FUEL TANK/SYSTEM



Fuel Tank : Capacity by model (including reserve capacity)
Reserve (all models): All models feature 3.5 litres 'reserve' capacity. Although there is no reserve position on the fuel tap, the orange 'low fuel' lamp will come on when the fuel level in the tank drops below this level.

Capacity Including Reserve:
1998-99: 18 litre;
2000-01: 20 litres (no change in tank shape/size; extra capacity achieved via shortened overfill tube);
2002->>; 22 litres (revised tank shape/size)
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Rough Running on Cold Days (Carb Icing)
Problem: My bike runs rough and keeps cutting out on cold days

Could be carb icing. This occurs as the result of moisture in the air freezing as it rushes through the
carb venturi. It generally happens when the temperature's between just above freezing and about 5
degrees C. Above that, it doesn't get cold enough to freeze in the carbs; below it the air generally
doesn't hold on to the moisture (although not always).
The freezing moisture leads to a build up of ice inside the carb, jets start to block, and the affected
cylinders - usually the ones on the outside, whose carbs don't benefit from the warm air flow from the
engine that the inner ones get - start to misfire.

If you stop for a few minutes, the warmth from the engine will spread through the carbs, the ice will melt,
and it'll run properly again.
Then a couple of miles down the road, it's back again. On the 'right' day, this can go on for miles and miles
- in the past it's been enough to plague the whole of my 12 mile journey to work on some of my older bikes.

Having said all that, of course, it shouldn't really happen on a Fazer. Like a lot of bikes, the Fazer has
heater pipes around the carbs which use part of the coolant to warm them. If this circuit is working
correctly, carb icing shouldn't happen. When it does it'll be because this heater circuit isn't doing its job
properly, usually cos of a blockage. Blockages can be caused by lumps of scale or corrosion in the water
system, or just the gloop that antifreeze can tend to turn into when it's getting on a bit.

I had a few occurrences of carb icing during my 03 Fazer's first winter - peed me off a bit at the time, cos
you don't expect it during a bike's first winter.
For a number of reasons, I decided that the place to start was the coolant. For a start, the bike wasn't
old enough for that much scale or corrosion build up in the cooling system. Also, I remembered seeing
mention from Slidey of the (in his words) crap coolant that's put into them from new.
Finally, replacing the coolant is quick, inexpensive, and hardly any hassle.
And joy of joys, it seems to have done the trick. Touch wood. So far this winter, despite there having
been plenty of mornings in the last few weeks that would have been good candidates for icing, I've seen
no signs of it.

(By the way - if you do replace the coolant, be sure to use distilled water (in 50/50 mix with antifreeze).
I KNOW there's supposed to be anti-scale additives in modern anti-freeze and all that, but the way I see
it, those carb heater pipes are pretty small bore, and don't take a lot of blocking; to me the price of a
litre of distilled water is a small extra to pay, especially considering how rarely it needs doing - think how
much you spend on petrol in the average year).


However, not everyone is this lucky. Many foccers have suffered icing to the extent that the only cure was
to take off the carbs and puggle the pipes with suitably stiff wire. I'm not going to go into it here, cos
Rubbermat has produced a very good write-up on this - as well as some more words on carb icing and
other things that can spoil your bike's winter running - which can be found in Rubbermat's "Engines that
Run Poorly in Winter" posting.

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Fuel System : Breather problem on early models (pre 2000)
Like most fuel tanks, the Fazer features breathers which prevent vacuum from forming as the fuel level drops inside the tank.

On the early Fazers (98 & 99), these breathers run from the bottom of the tank to a space between the rear of the engine and the front of the swing-arm.

Many owners had problems with one or both of these breathers becoming trapped when the tank was lifted for any work to be done (eg carburettor balancing). What happens is that as the tank is lifted, the tubes pull through. When the tank is lowered back down again, if you don't pull the slack back through, the tubes will often bend back on themselves, becoming kinked, and causing an airlock. Some owners even suffered damage to the tank paintwork as a result of this airlock sucking in the sides of the tank and the paint cracking.

Listen out for the tell-tale sign of a 'whooshing' noise when opening the fuel cap - this is a good indication of a vacuum forming inside the tank. If you get this, check the breathers - first make sure there is no tube kink, or trapping of slack, and then check the breathers themselves are not blocked.

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Fuel System : What's that ticking noise from under the tank when I turn my ignition on?
The fuel pump.
The ticking is the pump doing its job, pumping fuel into the carbs to replace that which has evaporated since it was last run. Mine ticks about 3 or 4 times fairly slowly first thing in the morning after it's been stood overnight, but if it stands for any amount of time, it does so for longer. First time I went to start it after I came back from holiday, I thought I had an angry rattlesnake somewhere under the tank!

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