TOPIC:

Re: I don't recall where I read this, but I do recall this topic somewhere (could have been another site and another bike) and My recollection is that it was to prevent a "lock" in the hose if road-water got up into the draining end of the hose which was theorized to cause a vacuum in the tank which we know will cause fuel starvation. So I'm suggesting it is not a valve assembly of any type. It simply provides a volumous area for interrupting the "sucking-in" of water

This service bulletin must have come out before Kawasaki introduced the breather tube fitting which looks like a fuel filter with no guts. Nice piece of history there Scotch. Where did you find the service bulletin?

I Googled "KZ1300 manual" and got a page full of various manual photos. The Bulletin was among them.

Hi all, my old '79 has a worn latch on the gas cap so if I fill her right up I get some fuel leaking out around the cap, I am going to look at it one day, the reason I mention this here is that i'm pretty sure the vent line is blocked, I've tried compressed air both ways and even tried to stick a wire down the tube but nothing seems to get it's way thru, any ideas on how to clear the line ?, I don't want to force anything down there as i'm afraid that I may puncture the line and don't want to stuff up the tank having fuel piss out the overflow from a hole in the line somewhere inside the tank, at present with the slightly loose cap it runs ok but would like to have the cap seal better, thanks for any suggestions, cheers Pete.

Well the first thing that comes to mind, you need Roto-Rooter but this is not a domestic plumbing issue. That being said, what you need is a flexible tool like a roto-rooter to snake up that tube and clear out the blockage. I would imagine it's dirt , crud etc. So, would you happen to have an old speedometer inner cable laying around you'd be willing to butcher? I'm thinking that inner cable should be smaller in diameter than the tube. and if you ran the cut end of the cable up the tube using a drill, it would probably clear the tube.
Just a thought,
KB

Yeh was thinking of that, maybe something like the internal coiled spring of a curtain wire thingy, you can hang curtains up using this stuff, it's usually got a plastic cover on it so just cut that off ???, maybe a speedo or tach cable, just a bit worried about the first bend in the pipe either way, the bend into the tank at the cap end or that other bend at the drain end, maybe fill it with WD-40 first and let soak for a while, might look at making a flat end on it to sort of cut it's way thru ???, cheers Pete.