ThumbUpWell thought I'd install an aux. fuel tank during the winter (non riding Months) I bought the CSC aux fuel tank for a measly $600 for a plastic molded tank with two fuel lines and grommets. First they sent me the wrong mounting bracket then after about 10 days they replaced it with the correct one. Well after two weeks of tearing my trike apart and disconnecting about 100 wire connecters I finally got the aux. tank installed. I poured about 1 gallon of gas in the main tank and let it set about 1 hour to make sure no leaks. All seemed O.K.. Well then I came in the house and took a shower to get the gas smell off and went back out to the trike and thought great no leaks. After that I poured another 4 gallons of gas in the main tank and viola! Leak from one of the nut inserts on the aux. tank. It was a bad leak dripping about every second. Now what to do? Siphon all the gas back out and start again from scratch. What a job. Well I got some of the 4 gallons of fuel out by siphoning. but still gas in the aux. tank that wouldn't flow into the main tank so I'd be able to siphon it out. Called Will at CSC and he said put low pressure air in the aux. tank to force the fuel out of the aux. tank into the main tank. I did that but had to buy a pump to pull the fuel out of the main tank again as it wouldn't pick up the siphon. Well at this point my wife was about to divorce me for stinking up the garage with gasoline again. Note! This was the second time to siphon out the fuel from the main tank.
Finally got the remaining fuel out of the main tank and pulled the fuel pump and the fuel level float out of the main tank again. Please note the fuel pump lock ring tool was $130 from Honda Had to buy that too. So back to square one. Now I'm back to disconnecting all the wires again and removing the battery and related wiring to allow the main tank to be rotated to be removed. (See Fred Harmon's video) Will at CSC indicated that all these tanks are pressure tested for leaks before shipping. All except the one they sent me?
The one they sent me leaks around the threaded insert on the right lower mount (while sitting on the trike). Will at CSC indicated that when they molded the threaded insert into the plastic tank they put extra plastic around the inside of the threaded insert to avoid these types of problems and he indicated that they've had very few leaks with these aux. tanks. I guess I'm just lucky? Well Will asked, and I did, provide him with Pictures of the leak with the tank installed on my trike. It's really hard for a 74 yr. old gent to get under the trike and take pictures with a digital camera laying on my back.
I emailed him three pictures of the leak. Had no leaks from the grommets or the fuel line connections but now since I've had to remove the fuel lines and tanks (both of them) I'll be needing new grommets for all four connections. He said he'd get another aux. tank shipped on Monday but last time it took over a week to travel from the east coast to Central Oregon. By the way he asked that I send the bad leaking tank back to them at my expense. Not likely!
I asked him to forward a UPS pickup slip so that I could return the bad tank to them and not have to pay for shipping it back. We'll see how that turns out? By the way I installed the tank without removing the bodywork from the trike. It's a bear doing it that way but I didn't want to go to the extra work to remove all the trunks and fenders. I'll admit I wouldn't do it again. I'd let the installer of the trike kit do it before installing all the exterior fiberglass has to be much easier. I hope no-one else has to go through this much trouble? By the way I've been a mechanic for over 50 yrs. both automobile, motorcycle and have an airplane mechanics license.
Don't try this if you're not comfortable with wiring and all phases of mechanical work. (And plenty of tools) I'll let you know what the outcome of this project is. If you're thinking of an aux. tank have it installed when you order the trike. Just my experience. Alan Sisters, Oregon See my latest posts all is well now!!
Last edited:
