Post by wayne on Apr 14, 2018 19:11:50 GMT -5
Be sure to scroll down and read all the posts in this FAQ thread. There are several solutions.
There's at least 3 ways these units can leak.
1: Via the mounting screws. There is a rubber washer that should be under the heads of these screws. Make sure they haven't been tossed and replaced with regular flat washers. I've personally found that a little bit of plumber's tape around threads in these types of applications can help as well.
2: Around the mounting face under the tank. Easily fixed by buying a new O ring.
3: From around the red plastic square under the unit (see photo above). This one is a little tougher to fix. The sealant material used on the fuel side of the unit eventually breaks down and the leak can become quite severe very quickly.
Obviously, you'll need to remove the sensor unit from the tank. Then clean all the gooey black muck away from where the wire is soldered at the base of the unit.
There have been a number of successful repairs. I believe some people on the board have used JB Weld (if you're in the US) which is a putty like material. In Australia, you could try Devcon Putty Steel or Putty Aluminium.
I've used Semkit SHK3696 aviation fuel tank sealant. It's sold on UK ebay and is out of date aviation fuel tank sealant. Works fine. Anything used officially in Aerospace would have very conservative "use-by" dates I'm sure.
I've repaired two or three several years ago now and know of another successful repair done by an owner. Dig out all the black sealant shown in the photo below and reseal it. Best if you can assemble several fuel sender units as once opened, this stuff must be used or discarded. It's pretty noxious which usually means it's very good at its job.
NOTE: Member HGH 770N found: "I have used the Aviation chemical a few years ago and although the chemical is not affected by the fuel, I found the bond onto the sender itself failed and leak started again. I found a better solution is to replace the insulated rivet with a stainless nut and bolt with 2 Viton seals & washers and a eyelet for the wire".
I've had no problem with bonding. Aviation fuel tanks are often made of aluminium as is the fuel sender unit in the RE5. I include the above as HGH is an experienced spanner man and his comment is worth noting.
EDIT: It's now 2020. I did my first repair with Semkit in 2012. It's now failed and the failure was sudden. No leak whatsoever to a steady drip almost overnight. So, 8 years.
By the way, I've also had NOS units leak almost immediately on use. The goo Suzuki used has age deteriorated even without fuel exposure. So don't spend hundreds on a NOS thinking it's going to assuredly fix your problem.
Pencil pointing to the seal. This is an NOS unit but I wouldn't trust it. The seal is so soft it's been flowing down into the groove the O ring would sit in:
Fuel Sensor Unit Trivia
One of the few things that Suzuki got really right. On many RE5's, rider's notice how accurate the red dashboard fuel warning light can be. Generally speaking, when that light comes on, you may as well switch to reserve because it's within a minute or so of actually occurring.
Did you know that there are at least two different fuel sensor heights ? I can't confirm if there are a similar number of fuel tap standpipe heights. But I'd imagine if you mismatched your fuel sensor with your fuel tap, the magic of your accurate low fuel warning light may disappear.
Here are two fuel sensor units. Note the difference in height:
Here is, what I think is an early model, fuel tap standpipe matched with it's correct height fuel sensor:
Here is a different model RE5 fuel sensor with the same standpipe:
More than you ever wanted to know. But hey, I didn't ask you to read this far...........
There's at least 3 ways these units can leak.
1: Via the mounting screws. There is a rubber washer that should be under the heads of these screws. Make sure they haven't been tossed and replaced with regular flat washers. I've personally found that a little bit of plumber's tape around threads in these types of applications can help as well.
2: Around the mounting face under the tank. Easily fixed by buying a new O ring.
3: From around the red plastic square under the unit (see photo above). This one is a little tougher to fix. The sealant material used on the fuel side of the unit eventually breaks down and the leak can become quite severe very quickly.
Obviously, you'll need to remove the sensor unit from the tank. Then clean all the gooey black muck away from where the wire is soldered at the base of the unit.
There have been a number of successful repairs. I believe some people on the board have used JB Weld (if you're in the US) which is a putty like material. In Australia, you could try Devcon Putty Steel or Putty Aluminium.
I've used Semkit SHK3696 aviation fuel tank sealant. It's sold on UK ebay and is out of date aviation fuel tank sealant. Works fine. Anything used officially in Aerospace would have very conservative "use-by" dates I'm sure.
I've repaired two or three several years ago now and know of another successful repair done by an owner. Dig out all the black sealant shown in the photo below and reseal it. Best if you can assemble several fuel sender units as once opened, this stuff must be used or discarded. It's pretty noxious which usually means it's very good at its job.
NOTE: Member HGH 770N found: "I have used the Aviation chemical a few years ago and although the chemical is not affected by the fuel, I found the bond onto the sender itself failed and leak started again. I found a better solution is to replace the insulated rivet with a stainless nut and bolt with 2 Viton seals & washers and a eyelet for the wire".
I've had no problem with bonding. Aviation fuel tanks are often made of aluminium as is the fuel sender unit in the RE5. I include the above as HGH is an experienced spanner man and his comment is worth noting.
EDIT: It's now 2020. I did my first repair with Semkit in 2012. It's now failed and the failure was sudden. No leak whatsoever to a steady drip almost overnight. So, 8 years.
By the way, I've also had NOS units leak almost immediately on use. The goo Suzuki used has age deteriorated even without fuel exposure. So don't spend hundreds on a NOS thinking it's going to assuredly fix your problem.
Pencil pointing to the seal. This is an NOS unit but I wouldn't trust it. The seal is so soft it's been flowing down into the groove the O ring would sit in:
Fuel Sensor Unit Trivia
One of the few things that Suzuki got really right. On many RE5's, rider's notice how accurate the red dashboard fuel warning light can be. Generally speaking, when that light comes on, you may as well switch to reserve because it's within a minute or so of actually occurring.
Did you know that there are at least two different fuel sensor heights ? I can't confirm if there are a similar number of fuel tap standpipe heights. But I'd imagine if you mismatched your fuel sensor with your fuel tap, the magic of your accurate low fuel warning light may disappear.
Here are two fuel sensor units. Note the difference in height:
Here is, what I think is an early model, fuel tap standpipe matched with it's correct height fuel sensor:
Here is a different model RE5 fuel sensor with the same standpipe:
More than you ever wanted to know. But hey, I didn't ask you to read this far...........