MTFCA Forum

Hello.
I am wondering about the gas sediment bulb in my '16 Touring. The bulb body is cast iron, the gas stopcock with handle and side cover are made of brass.

Initially I only wanted to get the stopcock working again, but heat and even some brute force (of course with bulb held in a vise, not at the bottom of the gas tank) didn't change anything. The valve was absolutely fixed. Finally I found out that somebody must have drilled a hole from top down into the bulb also through the valve. Then a piece of copper pipe was pressed and soldered in. I can see the solder around the copper pipe. I can push a 1/4" wire through entire bulb from top to bottom. It was also impossible to open the side cover, and I cannot see any gasket. Most probably it is also soldered in.
I guess this sediment bulb was leaking and "repaired" in the past in this very brute way.

So I finally bought a new "brass sediment bulb" as replacement from Lang's - to get the gas path into reliable condition. It is all brass and everything is fine. Now I also can pull the engine without having to dump all gas first.

But I am still wondering:
Did cast iron sediment bulbs with brass parts really exist?

Yes they existed. Go to Vowell Art for technical drawings. You will see how it is put together. The on-off valve is brass and the body is cast iron.

Hi, Dallas.

Thank you very much for this drawing and details.

Well, I can clearly see there is no copper pipe of ~2-3 inches length and inner diameter of ~1/4" inserted from top into the bulb, reaching out 1/2" from the short stud above the R1/2" thread. Also, the hole through the valve appears lots smaller in this drawing, it looks like 1/8" (as it is in my new brass bulb).

So my initial diagnosis (that this sediment bulb was brutally reworked) is correct. If I get this bulb apart, it will never work again, so I will keep it as spare, in case that the now installed brass one starts leaking (and I hope this will last very long).

Thanks a lot for your kindly help!