Warning
I am not a mechanic or a representative of any motorcycle or tool manufacturer or anything else official. This page is only my notes on doing this procedure myself. Although I believe what I have documented here is correct, I make no promises and you do this at your own risk.
Objective
Removing the gas tank on your bike allows access to the engine compartment, and is the first step in servicing the spark plug, cooling system, or the engine itself (e.g. valves).
Tools Required
- Rear stand (recommended)
- Phillips screwdrivers
- Hex wrenches
- Long-nose pliers
- Small container to catch the dribble of gas that comes out of the fuel line
Difficulties & Warnings
Warning: You’re handling a tank filled with gas (hence the name “gas tank”). Work in a well-ventilated area with no flames or sparks and don’t smoke or allow your visitors to smoke.
Some difficulties could be:
- You will spill a small amount of gas (a few ml) from the gas lines.
- You could spill a lot of gas if you forget to turn the petcock off.
- A full gas tank is pretty heavy, and can be hard on your fingers while lifting it out or setting it down.
- Apparently California-model bikes have additional hose connections because of their emissions regulations, so these instructions won’t be complete for those bikes.
Procedure
The tank is held in place with two hex bolts at the rear and two plastic plugs in rubber grommets at the front. It is also connected to the bike by the gas line, a vacuum line, and an overflow drain hose.
First, you must remove the seat. Then:
Turn off the fuel petcock.
Next, double-check that the fuel petcock is in the off position.
Now, locate the short fuel hose connected to the petcock. Using long-nosed pliers to move the spring clip, remove the hose where it connects to the petcock.
A few ml of gas will spill out of the hose. Then leave the hose dangling in the bike.
Next we must remove the fastenings that hold the front of the tank. They are a small screw in the front fairing (circled at top here) and a snap plug behind the lower part of the front fairing (in the area circled at the bottom here).
These fastenings are on both sides of the bike.
Tug the lower rear corner of the front fairing away from the bike, releasing the plastic plug that is pressed into a rubber grommet on the tank (circled in green here — click to enlarge).
Repeat this with the screw and snap plug on the other side of the bike.
Thanks!!!
Nice explanation/demo.
Thanks for the pics. Helps a lot.
Appreciate the walk thru, I’m troubleshooting my cooling fan circuit on my 06.
Awesome presentation. Thanks for taking the time and posting.
Thanks for the presentation, a quick review is always handy when you haven’t done this in a while.
thanks very much; I have owned this klr for 5 years but never worked on it..got tank off, chang3ed plug, checked battery, air filter. now if I can get it back together..thanks!
I thank you for this very clear presentation of the procedure
Thanks for the excellent presentation.
Ah great explanation and picks McDonald’s. I have a hard to answer question. I have a kl600 and fuels going through the Petcock but when I kick the bike over it never finds top dead centre. It just pushes past with 10-30lbs of force from my leg. I took off the carb and cleaned it but couldn’t find much blockages.
Do you think I connected my fuel line from the pet cock to the wrong bottom left hand side inlet on the carb?
Again no pressure to answer. I’m just pulling at some strings. Cheers Ryan Ottawa.