i was told to leave mine on and have done for the last few years. it just seems to be one thing after another at the mo............ thanks guys for your help. i just hope i can get hold of my 'phone a friend' tomozz   hugs xx                                                                                                                                                                             

Hi willow The fuel tap is there to be used as & when needed it wont make the slightest bit of differance wether you use it once a year or once a day as long as the diaphram is in good condition but with older bikes like ours its always worth checking for splits & crap stuck in there, its also worth taking the tap out & checking that the filter inside is still attached & not blocked.... Eg if its not there you will use all the fuel in the tank no matter where the tap is set   No pressure in the tank, eg no return as such so the only thing that can be wrong with the fuel cap is a blocked breather, run the bike with the cap removed to check   The next thing in line on a cbr is another filter you can check if its clean by running some fresh fuel through it & if not there is not really any other option but to replace it (with the stock honda one) as you will never clean it out properly   Fuel pump ... does not run constantly just cuts in as & when needed to keep the float bowls topped up, if carbs are drained you will feel/hear it topping up as you switch on the ignition, if it keeps running either there is a supply problem (eg no fuel getting to it) or a wiring/ pressure problem allowing the pump to run on, if it runs on you need to check the oil level in the bike as it may have filled the crankcases with fuel, you should also be able to smell this   imo all this needs checking out carefully & then you need to strip & clean the carbs, set the float heights & finally balance the carbs   sorry for the long post, just trying to cover all options lol   scoobs                                                                                                                                                                                        

ooh ta scoob.............will ave to print off all the help...............cheers folks............... my pal is going to get his bike trailer out and take my bike to another pals garage tomorrow or friday..............fingers crossed                                                                                                                                                                             

bike hopefully going on a trailer to pals garage tomorrow.............let's hope it's nothing too bad.......i'll let you all know. once again, thanks for all your help and support..sorry, but no free pints this time! am totaly skint now and need to save pennies for farmyard...lets hope bike fixed for then. thanks folks xxxxxxxxxxxxx hugs everyone xxxxxxxxxxxx                                                                                                                                                                             

 a quiet weekend ahead for me now !! sob sob...............lol,,,,,,,,,,,,good news tho, bikes on it's wasy to garage on the back of a trailer! fingers crossed it#'s not too serious....   i'm going to scour the events now to see what i can get upto without a bike !!! lol............. thanks once again for all your help folks xxx                                                                                                                                                                             

you might have a drop of water from contaminated petrol or condensation in your tank had exactly the same fun with a friends reliant trike where the tank sat back slightly and water built up in it,  more or less the same if you dont use reserve once in a blue moon .  plus water will pass through a filter and sit in the bottom of the float chambers and cause the problems you are having...... hope this helps