Mileage Test

[dandiego]

First stupid question. Is the charcoal canister just a California thing? I don't think I have one.

If that's the case I believe flooding the canister will cause it to fail. I have no idea if that will actually cause you a problem or not. I've had them on a couple of BMWs but I always took them off. Not terribly green of me, but I needed the space for other stuff.

Super D will have to answer that one. He removed his, as well. He told me that you can't flood it...it's just a filter between the tank and the EFI.

 

[HellFire]

The charcoal canister is an emissions thing, all cars have had them for years. According to the service manual, California bikes have them and I don't know about the 09' and 10's. It's probably large enough to hold a pint of liquid if there wasn't any charcoal medium inside. The charcoal is there to absorb fuel fumes that would normally just exit the vent tube coming out of the tank, there are two lines that come out the top of the tank ... one is the vent and the other is the filler neck overflow. The idea behind the charcoal is that the gas evaporates and the pressure in the tank sends the vapor through the vent line to the canister where it's absorbed, another line comes out of the can and goes to the vacuum side of the intake, and while it's running the fumes get drawn off the charcoal and burned up in the engine rather than just going out to the atmosphere as hydrocarbon pollution. I suppose you could get some raw liquid to go into the canister if you were filling the tank really-really slow after it's already full, but it wouldn't be much with the check valves in the way. The raw liquid wouldn't really be drawn into the canister until the engine was running and there was vacuum on the system. That's one of the reasons cars and gas pumps instruct customers not to over fill their tanks, the raw gas gets wasted and reduces the efficiency of the emission controls. It doesn't hurt the canister in the long term, just keeps it from doing it's intended job until the fuel leaves the charcoal while riding.
So even if you got some raw gas to drain into the canister, I doubt that it was much at all until the engine was started. Naw, I'll bet that the tank held all of it, just wasn't any room left for expansion and vapors afterward that's all.

 

[Super D.]

Super D will have to answer that one. He removed his, as well. He told me that you can't flood it...it's just a filter between the tank and the EFI.

Actually, it is a filter between the tank and the ground... And as far as I know it is only a CA. thing.... other wise it would end up on the ground. Someone else can try it if they want... It is a legit 5.8-5.9. no more.
Dan is a great guy, and Iron Butt+ to boot. Something that I have not yet tried legit. It is fun to see the different set ups of other riders.
If you are located in So. Cal, give a shout out to the local guys if you are going out for a ride. Even if we can't make it, no harm, no foul.

 

[Super D.]

The charcoal canister is an emissions thing, all cars have had them for years. According to the service manual, California bikes have them and I don't know about the 09' and 10's. It's probably large enough to hold a pint of liquid if there wasn't any charcoal medium inside. The charcoal is there to absorb fuel fumes that would normally just exit the vent tube coming out of the tank, there are two lines that come out the top of the tank ... one is the vent and the other is the filler neck overflow. The idea behind the charcoal is that the gas evaporates and the pressure in the tank sends the vapor through the vent line to the canister where it's absorbed, another line comes out of the can and goes to the vacuum side of the intake, and while it's running the fumes get drawn off the charcoal and burned up in the engine rather than just going out to the atmosphere as hydrocarbon pollution. I suppose you could get some raw liquid to go into the canister if you were filling the tank really-really slow after it's already full, but it wouldn't be much with the check valves in the way. The raw liquid wouldn't really be drawn into the canister until the engine was running and there was vacuum on the system. That's one of the reasons cars and gas pumps instruct customers not to over fill their tanks, the raw gas gets wasted and reduces the efficiency of the emission controls. It doesn't hurt the canister in the long term, just keeps it from doing it's intended job until the fuel leaves the charcoal while riding.
So even if you got some raw gas to drain into the canister, I doubt that it was much at all until the engine was started. Naw, I'll bet that the tank held all of it, just wasn't any room left for expansion and vapors afterward that's all.

I'm just telling you what I was watching.... He filled it up past 6 gallons.... but I saw him top it off 4 or 5 times, and it went back down to the same level. It obviously went into the overflow. If anyone wants to really think that the tank is 6.3(ish) instead of 5.8(ish) gallons.... Your Call. I figured it out to my satisfaction.

 

[GPMAZ]

If he's filling the tank to the top and letting it settle and then repeatedly topping it off it has to be going into that filter/canister. I've done the same thing on a non-CA R3T and I can tell you, it ends up on the ground.

Here's a question for you CA boys. If you fill your tank and then park it in the sun does it drip gas out of the overflow tube? I've done that a couple of times and it will shed a silver dollar sized puddle.

 

[HellFire]

That can happen either from being over filled, or from condensation. Gas tank is hot, lots of evaporation, vapors condense back to liquid while passing through a lower temperature hose. Actually it's probably not the hose itself, since it would quickly come up to the same temp as the vapors passing through it. More likely its passing over a colder spot on the bike, like the frame. Granted, conditions would have to be just right for that to happen, but I too have seen mine do it after pushing it out of a cold garage and parking it in the sun. And if it had a charcoal canister, the canister would prevent it from doing that as part of its job.

 

[dandiego]

If he's filling the tank to the top and letting it settle and then repeatedly topping it off it has to be going into that filter/canister. I've done the same thing on a non-CA R3T and I can tell you, it ends up on the ground.

Here's a question for you CA boys. If you fill your tank and then park it in the sun does it drip gas out of the overflow tube? I've done that a couple of times and it will shed a silver dollar sized puddle.

I've never had any gas overflow to the ground.

I routinely put 6+ gallons into my tank (I ride an awful lot) and just thought it was weird.

It appears Super D solved the mystery of how that's happening.

Either way, I often get 200+ miles from a tank (highway riding) and can get 45 MPG on the slower rides (65 MPH on last week's Big Bear Lake ride).

(BTW: I'll be sending out invites of the Event Forum for those riders interested in SoCal rides to Tom's Farms, Big Bear, Julian, etc. It would be great to see a bunch of Rockets rolling down the road or through the twisties.)

Thanks for the input...I always appreciate learning new stuff about this bike.

 

[HellFire]

Must be an even bigger mystery than before .... where does 1/2 gallon of gas go? There isn't that much room in the tank, it's not on the ground and there isn't that much room in the charcoal canister.
I think we should call the X-Files ... I'll bet it's aliens.