Motorcycle Petcock Replacement

Replacing My CB200's Petcock // Becky Stern

My motorcycle's fuel valve aka petcock was original to my 1975 Honda CB200, and it was acting a bit clogged. Instead of cleaning it out of years of gunk, I opted to order a replacement. This Instructable details the replacement of said petcock, which is similar to most old Hondas.

For this project you will need:

Replacement petcock (mine fits the CB200 and 175) 4into1.com has a wide selection
10mm wrench
Screwdriver and/or power driver
Funnel
Fuel can
Coffee filter
Needlenose pliers
Stiff clean brush (toothbrush or similar)

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Drain Fuel Tank

With the petcock closed, remove the fuel lines connected to it. Set up a coffee filter inside your funnel, and drain your fuel tank into a fuel can by opening the petcock. To make this easier on myself, I removed the tank and placed it on an apple box. Both fuel lines should flow evenly, without dribbles. See how my left line is almost completely clogged, and the right one is all dribbly? Bad news. After draining, you can see any sediment that the coffee filter caught-- yuck!

Remove Old Petcock

Use a box wrench to unscrew the "gunk collector" at the bottom of the petcock, then a pair of pliers to remove the inner screen and o-ring. This will expose the screw holding the petcock to the tank. Mine was rather stuck, so I used a power driver to remove it, but that's just one way to remove a stuck screw. Don't lose the screw! Give the tank opening a brushing to clean it up.

Install New Petcock

Installing the new petcock is just the reverse of removing it: Remove the bottom piece, screen and o-ring, put the petcock in place and secure the screw, then use pliers to replace the screen and o-ring. Screw on the bottom piece and tighten it with a wrench. Run some fuel through the new valve to test it out-- no more dribbles!

Replace Tank on Bike

Once you're sure there aren't any leaks or clogs, re-install the tank on the motorcycle and reconnect the fuel lines to the outputs on the new petcock.

Sure, you could potentially just clean your old petcock and re-install it! Mine broke its stem, either as a result of my messy screw removal technique, or something else. I'm still a beginner at motorcycle maintenance, and would love to hear your advice about cleaning and not breaking fuel valves in the comments below.

Thanks for reading my Instructable! Here are some more of my bike projects:

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