identify this carb leak

CheetoPet · April 16, 2010, 11:06:32 AM

Smelled a hint of gas when I walked by my bike this morning & noticed a couple drops on the ground. Further inspection revealed the this, leaky part circled.

According to my Clymers manual thats where the carb overflow tubes should be (I think). So how bad is this and whats the best way to fix it? And out of academic curiosity, what would inspire someone to cap these off?

Random aside - a former owner of my bike decided that the reserve was a unnecessary so the capped it on the main petcock & rerouted the reserve on the tank to the main on the petcock. Works I guess...

tt_four · April 16, 2010, 11:14:03 AM

I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at, without being able to actually go look at my carbs.

If it's leaking oil out of the overflow, I would guess the floats aren't doing their job of stopping the gas flow when the float bowls fill up. What petcock does your bike have? If it's the earlier model like I have, I don't think it should be leaking when the bike is off because there shouldn't be any extra gas flow to the carbs. I'm guessing you left the bike on PRI? In general if it's coming from the overflow I wouldn't consider it a leak, since that's what it's meant for, i think your problem lies ahead of that, and you need to figure out why your carbs are getting too much gas in them.

As far as why a previous owner would have capped it off.... I'm assuming it was leaking when he had it, and instead of fixing it he figured he could just put a cap over the hole, and the leaking would stop.

CheetoPet · April 16, 2010, 11:31:16 AM

This is a '92.

Shouldn't be in PRI but can check. I don't mess with it ever.

kylegod · April 16, 2010, 04:08:32 PM

you should be able to leave your bike on PRI and not overflow. I did it for months while my vacuum was bad in my petcock. Is it actually coming out of that tube or is it dribbling off it from another spot? If its coming out of the tube then your float needles arent setting right. If its dribbling out somehwere else and running down the tube, then youre leaking from a gasket or something, but your float gaskets look fine. So i say its float needles

tt_four · April 16, 2010, 04:23:28 PM

Yeah, my carbs never leaked, then when I put them back together this spring they both started leaking pretty bad. It wasn't just one random spot dripping, they started making a mess so I think if it was the gaskets you'd know. I think maybe one of the o-rings on your floats are bad or something like that.

I don't think the single fuel line to the tank should cause you any problems at all, just doesn't give you a reserve anymore. If you're not gonna have a reserve, and you just leave your bike on PRI sometimes you could technically just take one line straight from the tank down to the carbs and it'd do the same thing as leaving it on PRI. I wouldn't mind replacing mine with a simple "on/off" switch.

Anyway, you can also just pick up one more piece of fuel line, and just pop it back on there. Just make sure you turn the screw sideways on the tank petcock before you pull that little plug off the line.

CheetoPet · April 16, 2010, 05:28:43 PM

Quote from: kylegod on April 16, 2010, 04:08:32 PM
you should be able to leave your bike on PRI and not overflow. I did it for months while my vacuum was bad in my petcock. Is it actually coming out of that tube or is it dribbling off it from another spot? If its coming out of the tube then your float needles arent setting right. If its dribbling out somehwere else and running down the tube, then youre leaking from a gasket or something, but your float gaskets look fine. So i say its float needles

Cleaned the area off & took it out for a spin. Its been sitting for a couple hours now and the leaking has not returned. Wierd. I can get to my float needles without removing the entire carb right? Or is a general cleaning in order?

kylegod · April 16, 2010, 07:57:31 PM

have you ever cleaned it? If not it wouldnt hurt.

You have to remove the carbs to get to the float needles. I mean technically you could if you had some magically short torque screw driver, but my bet is you don't.

If its not leaking now maybe it was just a fluke and it got flooded or something and the excess spilled out. did you have a giant puddle or just a few drops?

Just a few drops i woudnt sweat it, if you dont mind. I know it would drive me bonkers and id have to pull the carbs, but im anal about stuff like that. I like my bike spotless and non leaky. Theres a how-to on the main page on how to pull the carbs. Ive done it enough times unfortunately that i can get the bike apart and carbs off in about 10 minutes.

CheetoPet · April 16, 2010, 11:55:59 PM

"cleaning the carbs" is on my todo list, right after "get rust out of tank". Not sarcasm BTW, I do actually have a todo list with those 2 things and others on it. I'm one of those list people. It was just a couple drops of gas on the ground, so perhaps it was a fluke. I'm ok with that but leaking gasoline gets me nervous. 'Specially since a couple months back I got a call from my landlord one day when I was at work screaming at me that my bike had caught on fine and burnt half my building down. Seems in his anger and haste he accidentally dialed the wrong person and my bike was fine. yeah...

I'll keep an eye on it & if I see any more leakage I'll attempt my first carb cleaning.

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identify this carb leak