4th gen fuel tank petcock assembly?

[WGREGT]

Boy.

 

Gas sitting in a fuel system and tank is horrendous to a bike. Like a damn bomb went off in my tank. My petcock assembly is in unbelievable shape. Fuel ate one of the strainers completely. It's part number 16950-MT4-672 and of course, now unavailable. Anyone have thoughts on a substitute?

 

Sigh. I LOVED this bike.

[Captain 80s]

"LOVED"?   Like past tense?

 

I think someone found that the CBR1100XX strainer was a fit?  I'm not sure on that. 

 

There are a couple people making adapter plates with an o-ring groove to the tank and a threaded boss to take a Pingel style fuel valve that is readily available.  I bought one last year to future proof myself.

[WGREGT]

No, still love but the realities of older carb bike woes are wearing on me. And I still have the 500 to go with the same probable issues after this one. 
 

You found the Pingel mod here on this forum?

[WGREGT]

re: cbr1100XX idea

 

So...you're saying keep the petcock, and my old strainer, that looks like this (part 6/9):

[WGREGT]

...could be replaced by this (part 3/5):

 

Interesting. I like where your head is at.

[WGREGT]

My petcock was solid-packed with what looked like just...mud/dirt. I mean like I scooped up the yard and crammed it in there. All the way to the fuel outlet. And that's just from sediment in the fuel?? I dug for a while with a pick to even discover that there were two holes in the damn thing. And this came from not riding it for....a couple years?

 

Astounding.

[WGREGT]

so what's the benefit of two strainers (750) vs the one larger strainer (1100)? In some bikes like my ZX, the shorter strainer is for the reserve part of the tank when you manually switch it over. But...the 4th gen doesn't have a reserve tap.

[JZH]

4 hours ago, WGREGT said:

so what's the benefit of two strainers (750) vs the one larger strainer (1100)? In some bikes like my ZX, the shorter strainer is for the reserve part of the tank when you manually switch it over. But...the 4th gen doesn't have a reserve tap.

 

Honda used the same fuel tap on all VFRs at that time, and the ROW bikes did have an external reserve switch.  The US bikes simply had a different plastic knob on the tap, which prevented it from selecting the "main" orifice (which means you got a choice between "off" and "reserve", which was the lowest feed position available).

 

The petcocks are rebuildable, but the OEM strainer piece may not be available separately.

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

[Captain 80s]

This was the discussion regarding the screens

 

https://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/forums/topic/112854-fuel-petcock-filter-is-trash-how-to-replace/#comment-1157684

 

[Captain 80s]

And here is the link to the adapter plate I bought.   It was a nicely machined, quality piece.  I bought the plate only.

 

https://vfrworld.com/threads/vfr-750-new-style-petcock.61955/#post-653698  

 

I've seen someone else's version somewhere, but I can't remember where.

[WGREGT]

Hmmm...the way that plastic OEM one looked coming out of the tank, I'm hesitant to go with a plastic screen material again. But the Pingel one is pricey. You bought the plate only, thinking by the time you need it, there may be another option other than Pingel I bet.

[Captain 80s]

5 minutes ago, WGREGT said:

Hmmm...the way that plastic OEM one looked coming out of the tank, I'm hesitant to go with a plastic screen material again. But the Pingel one is pricey. You bought the plate only, thinking by the time you need it, there may be another option other than Pingel I bet.

 

Yeah, I just didn't need to spend the money on something that will sit in a box, maybe forever.  But I bought the plate to future proof myself.  Fuel valves like the Pingel will likely always be around.

[WGREGT]

Just as an FYI: I had my local dealer look for this petcock on Lightspeed, which searches all of the US dealers to see if anyone has it in their store inventory.

 

Not a single one has old stock, apparently. Wonder if Europe/the UK has something like Lightspeed?

[JZH]

There are various online sources, but parts this old are usually not stocked in Honda warehouses anyway.  eBay for a used one is probably your only option for OEM.  

 

I haven't looked at one of these for a while, but there should be a way to attach some kind of tube/strainer to the OEM petcock, but you'd have to design and manufacture it yourself.  Making something that would have a functional "reserve" would be more of a challenge, but for just on and off, all you'd need is some way of fitting a filter screen (or forget about it and let the fuel filter deal with everything!)

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

[WGREGT]

My other bike (ZX) now has in-tank filter screen issues as well. Know anyone who sells JUST replacement (hopefully metal) screens where I could just swap them out? Or maybe a DIY solution?

[Captain 80s]

The petcocks from bike model to bike model can be very different, even within the same manufacturer.  So the screen is going to be just as unique.  A product like that wouldn't be one-size-fits-all.  If there was anybody making metal replacements I'm pretty sure it would have surfaced in one of the several other threads about this exact topic already.

 

DIY solution is just that:

Do

It

Yourself 

 

I would just eliminate it and maybe run a cleanable metal mesh type filter ahead of your OEM filter if you are concerned about larger debris in your tank.  On some designs you may need to maintain the bad strainer to properly locate the small o-ring.  I would cut away the failing plastic mesh if it needs to stay. 

 

[WGREGT]

On 2/17/2026 at 4:03 AM, JZH said:

 

Honda used the same fuel tap on all VFRs at that time, and the ROW bikes did have an external reserve switch.  The US bikes simply had a different plastic knob on the tap, which prevented it from selecting the "main" orifice (which means you got a choice between "off" and "reserve", which was the lowest feed position available).

 

The petcocks are rebuildable, but the OEM strainer piece may not be available separately.

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

So...in the pic you can see that my shorter straw (the reserve) is shot to hell. But this bike doesn't have a reserve setting here in the US. So what would be the harm of just cutting the rest of that straw off and/or just plugging that hole under it with a small plate or RTV fuel-resistant gasket in a tube? Since I don't use that straw anyhow...would there be an issue with fuel rate cut in half/slower?

 

Or maybe both straws pull all the time anyhow? IN that case I could always cut some strainer mesh and epoxy it to the backside of the base maybe?

 

 

[Captain 80s]

You don't need a reserve tube.  You can't access it anyway.  You just need some way to locate the o-ring around the base of the strainer piece for sealing.

 

"fuel resistant" RTV is just that... resistant.  It WILL FAIL.

 

Pick a VERY GOOD 2-part epoxy if you need to hold a stainless short length ring that puts the o-ring in the right place to seal.  Then run a pre-strainer as I posted before to catch any big stuff before the OEM filter if needed.

 

Time to get creative but think about failure points.  They will rear their ugly head.

[WGREGT]

Yeah that pic was before it went thru the ultrasonic cleaner a few times. The base is clean and intact and will fit into the petcock nice and tight still. I've got a box of new orings and have many that fit the base to tank part.  I think JBWeld 2 part epoxy is ok to be submerged in fuel but I'll double check that. You're thinking about wire mesh sheet, rolled into a tube, and epoxied around the failed strainer at the bottom?

The oring set into the groove on the base fine and level with the strainer set in the base. I just need to either pretty-up this reserve tube or cut it off and either plug that hole entirely or put a small mesh screen over it. 

 

But no issue with plugging it and reducing fuel flow to the engine? I know there's no reserve tap but fuel still flows thru the reserve hole in the base and thru the petcock itself, right?

 

 

[WGREGT]

Yeah I still have the OEM in-line strainer on the 750 but I'll check it when I get back to that bike. Got it ready to pull carbs out but got sucked back into the ZX carb issues. Hope to clear the ZX this week if the mailman does his part. I sleep uneasy just thinking about the 750 carb bank after seeing the tank and petcock. 

[WGREGT]

OR...cut off the lower damaged part of BOTH tubes cleanly, and adhere to OEM base?

[WGREGT]

I guess what I’m trying to clarify is that I know there’s no reserve setting on the petcock which, if there was, would turn off the main tube and only let gas through the reserve tube.

 

Since there’s no reserve setting, from the looks of the petcock, I thought fuel flows through both tubes all of the time. Anybody know for sure? If not, I could just cut off the reserve tube completely or plug it. But if that’s the case, then why have it at all? Just Honda parts laziness?

[Captain 80s]

I used the wrong words above regarding reserve.  I had a margarita before tacos.

 

Does not flow thru both.   The design is from the 1990-1993 VFR where the rest of the world got a fuel select knob in the upper cowl.  US did not, so they they modified the petcock selector plate and stops to be "ON" (which is actually RES) or OFF, drawing fuel thru the lowest portion only.

[WGREGT]

Which means I can’t get rid of the reserve tube completely or block the reserve hole in the petcock itself then. Have to have that hole open. Ok. 

[Captain 80s]

I should have pulled my RC36 box down to refresh my memory.  Perhaps the US version doesn't have an "ON" brass tube that the plastic strainer would slide over.  I may have failed to remember that.

 

Does it look like this, or does it still have a brass tube?  It would be in the hole on the right, closest to the selector knob.