if the bike was running out of fuel. But it would'nt stall completely. Problem got worse after a day and i couldnt go over 20kmph yesterday. Took it to a local mech near my house. I initially suspected the airfilter and the spark plug. They were just fine. Then he suspected the CDI ignition coil, blowed compressed air, that did not work.
Finally when the carburetor screw was loosened, there was some water flowing out. Still the problem persisted.
Then he tried to check if there was a problem with the fuel supply, there seemed to be traces of water when we opened the fuel line, so we drained all the fuel out. Funny thing is that the fuel flow was normal when the fuel tap was in "ON" position, when in "Reserve" it was not freely flowing.
Drained the fuel completely and found there was no water in it. Put back the fuel and bleeded the fuel line. Now things were normal again.
The Bike was revving as usual, i did notice the RPM was a bit uneven when using steady throttle. Later today was riding it for a while and the problem started happening again.
Luckily, a bajaj *** was near by and I managed to ride the bike there. Explained them the problem. They checked the fuel line and there was a little bit of water coming out and the fuel flow was jerky.
They told me that the fuel tank, Carburetor and jets need to be cleaned and I can pick up the bike by Monday. Came back home by PTC.

Can water get inside fuel tank if parked in rain? This never happened in the past two years almost every time the bike was in the open in my office.
If water entered the carburetor, my assumption was that the bike wouldn't even start. How come there was an intermittent issue like this?
Have i done any long term damage by riding the bike with water still in the tank?

One of the ways, the water gets into the fuel tank, is through condensation. If you habitually keep low amount of fuel in the fuel tank, then the empty space is occupied by air. If this air is humid - which would be the case if it is raining/about to rain - it would also have water (invisible). As the tank cools down below the dew-point, the air gets saturated and releases the water, which gets collected in the bottom. The next day more humid air finds its way and condensed water keeps collecting in bottom, till the day the water finds its way into the carburetor/engine.

The solution is to drain the water from the bottom. It is difficult to do this as the fuel outlet is a little higher than the bottom to cater for this situation. If there a drain plug at the bottom most part of the tank opening it would drain the water. If not then you'll need to remove the tank and invert it to take out any residual water.

Thereafter keep avoid low fuel levels in the tank.

Sometimes water can also find its way in fuel sumps of the petrol pumps and you get water contaminated fuel. Try to change the fuel station.

Generally speaking isolated incidents of water in fuel wouldn't cause any damage to the engine.

Airplane pilots are familiar with this problem. That is why, at the end of each day, the fuel tanks are topped-up for all airplanes before they left out in night. In the morning before the flight, a small amount of fuel is drained from the bottom of the tank to ensure that no water has condensed during the night.

Of course check for any leaks and bad seals in the filler cap.

[knaveen]

Got the bike back. The Service Centre guys told me there was close to about a litre of water in the tank and showed me what they have drained . Then it was mentioned they did a fuel tank cleaning and carburettor overhaul. I asked for a waterwash too, hence was charged Rs.313 for all these. Now the bike is back to normal and responses are no more sluggish . Enquired about the cause, they mentioned this could be due to the blocked drain hole in the fuel tank near the cap. Im not sure, cause even if drain hole is blocked the rubber seal in the Cap should have prevented it. Anyways the cap assembly costs close to Rs.800. If the problem happens again will replace this.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

[twistwrist]

Originally Posted by knaveen

Got the bike back. The Service Centre guys told me there was close to about a litre of water in the tank and showed me what they have drained . Then it was mentioned they did a fuel tank cleaning and carburettor overhaul. I asked for a waterwash too, hence was charged Rs.313 for all these. Now the bike is back to normal and responses are no more sluggish . Enquired about the cause, they mentioned this could be due to the blocked drain hole in the fuel tank near the cap. Im not sure, cause even if drain hole is blocked the rubber seal in the Cap should have prevented it. Anyways the cap assembly costs close to Rs.800. If the problem happens again will replace this.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

HI Naveen,

I have faced this problem of water in fuel tank in Pulsar and Fiero F2. This is a common problem in indian bikes with aircraft type fuel lid.There is a metal pipe which runs down the tank and a rubber pipe connects it to drain the water collected in the inner portion of the top lid.
The root cause of the problem is that dust gets accumulated in the inner portion of the top lid during normal usage conditions in our country and when it rains or given a water wash they mix together and form a paste which gets clogged in the rubber pipe due to sharp change in direction and reduced flow area due to bending of the rubber pipe.And on subsequent rain or water wash , water gets accumulated in then top lid region of the tank in small quantities like 50ml or so, when ever we fill in the fuel and open the lid water gets into tank. Since water is heavier it settles in the lower portion of the tank and even in carburator float region. So the bike feels to loose power on accelerating and there isn't any fun in riding it. Water speeds up the rusting process in the fuel tank also.

Permanant Solution to this problem can be achieved by:
1. Remove the rubber pipe once for all.
2. If Rubber pipe is retained make sure there are no sharp bends and turns in the rubberpipe.
3. Clean the rubber pipe once a month to remove the dust paste accumulated on the inner walls of rubber pipe using old cables or wires.

Also seperate water in the fuel by removing fuel tank from the bike and draining completely.Also there is a drain screw in the carburator to remove the fuel stored in it, loosen the screw to remove that fuel too and tighten after draining.

I had faced lot of problems bcos of water in fuel tank in Fiero F2.I followed the first solution and till date have no water in fuel tank or carburator.
Hope this helps others too.

[niv26]

Even I had this problem recently in my pulsar UG3. Castrol bikezone guy removed tank cleaned-up/dried and started working fine.

Now I put black tank cover to avoid some extent.

[knaveen]

Originally Posted by twistwrist

HI Naveen,

I have faced this problem of water in fuel tank in Pulsar and Fiero F2. This is a common problem in indian bikes with aircraft type fuel lid.There is a metal pipe which runs down the tank and a rubber pipe connects it to drain the water collected in the inner portion of the top lid.
The root cause of the problem is that dust gets accumulated in the inner portion of the top lid during normal usage conditions in our country and when it rains or given a water wash they mix together and form a paste which gets clogged in the rubber pipe due to sharp change in direction and reduced flow area due to bending of the rubber pipe.And on subsequent rain or water wash , water gets accumulated in then top lid region of the tank in small quantities like 50ml or so, when ever we fill in the fuel and open the lid water gets into tank. Since water is heavier it settles in the lower portion of the tank and even in carburator float region. So the bike feels to loose power on accelerating and there isn't any fun in riding it. Water speeds up the rusting process in the fuel tank also.

Permanant Solution to this problem can be achieved by:
1. Remove the rubber pipe once for all.
2. If Rubber pipe is retained make sure there are no sharp bends and turns in the rubberpipe.
3. Clean the rubber pipe once a month to remove the dust paste accumulated on the inner walls of rubber pipe using old cables or wires.

Also seperate water in the fuel by removing fuel tank from the bike and draining completely.Also there is a drain screw in the carburator to remove the fuel stored in it, loosen the screw to remove that fuel too and tighten after draining.

I had faced lot of problems bcos of water in fuel tank in Fiero F2.I followed the first solution and till date have no water in fuel tank or carburator.
Hope this helps others too.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have always cleaned the drain hole using compressed air. Will check the option of removing the rubber tube.

[shortbread]

Like other members have mentioned before its a common problem with Indian bikes using aircraft type fuel caps. The best permanent solution is a tank cover!!

[iamswift]

Same issue here after recent rains. Yet to get my bike to the SS.
Starting is not issue however when I raise accelerator, engine stalls.
I was suspecting the same - water in fuel.
I drained the fuel a bit and confirmed there is no water in it. Now I understand there might be water in carb. Have to check it.

Tank cover can only help to an extend. In fact, I have full tank cover for this reason, and yet I got this issue.

[Swapnil4585]

Bumping up an old thread.

My XCD 125 is dead since last 10 days. The engine starts and it can be left at idle. However if I accelerate it even a little, it dies. Am I looking at a carburetor replacement? I am sure the carburetor jets are clogged.

Around 45 days back, my bike would not start at all. I took her to a mechanic and it was diagnosed that the bike had water in its tank. The water was removed, tank was cleaned, spark plug was tested and found to be okay. However the carburetor was not cleaned, even after my request. But the bike ran fine for the next month. I even did an outstation journey on it. Last week, the bike was left standing in heavy rains for 40 minutes. This problem surfaced after the rains. Is it jets or anything else?

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Swapnil4585

Last week, the bike was left standing in heavy rains for 40 minutes. This problem surfaced after the rains. Is it jets or anything else?

See if there is water in the tank again! guess due the heavy downpour that your bike was getting soaked-in could have gulped some water and that could be creating the trouble.

Get the petrol tank empty and also the carb empty. Fill-in fresh petrol and see if the issue persists or no.

Also get the gasket under the fuel tank lid changed + the drain line cleaned. Looks like it is clogged.