07 Fuel Tank Imploaded

This a strange one. Went on a week riding trip and camped at around Mt Ranier / Mt St Helens Area.

In five days me and my buddy logged 1100 miles in and around the surrounding area.

My FJR performed perfectly the entire trip.

That week we refueled quite allot and I always had got the "Chuff" sound when poping the cap,

the bike has done this since day one. I have always noticed the sheetmetal of the tank

flex as the pressure was released in the tanks reflection. I beleive it to be negetive pressure with air entering as

the cap is opened. Temps were no more then 70 to 80 degrees entire time.

The bike was trailered 4 hours drive time, truck & camper, with trailer in tow via a 6x12 enclosed trailer

This may have relevance later! Major elevation and temp change on the return trip.

Anyway, got home and no smell of fuel in the trailer nothing that stood out as abnormal.

No tip overs the bike rock solid mounted.

Unloaded the bike and placed it in the garage, shut the door.

The next day I opened the garage and it smelled of fuel all eminating from the Feej. Also a nice

pool of fuel under the bike.

Popped the cap and their again "Chuff" Hard to open the cap due to vacume holding it closed.

Close it again, wait ten minutes, open it again, "Chuff". I finally had to just leave the cap unlatched.

Long story short, lifted the tank to find that it has imploded creasing the sheet metal

under the tank and creased a nice hole that leaks fuel.

The white part in the pic is due to the paint chipping away with bare metal showing.

Most will say is "its not venting"

Yep, your right, it appears to not be venting or venting very well.

The vent tube was not pinched, and I ran some carb/choke cleaned threw the

gas cap hole and it appears to be free from any clogs. Theirs probably more to the cap

then meets the eye.

Anyway, heres my crappy 2m camera phone photo shot of the damage.

The bike is under its factory 1 year warranty.

Im dreading the "it must be something I did wrong" from the dealer routine!

Taken with the tank lifted looking to the rear mount.

Holy pinch-one-off batman! I smell a steaming turd!

All of those pics are beautiful except the first. That's the first I have heard of such a thing. Didn't think the tank would do that even if evacuated - but hey, this proves that wrong.

Take that to the dealer and accept no crap from them until they fix it!

-BD

What? Never heard of anything like that before.

I live on 410 and ran up and down Chinook Pass quite a bit this past month, it's awesome.

No way the dealer can blame you for it,under standard use practices.You opened the tank/put fuel in it,closed the tank.That's what people do.Bikes,cars....what-ev--veer....IMHO....

Imploded gas tanks do happen, though fairly rare. I ride with NH BkrK12 whose gas tank has actually imploded to the point that it has creased the top of his tank down both sides, increasing the length and depth of the factory lines. There have been other reports both here and on the Yellow Board.

Good luck with your dealer, they should cover a tank replacement.

Dealer should replace you tank, but hopefully everybody can learn from your lesson: if tank is not venting properly (hissing sound), FIX IT ASAP.

The cause is obvious: vent is clogged, but you need to find out where. The overflow tube has nothing to do with the vent, by the way. Good luck.

JC

Bike pissed itself from being subjected to a trailer. :lol:

I am sure the dealer will take care of you. I wonder if it had something to do with the EPA evaporative emissions plumbing?

Curious and curiouser..

The FJR thought it was a Harley, trailer queen and all, then through a 'hissy' fit?

I crack me up..

Seriously, this should be a no brainer fix. Good luck.

IT has been reported here before. IIRC, FJRob had his tank replaced under warranty @ Roseville Yamaha. Something about the plugged vent being a part of the required smog equipment and its attendant warranty.

Read this link! It contains some good information for you and your relationship with your dealer & Yamaha.

Yamaha decided to replace the tank and filler cap under warranty....Great!

They first layed blame on me lifting then dropping the tank on some unknown tool left under the tank, nice!

After their careful inspection and compairing it to another undamaged tank it became clear that vacuum

damage concaved the lower tank.

The natural lines of the upper tank had also been changed, enhanced, sharpened, legenthed whatever you call it.

Pioneer007 said:

They first layed blame on me lifting then dropping the tank on some unknown tool left under the tank, nice!

Click to expand...

That accusation is ridiculous!

Sorry to hear you had to go thru this ... but I'm glad that it's working out for you and Yamaha is doing the right thing.

Local dealer accidentally set the tank down on my vent line after doing some routine work once and being a newb, I didnt think much about all the hissing when I would open my half full tank for a refill. Because the dealer had done some work on it just days after I bought it I didnt know it wasnt normal, especially since it was in the 90's outside and I had read about all the 'heat' issues with the '05's. Took me about a week to realize my brain fart and fix it myself.