I have three 2009 DR 650's all modified for an up coming trip to south america from calgary this july with my wife son and I , the question is on my son's and my bike we have Safari tanks and my wife has an IMS now only my sons bike is having difficulty running for more than a minute or two after starting it, so we put the stock tank back on and it runs great we have check the vacuum hose while the Safari tank is on but cannot find any leaks (hose is plugged as per install instructions)or loose hoses it just won't run more than a minute or two and after it stalls you cannot get it started again until you wait for an hour or so.
Another thing is when he has the stock tank on I notice his engine run allot better than my wife and mine much smoother and quicker response from the throttle. Is there a way to connect the Vacuum hose to the safari tank that would help fuel flow so it will run as smooth as the stock tanks.?

Any input would be appreciated

Freedom Rider:

You have a lot of fuel in his tank, like, above reserve? The Safari / DR combination can have an issue with fuel delivery at reserve and below because the carb inlet pipe points straight up ... you didn't mention that, so I'm wondering ...

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Thanks for the reply Ride Far

Yes there is plenty of fuel , funny thing is this bike did run with the Safari setup for several weeks prior to this problem.

Freedom Rider

Hello Michael.
As per my other posts regarding fuel problems.
Go to the source first.

If you had a 1 gallon can and soldered an outlet pipe in the bottom and hung it up some where above the carb with fuel in it and block the vacume pipe
then the bike would run ok. Yes No? try it any old container that can be hung up with a pipe and petcock in the system. also helpful gadget when your working on the bike and dont want a huge fuel tank in the way also good for checking fuel consumption. Drive until it runs out how many miles/klm's have I done

Two things:- this can be done on the bench

1. drain the tank and remove the fuel cock check that there are no flakes of plastic or other junk that are interfering with fuel flow. Check the fuel cock that nothing is blocking it

2. put fuel in the safari tank of course the less air in the tank the better as the fuel will probably pull a vacum.

observe that you have a good flow from the petcock. Try this with the fuel cap secuerly in place and see how long the fuel runs for. if it is a good flow for a minute or two and slows down or stops remove the cap and see what happens alowing the fuel to run all the time.
they are the two main things now follow the system to the carb and ensure that nothing is blocking it there , I am a big fan of filtering so check any in-line filters and if not fitted .. fit one

Hope this helps

Il be watching the posts so if there are other things that younotice please let us all know

Take care
Kind regards
Champ

Champ

Thank you very much for the info I will let you know if it worked.

Freedom Rider

You could have pinched the vent line or have a bad gas cap.
The first thing I would do is to pull the vent line off the top of the cap and try to run it. If that does not work switch gas caps on the two Safari tanks and see if it will run then.
You could also have air in the Fuel line as Mark suggested. Pull the gas line off the carb ( while you are there check the little filter in the carb inlet) turn the petcock on and let gas flow. While it is flowing stick it back on the inlet. That should cure an air locked fuel line until you let it run dry again!

Champ

At the moment I have been to busy to get back to the bike , but I will add my results to this thread when I do.

Thanks for your interest

Freedom Rider

I finally go back to my vacuum problem and it turned out not to be a vacuum
problem at all , on the DR 650 the fuel intake tube is bent in a 90 straight up
and when you have the rubber fuel line on it also starts of by going up as well
taking away at least 3" of fuel in the bottom of the tank.I now have to find a way to lower this elbow in order to be able to use to all the fuel in the tank.

Freedom Rider

Dude that’s what I said in post #2 …

Here’s how I fixed mine. Removed carb, let inlet pipe/carb connection steep in Liquid Wrench overnite.

Used my vise with some rubber strips to protect the inlet pipe metal.

Position inlet pipe in the vise and tighten vise. I had mine between the two clamps on the left side of the vise.

IMPORTANT – you want the pipe connection point to the carb as flush & tight as possible in the vise. This is to prevent kinking the pipe. If you have even 1mm or 2mm space you risk kinking the pipe.

So with the pipe connection as flush & tight in the vise as possible, you move the full carb. It took a LOT of force to move it and yes it is a little nerve-wracking. Finally, it gave way just slightly -- you can feel it give.

I removed from vise, examined, and repeated the procedure about four times until I had it where I wanted it (9 o'clock, which has worked fine). It gets a little easier once the first movement is made.

One time I was a little careless and didn’t have the pipe fully flush in the vise. Result – a slight kink. No big deal but lesson learned.

Some guys have tried to do this with vise grips or some kind of wrench, with bad results.

Some more info here. Good luck. Carby mod to suit 33 litre Aqualine tank - ThumperTalk

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Ride Far

I know you told me but at the time it looked like there was plenty of
fuel so it didn't dawn on me until I tried a few things.
Thanks for the example on how to correct the issue.

Michael Madill
Freedom Rider

8mm x 8mm Elbow Hose Connector (Tefen) Pack Of 2 on eBay (end time 13-Mar-10 09:29:51 GMT)

Plastic elbow joint should solve your problem..

That's an 8mm one. Not sure on the diametre of the DR650 fuel lines.

You can get curved connectors too but I couldnt find them on ebay.

Also, using stainless braided fuel hose (very hard to kink) could solve your problem too.

Braided Fuel Line, Hose, 130mm, 8mm internal diameter on eBay (end time 05-Apr-10 12:12:45 BST)

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Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Hey Michael,

Im looking to buy a 30L Safari tank for a DR650, can you let me know where and how much you paid for it ?

So far im looking at JustGasTanks.com $550 us + shipping to Canada

Do you know anyone who sells it in Canada ?

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Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca