Gas tank blowed up !

Catmandu2

Catmandu2

Joined
Sep 22, 2015
Messages
81
Location
Wasaga Beach, Ont. Canada
Bike
'04 ST1300 Blue STar
It blowed up real good !! Forgive me,,, that's an old comedy line from the Second City comedy group. But my upper gas tank did blow up (inflated like a party balloon),, which I think is fair to say,, that's pretty uncommon. It is now 5 inches wider,,, and about 2 inches thicker,, so destroyed,,, and will only make a pretty wall piece,,, for the bike barn. First,,, I want to thank Gordow,,, for helping me get a great replacement. His 2006 black tank is a drop in fit,,, for my 2012,, despite the different joiner elbow hose. I also replaced the evap cannister,,, which I think will prove to be root cause. So how did this happen,,, well,, this bike,, ThunderSTruck, is 14 years old,, and I have been riding it for 5 years. I have always noticed that it built a bit of pressure in the tank/s,,, compared to my 2004,, which never has any pressure. But all our articles and video's on the issue (fish bubbling in the tank,, etc) opined that, as long as the bike is running fine,,, it's just a peculiar charactoristic of some of our st13's. Well,,, that changed as I rode home,, in hot 34c weather,, and after 60 minutes riding,, and cruising through a 60kph reduced speed zone,,,, POW,,, the tank tried to leave bike !! Considerable force was generated at whatever pressure was in the tank over the large area's of the upper and lower tank shells. The lower rear tank sections (by my knees) flared out 2.5 inches on each side. The lower tank shell "oil canned) down a couple of inches in various places,,, jacking the tank up against the intake box,,, and tearing the front mounting bracket nearly off. There was a large release of gas fumes,, but I got the bike stopped and shut down pretty quickly. As I realized there was obviously elevated tank pressure Opening the gas cap allowed a huge amount of pressure out. But the bike was running fine,,, despite blowing up,,, LOL,,, so I caught my breath,,, and it started up fine, and rode another 10 minutes to home. That's where I noticed how badly the side fairings were distorted. Once I had it apart,,, I knew the tank was toast,,, and after a short search,,, found the ideal candidate with Gordow. So this was pretty exciting,,, having the tank blow up,, between you legs,, at speed. Good thing it doesn't happen every day,,, cause the tank is an expensive item to replace !! ThunderSTruck is back in service now,,, running great,,, and exhibiting zero pressure in the tank/s. At some point,, I will bandsaw the evap cannister open,,, as one of it's ports seems a bit flow restricted. btw,,, I did test the evap solonoid/valve,,, and it functions normally, and it's still in the bike. So I just wanted to relate my experience with all this too any other owners who are getting a bit of pressure in the tank/s,,, and like me,,, accepted that as manageable. Cheers,,, CAt'

20260519_222212.jpg20260601_201605.jpg
 
Catmandu2 said:
It blowed up real good !! Forgive me,,, that's an old comedy line from the Second City comedy group. But my upper gas tank did blow up (inflated like a party balloon),, which I think is fair to say,, that's pretty uncommon. It is now 5 inches wider,,, and about 2 inches thicker,, so destroyed,,, and will only make a pretty wall piece,,, for the bike barn. First,,, I want to thank Gordow,,, for helping me get a great replacement. His 2006 black tank is a drop in fit,,, for my 2012,, despite the different joiner elbow hose. I also replaced the evap cannister,,, which I think will prove to be root cause. So how did this happen,,, well,, this bike,, ThunderSTruck, is 14 years old,, and I have been riding it for 5 years. I have always noticed that it built a bit of pressure in the tank/s,,, compared to my 2004,, which never has any pressure. But all our articles and video's on the issue (fish bubbling in the tank,, etc) opined that, as long as the bike is running fine,,, it's just a peculiar charactoristic of some of our st13's. Well,,, that changed as I rode home,, in hot 34c weather,, and after 60 minutes riding,, and cruising through a 60kph reduced speed zone,,,, POW,,, the tank tried to leave bike !! Considerable force was generated at whatever pressure was in the tank over the large area's of the upper and lower tank shells. The lower rear tank sections (by my knees) flared out 2.5 inches on each side. The lower tank shell "oil canned) down a couple of inches in various places,,, jacking the tank up against the intake box,,, and tearing the front mounting bracket nearly off. There was a large release of gas fumes,, but I got the bike stopped and shut down pretty quickly. As I realized there was obviously elevated tank pressure Opening the gas cap allowed a huge amount of pressure out. But the bike was running fine,,, despite blowing up,,, LOL,,, so I caught my breath,,, and it started up fine, and rode another 10 minutes to home. That's where I noticed how badly the side fairings were distorted. Once I had it apart,,, I knew the tank was toast,,, and after a short search,,, found the ideal candidate with Gordow. So this was pretty exciting,,, having the tank blow up,, between you legs,, at speed. Good thing it doesn't happen every day,,, cause the tank is an expensive item to replace !! ThunderSTruck is back in service now,,, running great,,, and exhibiting zero pressure in the tank/s. At some point,, I will bandsaw the evap cannister open,,, as one of it's ports seems a bit flow restricted. btw,,, I did test the evap solonoid/valve,,, and it functions normally, and it's still in the bike. So I just wanted to relate my experience with all this too any other owners who are getting a bit of pressure in the tank/s,,, and like me,,, accepted that as manageable. Cheers,,, CAt'

20260519_222212.jpg20260601_201605.jpg
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Glad you have ThunderStruck back together and still moving. Glad I was able to help you out. Gordon
 
Holy Gee Golly Wow.
First I've ever heard of THAT happening with this bike!
So, I guess that makes YOU the first person I've ever heard of, to survive it!
 
TerryS said:
Sounds like you have created the mythical ST1300 "Extended Range" with a now 40L gas tank!
Click to expand...
Right,,, Terry,, got to look on the bright side !! CAt'
Andrew Shadow said:
That must have been exciting!

I would be inclined to have a look at the fuel cap as well. Regardless of a failure elsewhere the cap is supposed to release excess fuel tank pressure
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Yes,,, that actually did happened,, Andrew,,, as I described there was an initial release of gasoline vapors when I was moving. That would have been when the pressure overcame the caps seal. But that reduced the pressure so that the cap was able to reseal,,, and of course by the time I stopped the bike and got my ignition key into the cap, and opened it finally releasing the remaining pressure. Peak pressure would also have been reduced as a result of the tank expanding. It was a pretty chaotic event,,, over in 10 to 15 seconds,, estimated,,, including stopping the bike from roadspeed. It's not the type of thing that one trains for,,, lol,,, CAt'
 
Andrew Shadow said:
That must have been exciting!

I would be inclined to have a look at the fuel cap as well. Regardless of a failure elsewhere the cap is supposed to release excess fuel tank pressure is it not?
Click to expand...
see post #6,, Andrew,,, somehow I got my replies mixed up. I inspected my cap, before installing it in the replacement tank,,, and it operates normally. For those who wonder,,, there is no vent in the cap. The ST13's evap system is mostly sealed while the bike is running and vapor is sucked up into the throttle bodies. Once the bike is shut off,, the vapors are stored in the evap charcoal cannister,,, until they can be drawn off on the next start. I understand it meets a California emission spec. cheers, CAt'
 
Andrew Shadow said:
I wasn't referring to the fuel cap seal. The fuel cap has a two-way valve in it to relieve both pressure and vacuum as/if required.
Click to expand...
hmmm,,, I didn't see that,,, but there are two square holes on the bottom of the cap,,, and both are outside the cap seal. I did try to move air in both directions thru those holes in the caps on both my bikes,,, but neither flowed. The 2004 has never had a tank pressure problem. And, the 2012 doesn't have one now,,, and there have not been any changes to the caps. CAt'

ps: maybe the initial blow off was thru the 2 way valve that you mention ??
 
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