gas filled inside of the t/body after the engine was turned off

[No Cents]

 I've never had this happen to me before. This happened to my 08 FLHX today. I ran around today on the bike doing some errands and I maybe put 80 miles it today. The bike ran perfect and when I got home I turned the bike off and I went into the house for about 10 minutes. When I walked back out into the barn I could smell a strong odor of gas. I walked over to the bike and my air filter was dripping gas out of it profusely all down the side of my bike. 
I quickly unplugged the fuel line and I took my air cleaner off so I could roll the butterfly back on the t/body to take a look inside. When I did the whole inside of my t/body was filled with gas. I took some paper towels and soaked the gas up in the t/body...which was a lot. I used a long wrench to push the paper towels towards the valves to soak up all the gas I could. I then moved both injectors back and forth a few times and then I plugged the fuel line back on. The bike fired right up and seemed to run fine. So I cleaned my gas soaked K&N air filter in a bucket with Dawn dish soap and I let it dry. I've fired the bike back up a half dozen times and everything seems normal again. Is it possible an injector just stuck open? 
Has anyone ever seen this kind of thing happen before? 

[Ohio HD]

Ray if it were lots of fuel, there almost had to be something allowing the pump to run, and also keep an injector or both open. There is some pressure and fuel after the bikes shut off, and if an injector were to stick open mechanically, you may see some fuel, but only as much as the fuel line could hold. But it sounds like a lot of fuel from what you describe.

[Ancient]

Very odd. Just thinking if you had a piston stop toward the bottom of the intake stroke with the valve still open that could have been ugly! An injector open and the pump running with the main switch off?

You been to church lately?

[tmwmoose]

Would get this back in the carb days of course. I lean the bike to the right as much as possible then open the throttle unless its on a table lift. Then I remove the plugs and cover the plug holes with some rags and turn the motor over to expel any gas in the heads , wouldn't think it would take to much excess to do some harm ..just saying. good luck!

[Ohio HD]

Ray, just as a safety precaution, maybe pull the system fuse overnight, or until you maybe know what happened.

[harleytuner]

I really doubt the pump was running,  sounds like a stuck injector to me.  The fuel is still under pressure when you shut  the bike off, injector is open,

[chipthedonkey]

I would have been really worried to fire the bike as you did.  Worried that one hole was maybe close to hydrolocking like in the old carb days.  Just to be less worried if it ever happened again I'd pull both plugs and spin the motor over before ever trying to start it up the first time.

[rbabos]

I read about one exact thing last year and don't remember the outcome. If an injector sticks it's only a couple tea spoons and the pressure is off the system. At the time it was questioned if the fuel could drain from gravity past the pump if an injector offered a path for the drain.
Ron

[No Cents]

   I'm not sure what caused it to do what it did.    The bike was turned off and the fuel pump wasn't running.
I'm glad I walked back out to the barn when I did. I've started the bike a dozen times since it's happened and I have ridden it twice for a total of maybe 20 miles. All seems fine now. I checked for codes and there wasn't any. It honestly freaked me out when I seen how much gas was dripping out of my air cleaner. The t/body was full enough with gas that even with the bike on the kick stand it filled the t/body up enough so the gas level was high enough to run out my heavy breather intake tube enabling it to soak my air filter with gas. I did run 4 ounces of Sea Foam thru my last tank of gas. Maybe it loosened some dirt and it held the injector open after I shut it off.    But I'm just guessing. I just thought it was weird...I've never seen an EFI bike do that before.

  Brian...I'm going to pull the main fuse for the night right after I type this...just as a pre-caution.

Ron...there was more than any teaspoon of gas lost. I'd say I lost close to a quart of gas...if not more.

[PoorUB]

It would be pretty easy to pull the fuel line off the back of the throttle body and see if the fuel will gravity feed from the tank. Personally, I think it will.

[harleytuner]

. Personally, I think it will.

Yep, me to

[Ohio HD]

. Personally, I think it will.

Yep, me to

It may very well, I was making an assumption the pump would act as a valve when off. Hopefully it actually does this, and a stuck injector then makes sense, and is an easy fix.

[wolf_59]

I read about one exact thing last year and don't remember the outcome. If an injector sticks it's only a couple tea spoons and the pressure is off the system. At the time it was questioned if the fuel could drain from gravity past the pump if an injector offered a path for the drain.
Ron

I remember a post on the same thing also

[Ohio HD]

http://www.harleytechtalk.com/htt/index.php?topic=92100.msg1061427#msg1061427


and


http://www.harleytechtalk.com/htt/index.php?topic=92220.msg1063020#msg1063020


Could be more.   

[kd]

Ray, good catch there.

Did you fuel up before coming home? If you had cool fuel in the tank and a hot engine beneath it along with a sticky tank vent, there would be enough pressure to keep feeding the fuel line until it cooled down. The vent may be suspect too. As you said, an almost microscopic spec of dirt in the injector would give the fuel pressure a place to bleed thin gasoline off to. (your engine) By looking at the level of your intake tube you may even be able to determine which injector it was or would have to be to fill the manifold before it drained out to the filter. The horse is probably out of the barn on fuel in the sump now but the sniff test on the oil tank would be in order for me.

BTW,    didn't you make up a handy little tool for back flushing injectors? If you are operating room clean when you do clean them and use a clean white towel to catch the internal discharge, you may see some crud you can analyse.

[98fxstc]

I seem to remember you have a home made injector cleaner Ray
I'd give them both a go 
possible you may have loosened something in the tank with the Seafoam
fingers crossed there is no more coming

OOps kd got it first

[No Cents]

  that's the plan kd & 98. 
I just ran it into town and I fueled it up while I was there. I'm going to go out to the barn and pull the dip stick and give it a good whiff. If I smell any gas...it will immediately go up on the lift and I'll drain the oil out of the pan and the sump...and I'll let it drain over night.
  If it passes the whiff test I'll ride it tomorrow and see if it acts up again. If it does I'll hopefully have ran a 1/2 tank of gas out of it to make the tank a little lighter when I go to pull it. Yes...I'll put my little contraption to work and clean the injectors if it comes to that. I will try to catch what ever comes out of them...if anything does.

[kd]

Ray, if you can access your vent line, pull it of and sniff the vent air you get pumping out the vent when the engine warms up. It should tell you if their is gas in the oil or crankcase. Your short ride may have already evaporated a lot of it. Take the renderings from your ol woodpecker bottle in a dish outside and see if it's volatile enough to burn by putting a match to it.

[No Cents]

   kd...I pulled the dip stick and walked it into the house and got the official nose to smell it "the wifeeepooh". 
I said what do you smell? She said gas  ...so it went up on the lift and I got the pan and sump draining and I will let it drain over night. I got 4 ounces out of the sump and running my finger thru the oil as it was draining out of the sump there might of been the slightest hint of gas...but not much for my nose to tell. 
   I guess tomorrow I'll have to eat my Wheaties before pulling the tank off. I might as well go ahead and pull the injectors and give them a good cleaning while I got the bike up on the lift. It's a shame...I just did an oil change last week and went with all synthetic oil. You know that L/Moly stuff that BUBBIE liked.

[kd]

Well this change will be even cleaner with that low mileage load coming out.  Rig up a Mexican passport and siphon that tank down and it'll get a lot lighter. Then you can flush the heel out, get a look at it for dirt and get any more crud out that remains. Bob's yur Uncle.

[No Cents]

 I pulled the plugs...and it was definitely the front injector that got stuck open. Fresh plugs are in.
I can pull the tank when it's full...I just hate to.
I'll get it pulled off in the morning and get those injectors out and give them the old eye ball...then a good cleaning with that rig I made.
  This was a new one for me. I've never seen an EFI bike flood a t/body like it did after the bike was turned off.

[86fxwg]

Better Change the oil too Ray. Pull plugs & check cylinders. Gas as we all know washes oil of the walls. Not good on rings.

Stuck injectors is not common in the automotive world, but it does happen.


86

[BVHOG]

The fact is they will gravity feed, I have pulled lines off of the throttle body to remove the tank when guys come in with those POS fuel connection chrome covers with the tiny screws that are a bitch to get at.  The line will continue to leak slowly.

[Durwood]

Ray, I would suggest taking your injectors to a local FI company and have them cleaned and tested on their machine....Just a thought.

[HD/Wrench]

I agree I would send them to a shop .. As buying new ones would most likely alter the tune a fair amount .. I swapped out a bad one  a 103 with a cam and had to re tune it .. I was over 10% off on the rear .  So I would try to keep what you have just repair it ..