Finally fed up with my takn swelling

[Micah / AF1 Racing]

BTW, AvGas 100LL was $4.80/gallon yesterday at my local FBO when we stopped for fuel in the 172.

[gts455]

Thanks Micah. Caswell seal came in 2 days ago.....thank god. Because today i was finishing tuning my new 54mm TBs. Finished up and got the bike back together so i could take her out (which by the way, she is absolutely beastly now)....well as i am riding i notice my fuel light go on....which is odd, because i know i had at least half a tank. as i am looking down, i noticed liquid around my steering stem......GAS. The tank finally swelled to the point it developed a leak and was literally flowing out of the front, luckily i was 5 minutes from my house and the rubber intake boot kept it off the front cylinder. That was not a good feeling realizing gas was spilling all over a hot bike and potentially getting on the hot front cylinder.

So the tank is coming off immediately....as in tonight. And i will start prepping my spare for the caswell seal which will be done this weekend.

[PumpinIron]

Someone should file a class action lawsuit against Aprilia for this mess. They did it with Ducati and won.

[gts455]

It should have been recalled for sure. Anything having to do with faulty tanks should be an automatic recall.....the real problem though, is the Ethanol. When the bike was designed, it was not meant for Ethanol gas. Should more likely be a class action suit against whoever thought it was a good idea to add ethanol to gas.....did they not think about all the vehicles desiged for no-ethanol gas and the damage caused by doing so?

[kzmille]

...Should more likely be a class action suit against whoever thought it was a good idea to add ethanol to gas.....did they not think about all the vehicles desiged for no-ethanol gas and the damage caused by doing so?

That would be the corn producing states and their representatives. Good luck with that.

[gts455]

ha yeah. I will say the best thing i did for this bike, was buy a perfect matching unswelled spare tank.

[PumpinIron]

Well, I only brought it up because they had a class action lawsuit against Ducati (some of their bikes had plastic tanks) and they won the lawsuit. From my understanding Ducati had to put new tanks on the bikes that were affected.

Either way, I'm glad I epoxy sealed my tank! Mine was so swollen it was over an inch away from mounting to the 2 holes near the steering stem!

[gts455]

yep, thats where mine was at. barely could get it on, and i had to remove the grommits to get it to fit. Kind of glad i'm taking care of it now.

[PumpinIron]

I'm glad I took mine off and epoxy sealed it when I did, had I waited any longer I imagine the same thing that happened to your tank would have happened to mine.

Either way, I let it sit for about 3 months and it shrank back down to the right size, then I sealed it and had it repainted.

[DanV990]

I am curious how your tank started leaking near the triple clamp. I would have thought an expanding tank would start to leak at the fuel pump flange not at the front mount. Did your tank split near the front mount from expansion?

I cracked one of the welds at the front mount on my steel tank. The tank fell down off of the prop while I was working on the bike and the mounting plate struck the triple clamp and bent. When I bent it back one of the welds cracked enough to allow a small weep of fuel near the steering head. I sealed it with a liberal application of JB Weld after a thorough cleaning and taking the surrounding area down to bare metal.

[gts455]

it was odd, my tank did not swell near the pump. it was actually quite the opposite. it was litterally warping towards the top front....there were two bulges about the size of a dollar bill around the tank fill cap and one forward of that. Then i think forcing the tank into position due to swelling may have cracked the tank near the steering stem, causing the actual leak.

[spaz_666]

Well, I only brought it up because they had a class action lawsuit against Ducati (some of their bikes had plastic tanks) and they won the lawsuit.

I think the big difference with Ducati is that they were selling bikes in the United States with ethanol susceptible tanks well after E10 had become the norm across the this market.

[PumpinIron]

I think the big difference with Ducati is that they were selling bikes in the United States with ethanol susceptible tanks well after E10 had become the norm across the this market.

Ahhhh, I wasn't aware of that part. So I guess in the end it really isn't Aprilias fault. Oh how I hate ethanol!

[DanV990]

I think the big difference with Ducati is that they were selling bikes in the United States with ethanol susceptible tanks well after E10 had become the norm across the this market.

Ahhhh, I wasn't aware of that part. So I guess in the end it really isn't Aprilias fault. Oh how I hate ethanol!

Aprilia is still selling nylon tanks that swell with E10 gasoline. Look at all the Second Gen RSVR & Tuonos, and now RSV4s that have issues with swelling tanks. It is just a matter of time before the Tuono V4 tanks start swelling too. Aprilia knows it is a problem and continues to manufacture and sell bikes that are susceptible to damage from E10.

[PumpinIron]

I wasn't aware of that. I haven't actually had the chance to see a Gen 2 in person so I figured they were steel tanks.

I cant believe they are still putting nylon tanks on there bikes... I guess it's just a matter of time before people with newer model Aprilias start having to epoxy seal their tanks. What a hassle!