gas leaking

[Bill_46]

I see a lot of posts about gas leaking from the carbs.  This appears to me to be a defect.  Last night, on my way home from work, my 2004 Gs500 began running strange.  Wanted to die at idle and did not seem to have it's usual power.  I then began to smell gas.  I finally made it home and checked the bike.  I did not see anything strange.  I went back out to look at it a few hours later and I notice a huge puddle of gas underneath it.  What causes this to happen all of the sudden?  This bike only has 5k on it and I just bought it a few months ago with 2500 miles on it.  This seems very dangerous to me.  What are the risks of this happening when riding and then having a fire start?

Any replies will be appreciated...

Bill

[MarkusN]

It's a sign of a float vlave not operating properly. Since the malfunctioning valve still is quite an obstruction, not a lot of gas flows. At moderate power consumption usually is enough to suck the excess away.

It's different when no gas is used. Even a small leak can then lead to a large puddle.


However, there's normally the vacuum operated petcock to prevent this. On which petcock postition are you riding?

[rangerbrown]

hoses go bad, i hae all ready replaced mine on my 04.

thats most likely the problem

[ducati_nolan]

It could be hoses, but you should be able to see where the leak is coming from and fix it. If you don't have a fuel filter dirt/rust probally got on your float valve, keeping it from seating all the way. Clean the carbs and install a filter and you should be good to go. 

Your petcock should keep you from loosing too much fuell though, is it on prime when you park it?