Couldn't get gas pump to work due to vapor recovery boot

[pazzmore]

I tried everything and just couldn't get the gas pump to allow the fuel to dispense today.. Pretty sure it was due to those recovery boots that many stations have. These things don't allow gas to pump unless there is an air-tight seal right?

Luckily, I had enough gas to go elsewhere, but does anyone have any tips to remedy this in case it happens again (this isn't the first time). I ride a V7ii.

[ITSec]

I tried everything and just couldn't get the gas pump to allow the fuel to dispense today.. Pretty sure it was due to those recovery boots that many stations have. These things don't allow gas to pump unless there is an air-tight seal right?

Not sure about the one you ran into - most are designed to allow fuel to flow as long as you compress the accordion section. You do have to compress the accordion section before squeezing the trigger for the pump.  An air-tight seal is not required. It is certainly possible that newer designs may have other 'safety' or functional features.

[Psychopasta]

The one you used might have been defective, but pulling the foreskin back (as it were) on the pump has always worked for me. It's a bit cumbersome but has always worked.

- P

[Bisbonian]

There is a guy on advrider in vendors who makes a clip to hold the sleeve back so you can pump gas with these normally. It's cheap and easy.

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/vapor-recovery-nozzle-tool.647816/

[guzzipete]

I have used an Aerostich E-Z Fill Nozzle Key for years. Works great.

http://www.aerostich.com/e-z-fill-nozzle-key.html

[Tom H]

In Cali I have fought at times with this type of pump. Most of the time you insert into tank and pump until it shuts off. Then pull it out a bit and pull back on the rubber boot and top off your tank.

Tom

[cruzziguzzi]

I'm guessing that by the time it was inserted far enough for the boot to allow flow either the nozzle was already in existing gasoline or the nozzle was close enough to an interior wall so that back-sl=plash shut the flow off interpreting the tank as full.

On my Katana - with those nozzle - I have to use a two-handed fill holding the boot to the rear with my second hand.


Todd.

[Moto]

There is a guy on advrider in vendors who makes a clip to hold the sleeve back so you can pump gas with these normally. It's cheap and easy.

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/vapor-recovery-nozzle-tool.647816/

That looks better to me than the Aerostich E-Z Fill Nozzle! Specifically, it is small enough to fit in your wallet alongside your credit card and is made of plastic rather than aluminum, so it is unlikely to scratch your tank.

Aerostich must have decided it had merit too, since they are now selling it alongside their original tool. $5.00 from either the advrider user or Aerostich, but free shipping from the former.

Thanks. I remember this struggle from my California days.

[pazzmore]

Thanks guys. Didn't know that accordion thing had to reach a certain height. I ordered one of those plastic cards to help.

[Two Checks]

I havent seen one of those things in a few years.

[Tom H]

I stopped at one yesterday and I'll be stopping at another one tonight. Sucks when two bikes in a row need gas.

Last time I used one without the boot it felt strange to fill the bike. But then again when I put diesel in the boat, there is no boot and that feels normal.

Tom

[Lannis]

I notice that no one is saying "I certainly wouldn't want to operate the pump without this device in place and working, since it prevents gasoline fumes from polluting the atmosphere.   Thank goodness they're there for us ..."

Instead, we all (me included and especially) imply "Another piece of Elfin Safety regulatory-mandated bureaucrap ... but I've got a way around it!"

I think the last of my support of this kind of thing died when the sale of small dirt bikes was stopped (for a while, a short while thanks to Malcolm Smith and the team) because the battery terminals were made of lead, they were used by "children" and it was feared that the child might gnaw on the battery terminals if not properly supervised .....

Lannis

[Texas Turnip]

What is wrong with using two fingers to hold the rubber out of the way? But, you could get some gas on your fingers and die a slow death!

[rodekyll]

Two fingers?  Your big, meaty hamhooks, Ken, or what me and the rest of the world got?  Where's Slasher when you need him?  He'd show you two fingers . . . one on each hand.              <-- near beer 

Seriously though, even with Ken's hands it's a messy job and gloves suffer.  So you gotta dismount and disrobe to use them.  Peeves me.  When I encountered one (increasingly) in Oregon, I made the pump jockey do the fill, warning him about spilling.  Poor kids are terrified.

One day one handed me a flat bondo spreader (yellow-size) and told me to do the fill myself, I'd like it.  Just hold the spreader on its edge and compress the foreskin with the upper edge.  As long as there's no bondo left to fall into the tank, they work good.  I took it with me, telling the kid that all the pump attendants from here on will thank him.

[pete roper]

I notice that no one is saying "I certainly wouldn't want to operate the pump without this device in place and working, since it prevents gasoline fumes from polluting the atmosphere.   Thank goodness they're there for us ..."

Instead, we all (me included and especially) imply "Another piece of Elfin Safety regulatory-mandated bureaucrap ... but I've got a way around it!"

I think the last of my support of this kind of thing died when the sale of small dirt bikes was stopped (for a while, a short while thanks to Malcolm Smith and the team) because the battery terminals were made of lead, they were used by "children" and it was feared that the child might gnaw on the battery terminals if not properly supervised .....

Lannis

While it might seem like overkill I really see no harm in using a vapour collection system. Certainly in a city like LA every little bit helps when trying to preserve air quality. For the vast majority of vehicles using a shrouded bowser handle is no more inconvenient than an unshrouded one. For those who are dismayed by the inconvenience, (I really never gave it a second thought after I'd figured out how the wretched things worked!) isn't this the absolute and complete definition of a 'First World Problem'? It's like people who get their panties all wadded up because some Guzzis have their oil filter inside the sump! I mean really?? If these sorts of things are the biggest cricies you ever encounter in your life you're pretty damn lucky!

Pete

[normzone]

Way back in the previous century when those gadgets were a new phenom and I still thought pumping gas was a fun job, I ran an old school pump it yourself or pay more to have me do it station.

I had a few women who said they wished they knew how to pump their own so they could get the lower price - this was in Sausalito during an oil market manipulation, with higher prices of course.

I happily showed them all the tricks. I loved it when they would return and describe their husbands shock and astonishment when they jumped out and pumped their own.

I never insert the nozzle to depress the boot on a bike. That's for cars. Manage the thing by hand, like a man (and many capable women) do.