ive been noticing a strong fuel smell coming from bike
it comes as soon as I turn it on and continues throughout the ride
its an 09 gs / sm5 I have about 8k on it
after reading threads on this amazing forum I ordered the Honda y gaskets
so I started tearing down the bike to see if this is something I could do myself (gaskets should be coming soon)
i opened the air filter compartment and to my surprise this is where the smell is coming from!
i noticed some oil deposits in some areas and the k&n filter looked clean
im not mechanically inclined but willing to explore
what do y'all think is going on ??
any help in the right direction will be appreciated
For strong fuel smell right from start up I would look for a fuel leak in the coupler on top of the tank. Does not happen often but has happened. If there are no leaks then are the fumes coming from the canister vent? If so likely a purge system problem.
Exhaust slip joint gasket failure will cause a hot right and backfiring when letting off the throttle not a fuel smell. Yes go ahead and replace with Honda gaskets.
Last edited by billybovine; 04-14-2016 at 04:27 PM.
You can also get fuel leaks in the high pressure system. If you don't want to burn you Spyder to the ground you need to find what is leaking and fix it.
You can also get fumes from an overloaded Evap Canister. I recommend getting rid of the Evap system. But if you don't want to do this at least get it working properly. You may have to replace the canister. But if this is indeed your problem, you need to find out why the canister is overloaded or it may fill up again the day after you replace it.
I had a strong fuel smell on my 2008 GS
Found cracked fuel filter did not leak unless engine is running
I had about 10,000 miles at the time
Now 2014 RT Limited Cognac
Was 2008 GS SM5
Don Garbarino
Cup Holder
GPS locking holder
Mud flap
Modified KNOTT grill
Phone holder and charger
Trailer hitch
Dual air horn
Auxiliary fuse box with relays
Heated clothing controller
volt/oil pressure gauge
Sequential signals in mirror
Tri Axis Handle bars
Baja Ron anti sway bar/heim links
shorty antenna
And many more
I want to start off by doing the caniserectomy
i don't know a lot when it comes to the mechanics
i have my spyder torn down with all the panels removed
You're lucky I happen to have the panels off that side of my Spyder so I'll nip out and take some photos for you. Back in a few minutes and will post them.
Firstly you'll notice I've got one of JT's air filters on mine which gives you so much more room when doing your own maintenance - works a lot better than the stock one. Finding oil in the air filter is pretty common on our older model RS/GS's - from memory you can solve it just by lengthening a pipe, I'll try and find the info for you and post it - Having a JT air filter means I don't have that issue:-)
Anyway back to the Canisterectomy photo's.
Removing the canister just means unplugging the two pipes that go into it and unclipping it from the mount. Mine was held in place on the mount with a cable tie but I'm not sure that was normal. I ended up cutting the two pipes going into the canister as I had trouble removing the pipe clips without damaging the pipe.
Once you've got the canister removed you just need to:
Block off the canister sensor pipe (1), which I did by screwing in a bolt with sealant in the thread and putting a clip on it.
Extend the gas tank outlet pipe (2) by adding an inline fuel filter to stop dust etc going up and running an extra pipe so it goes out beyond the floor pan of the Spyder (basically so it vents outside the engine bay). You can see on mine I've run it to a pre-existing hole in the pan forward on the engine and made sure it had shielding on it.
Sorry for some reason the second photo will not upload as portrait.
Awesome!
i will see if I can tackle this
can I contact you if I have troubles?
Yep no worries.
The other thing that I've not noticed mentioned in this thread yet concerning the fuel smell is the gas cap. There were issues with the earlier Spyders and a strong gas smell. This was often the canister (hence the canisterectomy) but also there were issues with the early gas caps.
Not sure how long you've had your Spyder but BRP did a recall on the gas cap in Jan 2013 and hopefully you should have the replacement fitted already. However with the replacement one there have been issues with it breaking and not being able to remove it (I've had this problem). There is a replacement you can get made by Stant which fixes both issues. There's actually several Stant models that work and if you search this forum you'll find the various part no's but the one I used was a Stant 10819 (got it from eBay).
The gas cap replacement and the Canisterectomy fixed my gas smell issues.
When I unclip it what do I do next
it looks like there is a plug that joins
Don't touch that part as that needs to remain. If you follow the pipe down from that you'll come to a big thing that looks a bit like a drinks bottle with three piipes going into the top - that's the canister.
Managed to find the old one so this is what it looks like after its been removed, you'll see how I ended up just cutting the pipes off as those clips are really difficult.
so when it come to extending the fuel pipe with an inline filter im lost
Ok so lets discuss what the canister is there for.
Gas expands with heat, particularly the gas vapors. If your gas tank was completely sealed then there would be no room for this expansion which in extreme cases could fracture the petrol tank.
So the old way of solving this was to just allow the tank to vent these gas vapors. E.g. old gap caps on motorbikes would have a little hole in the top with a one way valve to let the gas out. However not everyone was happy about letting these gases into the atmosphere so manufacturers started using canisters instead.
What happens on the Spyder is there is a breather pipe from the petrol tank for these gases to escape. This goes into the canister which has various filters that are supposed to trap the nasty stuff before the harmless part is allowed out into the atmosphere (via a second pipe). There's also a third pipe that connects and allows the canister to be monitored - if it picks up there's too much gas in this canister then it assumes something is wrong and puts the Spyder into limp home mode.
The problem with the Spyder design is sometimes liquid gas can get into the canister (e.g. normally when you 'brim' the tank). Once this happens you tend to keep getting the strong gas smell, particularly when you've been out for a ride on the Spyder. It can take a long time to properly dry out again and in some cases the Canister has to be replaced. It can also trigger the limp home mode sensor (see above).
So the idea is to remove the canister, block off the sensor pipe so the sensor is happy and re-route the tank breather pipe so it just goes straight to the open air and can vent properly.
So in my first picture if you look pipe (1) that's the sensor you also took a picture of. You just need to block the short pipe off that originally went from the canister to that so the sensor is 'happy' and thinks the canister is still there.
Again in the first picture the second thing you need to do is extend the breather pipe from the gas tank (2) so it's completely clear of the engine area. Obviously you don't want the gases from the gas tank (or and gas itself) from going near a hot engine. You could just extend this pipe somewhere but the reason we put a fuel filter in is to just stop dust (or insects) from making there way up the pipe and back into the petrol tank.
I'll post some more photos in a minute to show where that breather pipe goes.
Last edited by PistonBlown; 04-14-2016 at 11:19 PM.
Ok so lets discuss what the canister is there for.
Gas expands with heat, particularly the gas vapors. If your gas tank was completely sealed then there would be no room for this expansion which in extreme cases could fracture the petrol tank.
So the old way of solving this was to just allow the tank to vent these gas vapors. E.g. old gap caps on motorbikes would have a little hole in the top with a one way valve to let the gas out. However not everyone was happy about letting these gases into the atmosphere so manufacturers started using canisters instead.
What happens on the Spyder is there is a breather pipe from the petrol tank for these gases to escape. This goes into the canister which has various filters that are supposed to trap the nasty stuff before the harmless part is allowed out into the atmosphere (via a second pipe). There's also a third pipe that connects and allows the canister to be monitored - if it picks up there's too much gas in this canister then it assumes something is wrong and puts the Spyder into limp home mode.
The problem with the Spyder design is sometimes liquid gas can get into the canister (e.g. normally when you 'brim' the tank). Once this happens you tend to keep getting the strong gas smell, particularly when you've been out for a ride on the Spyder. It can take a long time to properly dry out again and in some cases the Canister has to be replaced. It can also trigger the limp home mode sensor (see above).
So the idea is to remove the canister, block off the sensor pipe so the sensor is happy and re-route the tank breather pipe so it just goes straight to the open air and can vent properly.
So in my first picture if you look pipe (1) that's the sensor you also took a picture of. You just need to block the short pipe off that originally went from the canister to that so the sensor is 'happy' and thinks the canister is still there.
Again in the first picture the second thing you need to do is extend the breather pipe from the gas tank (2) so it's completely clear of the engine area. Obviously you don't want the gases from the gas tank (or and gas itself) from going near a hot engine. You could just extend this pipe somewhere but the reason we put a fuel filter in is to just stop dust (or insects) from making there way up the pipe and back into the petrol tank.
I'll post some more photos in a minute to show where that breather pipe goes.
you are a wealth of knowledge !
i have faith in what to do going fwd
it will be helpful if you could tell me what size fuel filter and tubing (to vent outside) I need to buy
Ok here's the pictures of how I ran the pipe. I've got a feeling it was the same way as the original vent pipe from the canister ran, it was 3 years ago I did it so having trouble remembering:-). Second photo shows the pipe coming out the bottom of the pan. You'll notice the hole I used has a rubber grommit on it to protect it as it comes through the pan. I don't remember adding that so that's why I suspect I used the same route as the original vent pipe. Also looking at one of your photos I can see an existing pipe going the same way. It may be you can use the existing pipe but I know I got a new one so suspect the existing one was too short. Will try and work out the diameter for you.
Air filter box
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Originally Posted by gfd1182
