Tank caved in!?!?!?!!!!

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kdog209

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Hi all,

Filled her up yesterday, did some highway riding, stopped at Cycle Gear, came home and find that my tank caved in on the right side!!! Not totally but a little. I did not fall on that side and it was not hit with anything, no marks on it!!! what gives??

thanks,
kris
 
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that strange...take a few pics and post them so we can see, and maybe that way someone could have a better idea how it happened.
 
your right knee? Do you find yourself with the death grip when riding? hands and legs have the tendency to tighten up when you`re a n00b :D
 
I'd say it's a blocked vent. I've seen this happen on other bikes....no reason the FZ6 should be exempt. Lift the tank a little to see if it's blocked...... Better yet, do you hear anything when you open the filler cap? If so, that's probably it.....

Do post pics. It should help us figure it out.

Damn.
 
oh sh!t... the bike gremlins... this is bad... they went from tipping bikes over to denting tanks... this is bad... this is real bad...
 
Well I'll try to take some pics tomorrow if it's sunnier. Kinda hard to see it with the black finish and angular tank but if u look close it's a good hand size cave in. Gonna call the dealer for service as she's still covered. thanks all.
 
Somebody could of punched it. I had my bike parked along a road today, some dumbass leaned out the passenger window acting like he was going to push it over. Then he saw me. I am not a intimidating guy, but I guess he could get a hint of my brain wave or something. (You know the I will follow you home, drywall screw your windows and doors shut while you sleep and burn your house the the ground vibe) Sorta popped back into the car like a mole. Stupid cagers.
 
wrightme43 said:
Somebody could of punched it. I had my bike parked along a road today, some dumbass leaned out the passenger window acting like he was going to push it over. Then he saw me. I am not a intimidating guy, but I guess he could get a hint of my brain wave or something. (You know the I will follow you home, drywall screw your windows and doors shut while you sleep and burn your house the the ground vibe) Sorta popped back into the car like a mole. Stupid cagers.
Click to expand...

Ahaha :rockon:
 
never heard of something like that before, but see if it is covered. When i bought my bike i bought the extended 5 yr warranty on the bike along with the lifetime service package, after hearing about this story and does anyone remember the person who had there bike for i think less then a month and the piston shot out, and they were stumped on what the problem was until they took the whole motor apart, i think they gave him a new motor or something, don't remember but having a warranty is huge when stuff like this happens.
 
aw man, i dunno... maybe you should take it straight to the dealer and not mess with it. id say open up the gas nozzle thing to see if there is pressure in there so in case it is a clogged vent, it will at least relieve that. if it is a clogged vent, i would assume that would have to be under warranty, so if you unclog the vent and take it in to get fixed, how would you prove its a clogged vent that did it and that someone didn't smack it?

but holy hell that has to be some bone-crushing pressure to do something like that?? i figure that could happen about 500 yards under the ocean... but, man. if that's true that's friggin scary. not something i would be comfortable straddling. your crotch may end up like this poor fellow!! a robot was cutting a pipe 6000 feet down and a little sea creature decided to make itself the prime example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgfZIx3SaII"]YouTube - Crab vs Pipe[/ame]
 
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Fz6Sa said:
Could the vent pipes be blocked?
If they are, you would create a vacuum inside the tank, - and it would cave ...
Click to expand...

That's my bet too

An elusive problem on dirtbikes. Whent he vent hose out the cap plugs, the plastic tank will squeeze in just so far, then the bike will quit, pulling air in thru the carb and allowing the tank to go back into shape. Been around & around trying to find that one before...
 
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I thought the vent tubes were to release excess pressure.... so wouldn't it bulge out? Never seen a tank just cave in...... not that I am saying it couldn't happen just never seen it. Like said before that would be a lot of pressure... :confused:
 
I think the rubber tubes are just drains for the area around the filler (at least the left one is, ask me how I know :rolleyes:). I believe the actual venting is done in the cap itself :confused:

It does seem like it would take a lot of pressure, but I've seen dirtbike tanks suck in quite a ways, and that's only 1 carb and 1/4 or so of the cc's. I bet the electric fuel pump feeding 4 carbs creates quite a suction (vaccuum)!
 
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I would imagine this was caused by vaccuum, most fluid containers are rated for positive pressure, not negative (vac).

We had a similar occurance on a 40 Ton fibreglass HCl tank at work, vent was blocked whilst draining, thing screwed up like a crushed coke can then split, popped back into shape and leaped 18 inches sideways nearly squashing a friend of mine into the tank next to it.

I was amazed then at how little vac could cause quite impressive results.

I'd check the vents.
 
I have a caved in area on my right side too. I'm pretty sure mine is because of my knee. I about dropped my bike once when I hit some loose gravel in a parking lot and caught the bike with my knee. I think that's what did it but I didn't notice it at the time. It'd be interesting if yours was caused by a vacuum in the tank... if so maybe taht's what mine is and I can have it replaced under warranty! :-D
 
Fuel supply generally runs low before the tank of a carbed bike will get to the point of collapse. Maybe the pump of an injected engine can keep pulling fuel even with a substantial vacuum in the tank?

14psi over the surface area of a bike gas tank adds up to a lot of pressure...
 
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