535is
06-02-2008, 10:44 AM
Twenty inches of fuel line, that is. My first annoying little 'discovery' of the season was that my top left fuel line was leaking. No problem; I just ran off the right side for my first ride. Then, after some brake light sleuthing last week, I reassembled everything on Saturday, opened up the right petcock and, voila! Two uniformly growing puddles of fuel under the carbs. Pretty much every fitting was leaking. :bluduh
I decided it was time to swap out all the apparently-30-year-old fuel hoses. I chose cheap, easy, and 'incorrect' because A) I'm a Cheap Bastard©, B) it was Sunday, so AutoZone was open and C) the nearest dealer is at least an hour away. Hey; it's a gravity feed fuel system, not 60 psi FI like on my 535is. I did check that hose, though, since I always keep a foot or so on hand. Unfortunately, it's 5/16"/7.9 mm i.d. (also 'incorrect', but 'correct' is 8.0 mm - like you could really tell) and the bike obviously takes something smaller. 'Smaller' in this case is ¼"/6.35 mm i.d. So I bought me a coil pack that said 24" and looked lots shorter.
The old braided lines had been 'supplemented' by a few strategically placed 'eensy' (the official size term; trust me) zip ties. One on each carb neck and one or two others randomly placed where it had apparently leaked before. So I snipped them all off and found the old lines very easy to slip off. A half hour of 'quality time' with a razor knife later (Oh; there was getting my kid's 'Crazy Daisy' to squirt water during that time, too.) and I could turn on both petcocks and see no dripping. I had a 4" piece left over. The 24" wasn't enough to replace the transverse line, so I'll be picking up that spare to carry for the inevitable shoe-dripper later this summer. At least I can ride (and did, on Sunday afternoon, further screwing myself out of 'least miles' honors) without having to change my socks every time. :clap
I decided it was time to swap out all the apparently-30-year-old fuel hoses. I chose cheap, easy, and 'incorrect' because A) I'm a Cheap Bastard©, B) it was Sunday, so AutoZone was open and C) the nearest dealer is at least an hour away. Hey; it's a gravity feed fuel system, not 60 psi FI like on my 535is. I did check that hose, though, since I always keep a foot or so on hand. Unfortunately, it's 5/16"/7.9 mm i.d. (also 'incorrect', but 'correct' is 8.0 mm - like you could really tell) and the bike obviously takes something smaller. 'Smaller' in this case is ¼"/6.35 mm i.d. So I bought me a coil pack that said 24" and looked lots shorter.
The old braided lines had been 'supplemented' by a few strategically placed 'eensy' (the official size term; trust me) zip ties. One on each carb neck and one or two others randomly placed where it had apparently leaked before. So I snipped them all off and found the old lines very easy to slip off. A half hour of 'quality time' with a razor knife later (Oh; there was getting my kid's 'Crazy Daisy' to squirt water during that time, too.) and I could turn on both petcocks and see no dripping. I had a 4" piece left over. The 24" wasn't enough to replace the transverse line, so I'll be picking up that spare to carry for the inevitable shoe-dripper later this summer. At least I can ride (and did, on Sunday afternoon, further screwing myself out of 'least miles' honors) without having to change my socks every time. :clap