Fuel Leak

[LetsBeFriends]

I was changing that air filter on my 2004 GS500F and decided it would be good to learn how to take of the gas tank, it did not appear to hard and I am trying to improve my mechanical skills so i figured go for it. So everything went fine taking it off, and then putting it back on was fine until I went to turn the Petcock back to on. Flash foward to me on the bike checking to see if everything is ok, and i notice that the engine idle is very low, and that the bike actually turned off at one point. So i figured that the idle needed to adjusted, So i turn it- pretty far in hindsight - and try to raise the idle. well it rose so but the engine still is dying, so i figure its not getting enough fuel. so put the bike away for the day, come back to it later that week and I start messing with the petcock again, turns out I had indeed not turned it alway back to the on position, so I do, and all of the sudden, bam... fuel leaks out somewhere between the gas tank and the fuel lines. so my question is

if the idle screw was turned quite a lot in one direction -  what i assume is the open position - could that allow gas to run so freely that it leaks out somewhere? its worth noting that the petcock is now off and there is no fuel leaking at all.

thanks for your time.

[Dizzledan]

I don't think so. From what I know this far, the carburetors are vacuum operated, and unless your petcock is set to prime, or there is a severe vacuum leak (like one of your hoses is not connected right), the gas wont flow.

Check your hoses completely to see if one of them got disconnected slightly, or perhaps got punctured by one of the clamps like mine did one time.

To adjust your idle properly see this:
http://wiki.gstwins.com/index.php?n=Maintenance.AdjustIdle

[burning1]

Short version: No, adjusting the idle speed will not cause fuel to leak out of the carbs.

The idle screw keeps the throttle cracked open slightly when you let off the gas. Without the engine running to produce a vacuum, opening the throttle won't draw any gas from the float bowl.

Fuel can leak out of the carbs if you have a bad float needle, which would permit the carbs to over-fill and leak. It can also leak if fuel is forced into the carbs under presure. However, since you were lifting the fuel tank, it's much more likely that you installed one of the vaccum lines to the petcock wrong, causing gas to flow down the vacuum line into the carbs. It's also you produced a leak somewhere else.

Check your hose routing... I'm pretty sure there's a diagram somewhere on GS Twins.

Keep in mind that the bike will run for a little bit without any fuel flowing to the carb float bowls. No fuel produces symptoms similar to the ones you mentioned above - as the float bowls drain, the bike will have a hard time idling, until it dies completely.

[LetsBeFriends]

for anyone interested it turns out there was a small leak in the fuel line due to the lines being 7 years old, so when I messed with the tank it ripped a hole where the line meets the petcock. happened to both fuel lines running from gas tank.

[burning1]

Nice catch.

I usually replace the lines when I start working on an older bike.