I have a 2005 ninja 250 and recently had a fuel tank leak. I ordered a used tank online and it came to be a California tank with 3 nipples. I have been getting mixed messages on what to do with the 3. Some say plug two up others say

The right tube allows air into the fuel tank through the gas cap as the gas level drops. This tube must remain open.
The middle tube is the drain and should keep the stock routing under the bike in the hose cluster.
The left tube circulates fumes to the emissions system and should be capped off.

http://faq.ninja250.org/images/thumb/c/c2/161779203-S.jpg/300px-161779203-S.jpg

I would appreciate any response that would help and let me know if there is anything else that is needed to put the CA tank on my bike.

Here are some threads that may help. The first one describes what each of the tubes are for on a Cali bike.

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=92715

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=95204

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108620

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9948

Thanks for the response Alex. I have read all those articles but they were the exact opposite of what I am attempting. They all had CA bikes and were installing 49 state tanks. I just have the tank with the 3 nipples. I worked on it today and plugged both the left and right nipples as someone suggested but the bike would not start.

My tank looks exactly like the picture. I have worked on bikes before but this is just my first experience with a CA tank.

Did you see this post in that first thread?

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Hose_routing_for_California_emissions/3_line_fuel_tanks

i re-read this page.

On the 49 state tank there's the one hose outlet (drain).
49 state models have only one hose coming from the rear of the fuel tank. This is a drain hose for fluid that gets in the depression between the filler neck and the top of the tank, from being in the rain or overfilling the tank. Air vents into these tanks

On the Cali tank there's 3 (L-R), with the middle apparently the drain.

The right tube allows air into the fuel tank through the gas cap as the gas level drops. This tube must remain open.
The middle tube is the drain and should keep the stock routing under the bike in the hose cluster (right-hand side of the frame, as discussed above).
The left tube circulates fumes to the emissions system and should be capped off.


I vented the red tube - running it to the left side by the coolant reservoir.
I capped off the third tube (blue stripe) by bending it back and ziptieing (like with landscape irrigation).

I started it up and it ran fine for at least a few minutes, which is way more than before, and showed no sign of stalling. The red tube did drip some gas, but this was likely because I had stupidly hooked it up to drain before reading anything.

So far so good - will report after more thorough test.

Seems pretty clear that capping off both the left and right nipples wouldn't be the right way to go. The middle hose is just a drain hose. The right hose is the one that allows air back into the fuel tank, and must be left open. The left hose is the one that goes to the emissions gear that you don't have on your bike, and can be capped off.

On the 49 state tank there's the one hose outlet (drain).
49 state models have only one hose coming from the rear of the fuel tank. This is a drain hose for fluid that gets in the depression between the filler neck and the top of the tank, from being in the rain or overfilling the tank. Air vents into these tanks:thumbup: