Gasoline running out of drain tubes when bike shut off

[grant118]

Hi All.  I have a low mile 2008 Gs500F.  It has become hard to start.  I have to hold the throttle open about half way while cranking to stat it.  After I run it at home to warm it up, when I shut it off, gas starts running/ dripping out of a drain hose on the right size of the bike below in the foot peg area.(there are two hoses but it only comes out of one that is kind of pinched closed on the end).  Is that normal?  Sometimes it will drain out about 2 oz before stopping.  I don't know if I need the carbs cleaned or what.  Any help would be great.
Thanks!!! Chris

[HPP8140]

sounds like your float needles/orings are stuck or worn

[grant118]

Thanks for the advice.  Maybe need a good cleaning.

[jaynavajo15]

You overfilled your tank it sounds like same think happened to me. Once I burned enough fuel it went back to normal. Don't top off

[Watcher]

HPP8140 is right, especially considering it's a low mileage GS500 that's a few years old, I suspect dried out seals in the carbs.  The needle/seat isn't sealing off the bowls and excess fuel is coming in and overflowing.  It may also cause the hard start symptoms due to excess fuel dumping into the cylinder.  Is it hard to start if it sits, say, overnight?

Might also be signs that your fuel valve is wearing out.  It should shut off fuel to the carbs when the bike is off, if it is overflowing a significant amount before stopping then nothing is stopping the fuel from flowing to the carbs and you've got a compounding problem.  The needle/seat shutting off fuel intake and the valve shutting off fuel flow is like wearing a belt and suspenders.
Might want to get that looked at as well.


jaynavajo15, I fill my tank to the bottom edge of the "mouth" every time and never have fuel overflow from my tank.  I don't think this is his issue, especially since he said he noticed it after letting the bike idle.  An overfilled and thus overflowing tank would be an issue he'd have noticed right after filling up, not after idling in his driveway...

[HPP8140]

Also, the tank drain hose is not pinched at the end.

[grant118]

The hose that the gas it is coming out of has like a flap on the end of it.  You can squeeze it open the hose with your fingers.  kind of hard to describe.  I am thinking of removing the carbs and taking off the bowl and making sure there is no gunk settled in it.  I hate to take the carb all apart.  May not get it back together properly. 
chris

[HPP8140]

Float needle & seat.
=carb&filters[fitting]=custom]http://www.partsnmore.com/parts/suzuki/gs500e/?filters[category]=carb&filters[fitting]=custom

remove as little as possible to turn the carbs upside down, remove the bowls, remove floats, check & replace float needle & seat.

[grant118]

Update on my GS.  The line that was draining fuel on the right side of the bike was connected to the air box. The carbs overflowed into the airbox because the fuel was not shutting off.  I took the carbs apart and they had some white corrosion in the bowls.  Also who ever messed with the carbs before did not know how to set the float height.  The floats had to 'float' all the way up to shut off the fuel (which they did not) which made the bike hard to start.

1. I reset the floats and cleaned the jets.
2. put in all new fuel lines
3. added a inline fuel filter
4. replaced the vacuum fuel shut off with a Honda shut off valve (much simpler and you can manually shut off the fuel!!)

The bike starts and runs wonderful now.  Sometimes it will idle high before settling down but is 100% better than before.

thanks for all the help.  chris